Mixed Bag of BLG

So, I finally made it to Bar La Grassa last night. Dinner with the girls (yay!). After all the rave reviews, I was excited to finally check it out. So, here are my thoughts (I'm gonna dive right into the food):

SOURCE: City Pages

In the center of the table there was a bowl of "stuff" with four toothpicks in it. I say "stuff" because no one at BLG ever explained it to us. My friend who's been to BLG a couple of times, finally said it's meant to be shared as "an amuse or something." I identified lima beans, cauliflower, and jalapeño in the mix - all in some liquid. I like those things, so, I gave it a try (must note that neither friend who had previously been to BLG had any). A toothpick was not the ideal utensil, couldn't always pick up with I was aiming for. Plus, at some point the idea of all the double dipping (toothpick in mouth, then back into the bowl rooting around for another bite) kinda grossed me out. (-2 BLG) Flavor-wise, the lima beans and cauliflower were very tasty, the liquid had a vinegary kick, which I liked. (+1 BLG) I would have probably eaten more than a couple of bites, if not for the double dip gross out thing.

I will admit that the menu was a little overwhelming to me. I'm not a fan of the "it's so simple, it's totally useless" menu trend (for example, just writing "Beet" on the menu and nothing else). BLG's menu is far from the worst, but there were certainly a number of dishes that required a tutorial. That said, their website included photos of a number of dishes, which made up for some of the lacking content. (+1 BLG) Also, portion sizes are not clear, I really had no idea how much or what I should order to ensure that I had enough to eat, but wasn't rolling out of the place. It is the beginning of a new year after all, I am pretending to watch my weight ;) (-1 BLG)

I started with the Soft Eggs and Lobster Bruschetta. OH. MY. GOD. The photo (courtesy of Bar La Grassa's website) does not do the dish justice. The dish I received was overflowing with soft eggs and lobster and cheese (my girlfriends were extremely jealous). It was a meal unto itself. If I could pay someone to make that for me for breakfast everyday, I would be happily fat for the rest of my life. Every bite was decadent. Honestly, I could have ended my meal at this point; everything else was going to have to be amazing to live up to this. My only minor (minor) quibble with this dish - it really wasn't a small plate. Now, maybe I just got lucky on my serving, but frankly, in order for it to have been a small plate all four of us would have had to share it (assuming I would have let anyone get near it after the first bite!).   (+15 BLG)

Next dish was my least favorite, Spaghetti with Calamari and Ginger. The spaghetti was fine. The sauce was fine. The calamari was so very very wrong - it was tough, unpleasantly chewy, tasted charred (or something), and looked unappealing. I ate three bites before I gave up, however, I wanted to confirm that I wasn't totally off the mark, so I asked my girlfriends to try the calamari. Their reactions? One spit it out, then called it a rubber band. The other chewed it (for a while) and declared it overcooked and burnt tasting. The last tasted it only because of peer pressure - she declared that there was absolutely no way it was calamari. I let the waiter know; it came off our bill. (-10 BLG)

The third dish that I tried was the Chicken - we did this family style. This was half amazing, half "eh." My first bite of chicken was white meat - flavor was great, but it seemed a little dry. No matter, as a dark meat gal I tend to find white meat a little drier anyway, so that didn't stop me from tasting the dark meat. Good thing, because it was AMAZING. So effing good! My white meat loving friends were WAY harsh on the dryness of the white meat, but they were all gaga over the dark meat (one of them snagged the last piece). For the table, I'd say the chicken was a hit and a miss. (+/- 0 BLG)

Before this turns into a novel, let me wrap this up. I liked the vibe of this place, thought it was pretty badass that it was packed (rezos required) on a Tuesday night, and had a great time with my gals. The Soft Eggs and Lobster Bruschetta was out of this world, but otherwise, nothing else really grabbed me. I'm not gonna go around dogging BLG (not based on one visit), but I'm certainly not waxing poetic about my experience. I'm certain I'll be back. Hopefully, next time it'll be amazing all around.

Interested in my thoughts on other restaurants? Of course, you are :)

All other images from Bar La Grassa's website.