Fresh American Food - $30-$50
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The atmosphere is trendy and fun, bright and lively. The food is not only excellent, but fresh and local. The only draw-back is the every changing menu. This can be expected because of the sourcing from local farmers.
My first visit roped me in with fried green tomatoes, prime rib, baked sweet potato with brown sugar and pecans. I finished off with an assortment plate of warm cookies and ice cream. Delish! The show stopper however for me was the house made grapefruit soda. Light, crisp and juuussst sweet enough to be adult without forcing you to fake it. I could have swan in it.
My second visit consisted of house chips and cheese crisps. They were warm and came with 3 dips. My favorite was a cheesy-crabby concoction that made me lick my fingers. For dinner I had chicken and waffles with macaroni and cheese. The warm maple syrup was very good over soft warm waffles. The fried chicken was superb. However, I'm a fan of crisp waffles with a soft inside. I don't believe I would get this again. Also I'm an old fashioned girl I guess, because I like elbow macaroni with my macaroni and cheese. Larger noodles just sort of weird me out! Plus, all macaroni and cheese should have crispy edges with sprinkled shredded cheese on top. This one was one dimensional, The show stopper again was the house made soda - blood orange. Simply divine! If the soda was the show stopper then the beignets I had for dessert had to be the encore! I have never had such heaven in my mouth and I dreamt about it all week long!
My third visit started with one of those glorious house made sodas - lime basil. This one was by far the best one yet! I started with a chipotle-chocolate popcorn. One of many flavors they feature every night. Tasty, interesting. I had 2 huge crab cakes that could have easily been 4. House made rice-a-roni and an asparagus salad. First the crab cakes. They were more like warm crab salad balls. Although tasty, not very palatable. I prefer a crunch on the outside and much less 'sauce' or mayo. The rice-a-roni did not feature verminchilli that had be toasted like the recognizable San Francisco treat, but instead it was made with boiled linguine. Not very good. The asparagus salad only had 3 asparagus tips and the rest consisted of summer squash. I would never, ever, get any of those again. I'm happy that my third experience was not my first or I would have never experienced those wonderful beignets. Which on this night, less than stellar but still worth the trip downtown. They come with caramel, chocolate sauce and a raspberry coulis.
Consistency seems to be an issue with this restaurant but I would by no means write them off. I enjoyed my visits.
