FoodMayhem

Great place! At BLT Prime You start with some bread and chicken liver pate, then their signature popovers. (Lon loves them but I wasn’t that impressed.)

Our table of 4 (celebrating Justin K’s birthday) started with a crabcake, goat cheese stuffed beets, a fresh mozzarella with tomatoes and fresh pesto, and a corn chowder with bacon and shrimp. Every single appetizer was perfect. We were all thrilled and impressed.

My filet was the biggest serving of filet any of us had ever seen. It was delicious and cooked perfectly. Yet, it couldn’t compare to the meat Lon and Justin ordered. It was a special type of Kobe, not on the regular menu. It was the best steak Lon or I have ever had! It also comes with a massive piece of roasted garlic that spreads nicely on the steak. I also loved the sea salt shaker that i defiantely used. We all shared potato gratin, a corn soccotash, and potato skins as sides. The first 2 were fantastic and I’m pretty sure the potato skins would have been too if they hadn’t gotten cold before being served.

The dessert were also better than I had expected. Justin had a delicious sundae. Lon and I shared a fabulous peanut butter mousse with banana ice cream. Shayna got a chocolate tart with pistachio ice cream that was good but not as good as the other 2. They also give these little bite sized brownies that come out warm and melt in your mouth. Yum!

We all left with a big smile and big bellies.

Sat night was my fourth visit to Tabla spread over a 6 year time span. Each time, I’ve been less and less impressed with my meal, the first visit being superb and the last one being just ok and certainly not worth the prices.

The service is still fantastic. I did enjoy my seared calamari appetizer but Lon’s appetizer of hamachi was boring and both of our entrees weren’t very good. Lon had a dish with 2 types of pork and the unattractive looking dish was also a little hard to chew. My crab and skate “gumbo” was over-seasoned.

I’ve decided that the only part I would go back for is the dessert. The vanilla bean kulfi which I’ve had before is still fantastic. The fresh berries served with a yogurt is beautiful and well paired. And since we were there for a friend’s birthday, his wife had especially ordered a cake for the occasion which the pastry chef prepared. The rich layered mousse cake was excellent! It was rich with flavor and not too sweet. Each layer, crust, cake, cream, mousse, then topped with ganache, was not so special individually but the combination of textures and flavors was great.

There’s more than one place called Bravo (though they are all related)– I’m referring to the one on 5th ave.

Lon and I ordered their “Chicago Style Pizza”, half sausage, half plain. The delivery guy obviously didn’t hold the pizza box straight because it was smooshed onto one side, affecting approximately 3 slices.

That’s really not my main complaint. The BIG problem was that the bottom of the crust tasted like cardboard and was completely unedible. Since I couldn’t chew it, I just pulled the top layer of dough with sauce and cheese off and ate that. The sauce and cheese were ok but can’t make up for the cardboard bottom.

I will never ever order from them again!

Daphne’s on 14th St has moved. It used to be this dirty looking fast food joint with cheap but good food, according to Lon. So after my cousin Olivia gave me an eye exam, we went towards Daphne’s for dinner – at their new location which none of us had been to. It now shares a space 2 doors East with another restaurnt. The restaurant in the back is more upscale and Daphne’s uses the bar area in front with less attractive tables, yet still better looking than their old location. It’s extremely confusing because there’s no barrier between Daphne’s and the other restaurant and the signage is not clear so it took a short conversation with the hostess to understand the set-up.

So we decided to eat in the Daphne area since it was way cheaper and I wasn’t in the mood for a fancy dinner when I could barely see (Olivia had dialated my eyes for the exam). I order the jerk chicken and Olivia and Lon both ordered Stewed Goat. Each entree came with rice and peas, some vegetables, and pieces of plantains. The jerk chicken and goat were both flavorful but luke warm. The rest of the plate was completely cold; not even room temp. It was actually cold like it came out of the fridge and sat on the counter just long enough to lose the chill! We also got some coco bread and a beef patty to share as an appetizer. Both were nice and warm and the patty was thankfully, not too oily.

I’m torn about whether or not I would go again because we went during a rainy night, labor day weekend, so I feel like normally they would be better… but on the flip side, there are so many more places to try and I wasn’t impressed.