Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Eating Out and Wine, An Essential Guide: Part II, Picking A Wine
Besides the ritual of ordering the wine, you'll also have to decide on a wine you order.
The basic rule that most people say is something like "red wine with red meat and white wine with fish." In fact, things are much more complicated than that. Matching a wine to food involves considerations of the alcohol content of the wine, the sweetness/dryness, the tannin's, the acidity and the oaky-ness of the wine. By oaky-ness I mean the tendency of some California and Australian producers that age their wine in oak casks that can impart very strong oak overtones in the taste of the wine.
The alternative to the red/white rule are the similarity principles:
These different element and characteristics of the wine means that it could possible to have certain red wines with fish and white wines with meat. It just depends of the qualities of the wine.
First, wine might not be the best choice. If the food is really spicy, in the sense that there are a lot of spices in the food and not just chilli's, it might be best just to take a pass and drink something else. For example, indian, thai, malayasian, morrocan/middle eastern food are all probably too spiced for most wines. A wine might start tasting fine and everything but once the spices in the food start getting into your mouth and mixing with the wine then its a different story (i having a lamb tajin with a californian cab; the wine really opened up after it aired out into something really good, but after the spices from the food started mixing with it, it really changed the wine for the worse, in an undrinkable way). This is not to say its impossible to match foods from these types of cuisines with wine, but just harder. As some examples, i've been to 93 Harbord a few times, which is morrocan and middle eastern food. I like the food, but the wines they have on their list don't really work well with the stuff on the menu. I had a conversation with the woman who owns the place and some guy they were with about the wine, and they expressed what kind of problems they face in terms of the wine list. Part of the problem, is that if you put wines that could work with food like that on the list, most people wouldn't go for them because they are so used to drinking the stuff they know. If you were going to 93 Harbord, i'd say stick to the beers (they have or at least had a nice selection). On the other hand, there's Kultura's wine list. I've been there a few times to eat and have wine there and every time I've been there I expect the wine to taste like shit half way through the meal, but it never happens. The sommelier has really spent a lot of time picking wines that can stand up to diversity of the food they have there. Although the tapas there are not super expensive, the wines tend to be on a slightly higher price point. The last time I was there I order a New Zealand Chardonnay from the Marlborough region and a Amarone Classico. Both were really good and held up to various spices in the food.
Second, try to get a rough idea of what kind of food is going to get ordered. Is it rich? Is it gamey? Is it light? All these will help determine with type of wine that might be the best fit for what you order.
Third, some wines that have the potential to work very well with food include:
There might be an additional complications when eating out. First, some restaurants don't have a huge selection on their wine lists. Second, a lot of wines will tend to be higher in alcohol content, tannins and oaky-ness, which could be bad from a food matching perspective, depending on what you order to eat. If you're stuck ask for some help. If you're at a decent place the servers should be fairly knowledgeable. There are some professional waiters from Europe around the city as well. They are usually the most authoritative when it comes to making suggestions (except for the French clown at Pangaea), it might be the accent or the good living back home that gives them that edge. The fail safe fall back option is you can never go wrong with an amarone; you just have to decide whether you want to pay the price (i.e., if the restaurant carries them).
The basic rule that most people say is something like "red wine with red meat and white wine with fish." In fact, things are much more complicated than that. Matching a wine to food involves considerations of the alcohol content of the wine, the sweetness/dryness, the tannin's, the acidity and the oaky-ness of the wine. By oaky-ness I mean the tendency of some California and Australian producers that age their wine in oak casks that can impart very strong oak overtones in the taste of the wine.
The alternative to the red/white rule are the similarity principles:
- sweet food makes sweet wine test less sweet;
- acidic food makes acidic wine taste less acidic;
- bitter food makes slightly bitter wine taste less bitter;
These different element and characteristics of the wine means that it could possible to have certain red wines with fish and white wines with meat. It just depends of the qualities of the wine.
First, wine might not be the best choice. If the food is really spicy, in the sense that there are a lot of spices in the food and not just chilli's, it might be best just to take a pass and drink something else. For example, indian, thai, malayasian, morrocan/middle eastern food are all probably too spiced for most wines. A wine might start tasting fine and everything but once the spices in the food start getting into your mouth and mixing with the wine then its a different story (i having a lamb tajin with a californian cab; the wine really opened up after it aired out into something really good, but after the spices from the food started mixing with it, it really changed the wine for the worse, in an undrinkable way). This is not to say its impossible to match foods from these types of cuisines with wine, but just harder. As some examples, i've been to 93 Harbord a few times, which is morrocan and middle eastern food. I like the food, but the wines they have on their list don't really work well with the stuff on the menu. I had a conversation with the woman who owns the place and some guy they were with about the wine, and they expressed what kind of problems they face in terms of the wine list. Part of the problem, is that if you put wines that could work with food like that on the list, most people wouldn't go for them because they are so used to drinking the stuff they know. If you were going to 93 Harbord, i'd say stick to the beers (they have or at least had a nice selection). On the other hand, there's Kultura's wine list. I've been there a few times to eat and have wine there and every time I've been there I expect the wine to taste like shit half way through the meal, but it never happens. The sommelier has really spent a lot of time picking wines that can stand up to diversity of the food they have there. Although the tapas there are not super expensive, the wines tend to be on a slightly higher price point. The last time I was there I order a New Zealand Chardonnay from the Marlborough region and a Amarone Classico. Both were really good and held up to various spices in the food.
Second, try to get a rough idea of what kind of food is going to get ordered. Is it rich? Is it gamey? Is it light? All these will help determine with type of wine that might be the best fit for what you order.
Third, some wines that have the potential to work very well with food include:
- Dry German Riesling, which could accompany shell fish, fish, chinese and thai food, sausages, ham, cold meat, salami, cold poultry, pate, fatty meats (duck, goose and pork), vegetables that could be hard to find wine matches (corn, asparagus, beets and cauliflower).
- New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, oysters and shell fish are good matches. Go for something from the Marlborough region.
- Chablis, which is chardonnay wine from a particular region in Burgundy, France. This could be pretty pricey though.
- Beaujolous. Stay away from the ones marked as superiore, it just means that they have higher alcohol contents. The best ones the cru beaujolous, from the villages, which include Brouilly, cote de Brouilly, Chirables, Fluerie, Julienas, Regnie, Saint Amour, Chenas, Morgan, Moulin-a-Vent. The lightest one are from Brouilly. The heaviest ones from the last three. In fact, if you can get something from the last three (particularly Moulin-a-Vent) that's about 5-10 years old you get a wine that very similar to a red burgundy, but at a discount to the price. These wines can be difficult to find because I think a lot of people misunderstand them, but you should be able to find them at french bistros (particularly, the brouilly and moulin-a-vent varieties).
- Barbera, this will be a good accompaniment to italian food, especially stuff with a tomato sauce because it is a fairly acidic wine. I think you'll see these on wine lists at Italian restaurants and be priced reasonably. I've had some at Teronni, and I haven't been disappointed.
- California Pinot Noir, really good food wine that you can get at a lower price point to it cousins from Burgundy, which can be awesome but pricey.
- Australian Shiraz, I think this is the way to go with grilled read meat.
There might be an additional complications when eating out. First, some restaurants don't have a huge selection on their wine lists. Second, a lot of wines will tend to be higher in alcohol content, tannins and oaky-ness, which could be bad from a food matching perspective, depending on what you order to eat. If you're stuck ask for some help. If you're at a decent place the servers should be fairly knowledgeable. There are some professional waiters from Europe around the city as well. They are usually the most authoritative when it comes to making suggestions (except for the French clown at Pangaea), it might be the accent or the good living back home that gives them that edge. The fail safe fall back option is you can never go wrong with an amarone; you just have to decide whether you want to pay the price (i.e., if the restaurant carries them).
Friday, February 23, 2007
Eating Out and Wine, An Essential Guide: Part I, Ordering A Wine
This is a checklist of what to do when ordering wine when eating out.
Know what your price range is. If you want to spend in the $40 to $50 range then don't get talked into paying more. You should look out for places that have a few really reasonably priced wines and then have a bunch of wines that are priced a lot higher; the scam here will be that they will run out of the low priced stuff and try to push something out of your price range on. A decent medium range restaurant will often have house wines that they sell by half litre and litre, those could be alternatives if you're on a budget. Also if they are out of something and the waiter tries to push something in a higher price range, then you discretely point to the wine you originally picked and basically you're telling them what your budget is. A good waiter will now the score and won't be thick head and perhaps let the game out if your with someone. If they do, then scratch the place from list of places you'll eat at because the service sucks.
When you pick the wine the waiter will bring the bottle and show it to you. You are supposed to look at the bottle and indicate that yes this is the bottle you picked. The reason they do this is that obviously they can make a mistake so you as the consumer are supposed to tell them this. Remember the wine is going to stored in an areas could be poorly lit. For example, some restaurants don't have extensive wine cellars so they store them in their basement halls or behind the bar. So the waiter could get the wrong bottle or the wrong vintage. For example, you pick a 2003 and he or she might bring a 2001, which could be more expensive. Also you might order a chateaux something something and they bring you a chateaux something something reserve. Checking the bottle makes sure you got what you ordered. Also if they bring something more expensive and you take it, they aren't going to be too impressed when you complain when the bill comes because you signed off on the bottle. I guess you can argue with the manager, but why go through the hassle and headache.
After you've made sure they've brought what you ordered, the waiter will open the bottle and pour you a little bit into a glass. They may also place the cork on the table. You should have a look at the cork to make sure its not in bad shape. If the cork's in bad shape, then the wine could be off, which is bad. But the definitive way of figuring out whether the wine is fine or not is to smell and taste it. Take the glass and move it around in little circles and lean over and smell the wine. Swirling the wine increases the surface contact of the wine with air and this releases the wine's bouquet. So what you want is to smell something nice. If you don't smell anything there could a problem (if they have proper glasses with a tulip shape you should be able to smell something, however if they give you a glass that doesn't have a tulip sheep and is really open at the top you have to much more careful because the smells might escape before you can sniff them). After you smell the wine you taste it. If you taste something like wet cardboard (or the smell of wet cardboard) then the wine is off. You then politely tell the waiter that the wine is off. The waiter (if he or she is experienced) will check it immediately and confirm this. If the waiter is basically some tool then my guess is that the chef or someone who knows what's going will taste the wine to confirm your impression. You should keep an eye on the waiter, if you're at a decent restaurant then the waiter probably knows what they are doing so they'll sniff the bottle when you're not looking or they think you're not looking. You can tell from their facial expression whether the wine is fine or not. This is a real issue. They say that at least one bottle per case is off. I think that the proportion of bottles that go back is much smaller than that. I sent a bottle back once at a dinner, and most of the people at the dinner remarked that was the first or second time they've seen that happen. I've been out for dinner when someone else has had the tasting responsibilities and they fucked up -- the wine was off but they either didn't know it was off or were to chicken to say anything. If you spend the money you want to drink something that's fine, not shit. Also if the wine is fine, you don't have to provide a description and say its jammy or whatever, just tell the waiter its fine and he or she will pour it out for everyone at the table.
If you find the whole idea of tasting the wine stressful when you go out for dinner then there are a few alternatives. First, you can just go for the house wine. The house wine is typically served in half- or full-litre flask which you don't taste. Second, if you're ordering a white wine from New Zealand, a lot of the wines from kiwi land (even the really good ones) come with twist off tops. With a screw off top there's no chance of the wine being off. So you can go through the whole ritual of tasting and not have to worry about making a mistake. Third, stay home.
Sparkling wines and champagne are slightly easier to spot if they're off. If when they pour the champagne/sparking wine out of the bottle it doesn't fizz (like something that's carbonated does) then the bottle is off. I went to some crappy tacky place on college that had a roman name (quo vadis or veni vidi vici, or some shit like that) where we had to go through three bottles of sparkling wine until we got one that was fine.
Know what your price range is. If you want to spend in the $40 to $50 range then don't get talked into paying more. You should look out for places that have a few really reasonably priced wines and then have a bunch of wines that are priced a lot higher; the scam here will be that they will run out of the low priced stuff and try to push something out of your price range on. A decent medium range restaurant will often have house wines that they sell by half litre and litre, those could be alternatives if you're on a budget. Also if they are out of something and the waiter tries to push something in a higher price range, then you discretely point to the wine you originally picked and basically you're telling them what your budget is. A good waiter will now the score and won't be thick head and perhaps let the game out if your with someone. If they do, then scratch the place from list of places you'll eat at because the service sucks.
When you pick the wine the waiter will bring the bottle and show it to you. You are supposed to look at the bottle and indicate that yes this is the bottle you picked. The reason they do this is that obviously they can make a mistake so you as the consumer are supposed to tell them this. Remember the wine is going to stored in an areas could be poorly lit. For example, some restaurants don't have extensive wine cellars so they store them in their basement halls or behind the bar. So the waiter could get the wrong bottle or the wrong vintage. For example, you pick a 2003 and he or she might bring a 2001, which could be more expensive. Also you might order a chateaux something something and they bring you a chateaux something something reserve. Checking the bottle makes sure you got what you ordered. Also if they bring something more expensive and you take it, they aren't going to be too impressed when you complain when the bill comes because you signed off on the bottle. I guess you can argue with the manager, but why go through the hassle and headache.
After you've made sure they've brought what you ordered, the waiter will open the bottle and pour you a little bit into a glass. They may also place the cork on the table. You should have a look at the cork to make sure its not in bad shape. If the cork's in bad shape, then the wine could be off, which is bad. But the definitive way of figuring out whether the wine is fine or not is to smell and taste it. Take the glass and move it around in little circles and lean over and smell the wine. Swirling the wine increases the surface contact of the wine with air and this releases the wine's bouquet. So what you want is to smell something nice. If you don't smell anything there could a problem (if they have proper glasses with a tulip shape you should be able to smell something, however if they give you a glass that doesn't have a tulip sheep and is really open at the top you have to much more careful because the smells might escape before you can sniff them). After you smell the wine you taste it. If you taste something like wet cardboard (or the smell of wet cardboard) then the wine is off. You then politely tell the waiter that the wine is off. The waiter (if he or she is experienced) will check it immediately and confirm this. If the waiter is basically some tool then my guess is that the chef or someone who knows what's going will taste the wine to confirm your impression. You should keep an eye on the waiter, if you're at a decent restaurant then the waiter probably knows what they are doing so they'll sniff the bottle when you're not looking or they think you're not looking. You can tell from their facial expression whether the wine is fine or not. This is a real issue. They say that at least one bottle per case is off. I think that the proportion of bottles that go back is much smaller than that. I sent a bottle back once at a dinner, and most of the people at the dinner remarked that was the first or second time they've seen that happen. I've been out for dinner when someone else has had the tasting responsibilities and they fucked up -- the wine was off but they either didn't know it was off or were to chicken to say anything. If you spend the money you want to drink something that's fine, not shit. Also if the wine is fine, you don't have to provide a description and say its jammy or whatever, just tell the waiter its fine and he or she will pour it out for everyone at the table.
If you find the whole idea of tasting the wine stressful when you go out for dinner then there are a few alternatives. First, you can just go for the house wine. The house wine is typically served in half- or full-litre flask which you don't taste. Second, if you're ordering a white wine from New Zealand, a lot of the wines from kiwi land (even the really good ones) come with twist off tops. With a screw off top there's no chance of the wine being off. So you can go through the whole ritual of tasting and not have to worry about making a mistake. Third, stay home.
Sparkling wines and champagne are slightly easier to spot if they're off. If when they pour the champagne/sparking wine out of the bottle it doesn't fizz (like something that's carbonated does) then the bottle is off. I went to some crappy tacky place on college that had a roman name (quo vadis or veni vidi vici, or some shit like that) where we had to go through three bottles of sparkling wine until we got one that was fine.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Big Bunny's Girl of the Month: Kim Kardashian
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Friday, February 16, 2007
Messis
This isn't based on a particular visit, but something more along my memories of the place over the years. I used to go fairly often, but now I usually go once a year. Most of my visits were at lunch, its a local for me because its on Harbord and close to the University campus. I do have some dinner visits. I also walk by the place a lot on the weekends, so i have a pretty good idea of what the saturday night dinner crowd is like.
The place is a medium size room. It's basically a rectangle, with some tables arranged around the room and with banquette running down the left wall of the place. I don't think there's anything really offensive about the room, but it might be kind of bland for some people. The floors are covered with broadloom. I'm not sure what they've got under there. The place was a pizzeria or something like that before, so its probably some pretty nasty shit, so they just took the easy out and covered it up. They do touch up the place from time to time, so it does look overly stale. The only thing that really bugs me are the coat hangers or more precisely the lack of them. I'm not into that hanging shit with the wires they have now.
They have a decent size patio in the summer as well. Its covered. Currently, they have this hedge of these evergreen shrubs that blocks the view of the street. Before they made the change to the patio you could see the street. Its not like the corner of Major and Harbord is going to be a major source of street traffic, but sometimes it feels like you in prison with pine tree bars. It takes away from the outdoor eating experience.
The crowd is really mixed. The lunch crowd tends to be university staff and faculty. Mostly toward the older end of the age range. Right now it's only open for lunches around christmas and for part of the summer, but they used to do the year thing before. The dinner crowd is quite varied. There are some young people who go, but there are a lot of old people (almost to the point of being a distraction). The price point for the restaurant is really reasonable given what they deliver, so I'm sure the old people gravitate to it like mosquitoes get attracted to light. I would also say its probably a "couple" restaurant. So if you see a hot chick there, its probably because some guy brought her there.
The lunch menu is pretty much the dinner menu, but cheaper.
One thing that is really good about the place is that whoever makes drinks (and this is true at either lunch or dinner) is competent. I have never been disappointed with a campari and soda that i've ordered here. The problem with a lot of places is that these people making drinks are into free pour, perhaps Cocktail is seminal movie in their lives, so they water down the campari to the point where it loses its bite, which defeats the whole purpose of having a bitter as an aperitif. But I suppose if Cocktail is seminal moment in modern cinema for someone they aren't really going to understand the point. One of the waiter's who works the lunches (a tall white guy, with some art work on his arm and an quartz tag) is pretty good and really professional. On one occasion the person I was with a lunch ordered a scotch on the rocks to start. After she sipped it she tried to complain because it wasn't "her scotch". He politely, but firmly told her that she did ordered a specific brand, so he used the well brand (teacher's, i don't know how people can drink that stuff). He was totally right. If you don't specify, you get the well brand. That's professional service.
They have a decent selection of wines from California, Australia and New Zealand. The prices are reasonable. Nothing I've ever had there is outstanding or memorable, but so many things have faded from memory I don't take that as a strong signal.
In terms of appetizers, I've tried pretty much everything that is not a green salad or a caesar salad. Some things that I've enjoyed over the years are the crab cakes, the goat cheese and walnut phyllo bundle and the calamari. The only thing that really bugged me was this tiger shrimp appetizer. My problem with it was that it wasn't cleaned shrimp so you had to take them out of the shell themselves. I know that the shrimp will be more flavorful when they're cooked in their shell, but it's really messy. When you trade off the hassle of eating them (i.e., getting them out of the shell) with the taste, it's just not worth the effort.
I don't really eat pasta when I eat out, so I can't comment on the pasta.
In terms of the entrees. Again, I've pretty much tried everything that they serve over the years:
The deserts are ok. I think the chocolate mousse cake, which is a fixture on the menu, would be my favourite. I think there might be more shifting of the deserts than the main menu. I can't say for sure because I often skip desert, unless I have advance notice that something is going to be really good.
I don't think that I've every complained about one of the entrees on the menu. The problem with the menu is that its pretty much the same menu year after year. So it can get kind of boring after a while. I don't think they make seasonal changes to the menu, so its pretty much the same thing except for some minor differences. This is one reason I don't like to go more than once a year. On the other hand, even though its boring you won't get disappointed by really bad food. Although the people can differ and debate what is good food, for the price point that they have the place is pretty solid.
I could live with eating the same thing over and over again, but what really compounds the negative experience is that the place can get loaded with old people on the busy nights. The tables are also packed kind of tightly so I mean there is only so much old people conversations that I can overhear that goes beyond ambient white noise.
Overall, the place is a solid value for the menu. But realistically this is place you take your parents if they're in town and you want to take them out or if you're going out in a large group as couples. In other words, this is not the sort of place where chicks go to eat before they go clubbing. If you want more of a younger crowd go Bodega the food will be done at a similar level of quality and price point.
The old people are a real concern because I think they really kill the atmosphere. The place is ok for the food, but if old people are concern for you as well then you should adjust the rating down from the passable level of 3.
Rating: 1 Bunny
Notes on the Bunny Rating System:
The place is a medium size room. It's basically a rectangle, with some tables arranged around the room and with banquette running down the left wall of the place. I don't think there's anything really offensive about the room, but it might be kind of bland for some people. The floors are covered with broadloom. I'm not sure what they've got under there. The place was a pizzeria or something like that before, so its probably some pretty nasty shit, so they just took the easy out and covered it up. They do touch up the place from time to time, so it does look overly stale. The only thing that really bugs me are the coat hangers or more precisely the lack of them. I'm not into that hanging shit with the wires they have now.
They have a decent size patio in the summer as well. Its covered. Currently, they have this hedge of these evergreen shrubs that blocks the view of the street. Before they made the change to the patio you could see the street. Its not like the corner of Major and Harbord is going to be a major source of street traffic, but sometimes it feels like you in prison with pine tree bars. It takes away from the outdoor eating experience.
The crowd is really mixed. The lunch crowd tends to be university staff and faculty. Mostly toward the older end of the age range. Right now it's only open for lunches around christmas and for part of the summer, but they used to do the year thing before. The dinner crowd is quite varied. There are some young people who go, but there are a lot of old people (almost to the point of being a distraction). The price point for the restaurant is really reasonable given what they deliver, so I'm sure the old people gravitate to it like mosquitoes get attracted to light. I would also say its probably a "couple" restaurant. So if you see a hot chick there, its probably because some guy brought her there.
The lunch menu is pretty much the dinner menu, but cheaper.
One thing that is really good about the place is that whoever makes drinks (and this is true at either lunch or dinner) is competent. I have never been disappointed with a campari and soda that i've ordered here. The problem with a lot of places is that these people making drinks are into free pour, perhaps Cocktail is seminal movie in their lives, so they water down the campari to the point where it loses its bite, which defeats the whole purpose of having a bitter as an aperitif. But I suppose if Cocktail is seminal moment in modern cinema for someone they aren't really going to understand the point. One of the waiter's who works the lunches (a tall white guy, with some art work on his arm and an quartz tag) is pretty good and really professional. On one occasion the person I was with a lunch ordered a scotch on the rocks to start. After she sipped it she tried to complain because it wasn't "her scotch". He politely, but firmly told her that she did ordered a specific brand, so he used the well brand (teacher's, i don't know how people can drink that stuff). He was totally right. If you don't specify, you get the well brand. That's professional service.
They have a decent selection of wines from California, Australia and New Zealand. The prices are reasonable. Nothing I've ever had there is outstanding or memorable, but so many things have faded from memory I don't take that as a strong signal.
In terms of appetizers, I've tried pretty much everything that is not a green salad or a caesar salad. Some things that I've enjoyed over the years are the crab cakes, the goat cheese and walnut phyllo bundle and the calamari. The only thing that really bugged me was this tiger shrimp appetizer. My problem with it was that it wasn't cleaned shrimp so you had to take them out of the shell themselves. I know that the shrimp will be more flavorful when they're cooked in their shell, but it's really messy. When you trade off the hassle of eating them (i.e., getting them out of the shell) with the taste, it's just not worth the effort.
I don't really eat pasta when I eat out, so I can't comment on the pasta.
In terms of the entrees. Again, I've pretty much tried everything that they serve over the years:
- lamb shank, this is a bit of favourite. it comes covered in this sauce and served on a risotto. its kind of thing where you won't leave anything on your plate.
- duck breast. i like duck and they do a decent job here. if i remember right, they serve it with cranberries and mash potatoes.
- veal chop. this looks like something from the flintstones, when fred and barney go out to eat and there is this huge bone sticking out. I'd get it just for that experience.
- duck confit, this could be a favorite as well.
- cornish hen. this is yummy.
- atlantic salmon. this is ok. I'd only really have this is if I was worried about OD on red meat.
- rack of lamb, this is ok. i did hear someone complain about it once. he thought it was boring.
- black angus striploin with mash potatoes, how could you go wrong
- halibut steak, this is isn't on the regular menu but tends to be a special. this is worth trying this is really good. i'd take this over the salmon that they serve there.
The deserts are ok. I think the chocolate mousse cake, which is a fixture on the menu, would be my favourite. I think there might be more shifting of the deserts than the main menu. I can't say for sure because I often skip desert, unless I have advance notice that something is going to be really good.
I don't think that I've every complained about one of the entrees on the menu. The problem with the menu is that its pretty much the same menu year after year. So it can get kind of boring after a while. I don't think they make seasonal changes to the menu, so its pretty much the same thing except for some minor differences. This is one reason I don't like to go more than once a year. On the other hand, even though its boring you won't get disappointed by really bad food. Although the people can differ and debate what is good food, for the price point that they have the place is pretty solid.
I could live with eating the same thing over and over again, but what really compounds the negative experience is that the place can get loaded with old people on the busy nights. The tables are also packed kind of tightly so I mean there is only so much old people conversations that I can overhear that goes beyond ambient white noise.
Overall, the place is a solid value for the menu. But realistically this is place you take your parents if they're in town and you want to take them out or if you're going out in a large group as couples. In other words, this is not the sort of place where chicks go to eat before they go clubbing. If you want more of a younger crowd go Bodega the food will be done at a similar level of quality and price point.
The old people are a real concern because I think they really kill the atmosphere. The place is ok for the food, but if old people are concern for you as well then you should adjust the rating down from the passable level of 3.
Rating: 1 Bunny
Notes on the Bunny Rating System:
- 0 or no Bunnies, it's a waste of time; don't go.
- 1 Bunny, the place is worth checking out.
- 2 Bunnies, you should go out of your way to check out the place; the food is really good and the place is cool.
- 3 Bunnies, you absolutely have to go there; the food is exceptional and the place is really cool
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