It's been a week since I ate here and while I originally wasn't sure about what I was going to rate it, I was thinking in the 3 range when we first left the restaurant. But after having a few days to stew on it, it's made realize how unmemorable the meal was. It wasn't bad but nothing about it stuck out in my mind. The one thing that did stick out was how incredibly tiny the place is. In fact there are no tables in the entire place, instead there are only high tops and stools which were really uncomfortable to sit if you're planning on staying for more than 30 minutes. What's really weird about this place is the menu. It's not really clear what the vision is of the menu: is it Thai? Is it French? Is it Japanese? Or is it American? The menu has mussels, octopus, hanger steak, ramen, french fries, roasted beets and guacamole. Waa?
Nancy and I decided to try a bunch of things, so we started with the gambas ($12), we wanted the roasted octopus legs but they didn't have any octopus that night and instead had it as a calamari dish ($14), the seared duck breast noodle ($16) and then topped off the meal with cheesy truffle fries ($7). Yea - kind of a hodgepodge of food. The fries came out first and they were the skinny salty kind covered in cheese, drizzled with truffle oil and then sprinkled with bites of bacon. Obviously you can't have those kind of ingredients without it being delicious - it was good but the fries were kind of cold when they got to our table. Then came the gambas dish - which was a lot like the Spanish tapas style dish of garlic shrimp poached in olive oil, chili, garlic with some lemongrass and kir limes and served with slices of bread. The shrimp was poached really well and had this nice bite to it. The garlic oil leftover was great for dipping the bread in (not that I needed to be eating more food). Next came the calamari dish which was roasted calamari served with charred tomatoes, edamame, spiced pecans, and a bearnaise sauce. The calamari was small in size and more of the body part of the squid vs. the legs/tentacles. I don't know what it was, but I just didn't get this dish. It totally tasted fine but I wasn't wow'd by it or really thought it was craveable. It just seemed like a bunch of ingredients thrown together randomly. The last dish of the night was the seared duck breast noodle which was basically a ramen dish with bok choy, shiitake mushrooms, in a duck broth. I loved that they pre-divided the dish into 2 separate bowls for us vs. having to share 1 bowl between the two of us, very nice touch. Nancy and I both thought that this was the best dish of the night. The duck breast was seared nicely with just enough pink on the inside and the ramen was the right texture. The broth was a bit too salty but that's kind of expected in a dish like ramen.
All in all, the meal was ok, just not something that really had that wow factor. The space is incredibly uncomfortable for parties bigger than 2, so be aware of that if you have a big party. The menu needs to have more of a consistent theme to it - it just felt like it was all over the place. The service was kind of hilarious with a really nice and enthusiastic guy but he kind of reminded me of Matthew McConaughey with his slow drawl and reaction to things. Not sure how long this place will last given the plethora of restaurants on that drag but stranger things have happened. Also another total pain, they are cash only. Total bill: $40/pp with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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