Restaurant

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Restaurant Review: Yard House

Published February 28, 2013 by mrsrag

Location: Downtown at the Gardens. 11701 Lake Victoria Gardens; Palm Beach Gardens, Fl 33410. Phone: (561) 691-6901. http://www.yardhouse.com.

We recently had the pleasure of dining out with a good friend of ours visiting from up North.  Ross and I decided to take him out to one of our trusted standby’s, The Yard House, and it dawned on us that we have yet to review this wonderful establishment.  Truthfully, we haven’t been dining out very much lately.  Ross has become quite fond of my cooking and I thoroughly enjoy making meals at home.  This latest outing in Hallandale Beach was a much needed exception and proved to be one of our fondest trips to the popular eatery.  All three of us were on board for ordering a bunch of appetizers and sharing, which is one of my favorite ways to get a taste of as much as possible.  We started with one of Ross’ favorites, the California Roll, which is an untraditional take on the sushi roll of the same name.  This dish is served as one giant roll, with layers of Snow crab (FYI Most California Rolls are made with imitation crab), sticky white rice, cucumber and avocado.  This giant single roll is surrounded by wasabi soy sauce and dots of spicy Sriracha.  We paired this dish with a serving of Grilled Sweet Korean BBQ Beef, which is a long winded name for short ribs, Kung Pao Calamari and the Béarnaise Sliders.  The Kung Pao Calamari was our visitor’s selection and a pleasant surprise on my part.  It’s something I would never think to order, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

We have been eating at home a lot lately as Maria mentioned, and trust me, her cooking would get 5 wine glasses every time!  This review was long overdue however.  Yard House is part of our lunchtime rotation, which includes Cheesecake Factory, Brio and Tabica Grill among others.  Yard House is a chain that is currently in 15 states and growing.  They could easily be classified as sports bars as there are TV’s everywhere, but the food is consistently better than the pub fare you get at most places of that genre.  And I’m not the most daring of beer drinkers, but if  you happen to be, their selection of hundreds of taps should allow you to find something you like.  Shock Top Raspberry is my top choice.  Most of our dining and drinking experiences are at the above listed Palm Beach Gardens location, but we did try the Hallandale restaurant (next to Gulfstream Park) the other day.  Maria mentioned the great apps we had that day, but two other favorites of note are the Spicy Tuna Roll and Carnitas Street Tacos.  The latter a Maria staple with roast pork, grilled onions, pico de gallo, guacamole and pineapple is a slice of soft taco heaven.  The STR, my choice, is another variation on the roll theme.  One hockey puck-sized stacker with seared rare ahi, avocado, edamame, cucumber and soy sauce.  Highly recommended.

Believe me, he’s very loose with the culinary compliments, but thank you regardless.  THE CARNITAS…yum!  I cannot believe I forgot to add my favorite and we most definitely rounded out the Hallandale meal with these tasty treats.  I recall our guest had stated very astutely, “The pineapple is a wonderful surprise.”  Ross likes referring to our guest as the ‘Michael Jordan of the Daily Racing Form’, but I digress.  The pineapple he said and our mouths all agreed.  They offer eight different styles of ‘street’ taco and as you can probably imagine it ranges from some poultry manifestations, to fish, beef and an interesting collection of vegetables.  This vegetarian taco (which is denoted on the menu conveniently) consists of shiitake mushrooms, roasted pasilla peppers and grilled onions with lemon sriracha aïoli, jack, feta, avocado and red chili.  That’s a mouthful.  I’m now determined to remember and try it.  And I have experimented with quite a number of the bountiful drafts.  However, I owe my expertise of beer to the one and only Mews Tavern – ‘The home of 69 brews’ in Wakefield, Rhode Island.  Over the years I ventured into some blondes (get your mind out of the gutter), some porters and some Belgian whites.  Yard House is one of the only places I’ve ever seen feature some of the many drafts offered there.  Major tip of my hat for that detail and another for raising the standards of bar food.  And yet one more facet of praise, keep playing the awesome classic rock tunes.  We love singing along.

Yes of course, classic rock, it’s noted on the sign out front and it plays all day.  Lots of 70’s hits, you’ll be singing to songs you haven’t heard in years.  Great food, a vast variety of brews, sports on TV AND Eric Clapton, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin et al.  If you’re looking for a romantic evening out with your girl/guy, Yard House probably isn’t the right destination.  For all other occasions?  Go to the place, “Where great beers come together!”

Maria’s Rating: 4.5 Wine Glasses out of 5.

Ross’ Rating: 4 Wine Glasses.

Restaurant Review: Red Tapas Bar and Grille

Published December 16, 2012 by mrsrag

Location: Downtown at the Gardens, 11701 Lake Victoria Gardens #3102, Palm beach Gardens, FL 33410. Next to Dirty Martini. Phone: 561 333-7331.  info@redtapasbar.com.

 

I’ve heard some people say that size doesn’t matter.  This is a lie…a bold faced lie.  It absolutely does matter.  Especially when it comes to food portions, in my opinion.  Tapas is defined as “small savory dishes”.  Usually, it’s appetizer size portions served with cocktails.  I’ve had tapas in many different places; Las Vegas, Rhode Island, California and the Sunshine state – just to name a few.  Tapas appeals to me because I enjoy variety when I’m eating and I like getting a taste of everything the venue has to offer.  The several items we tried at Red Tapas were absolutely delicious, intricate and complex dishes that exhibited culinary prowess.  As I explained earlier, tapas is defined as “small plates”.  These plates were very small indeed.  Honestly, too small for my apetite.  And the prices seemed excessive.  Ross and I decided to have a taste of their Filet Mignon Carpaccio, blackened Edamame and Lamb chops.  I wasn’t expecting a 20 oz. steak or two giant chops, but I did expect to feel satiated at the end of the meal.  Instead I found myself already pondering what I was going to eat for dinner.  Perhaps, I’ve been utterly spoiled by our other bar hopping favorites.  Without naming any names, there are a couple of places that come to mind when I hear Carpaccio.  One place has a Ahi Tuna Carpaccio and the other has a beef.  The portion sizes that you receive at these other destinations are quite impressive.  Literally they are triple the size of the Filet Carpaccio we tried and half the price.  And if you’re lucky enough to stop at one of these places for happy hour, you are looking at an even better deal.  In this unstable and weak economy we really enjoy getting the most bang for our buck.  I didn’t feel like we got our money’s worth at Red Tapas.

I am going to name names honey if you don’t mind.  You see Maria and I were heading for The Cheesecake Factory for their wonderful and ample Ahi Carpaccio, when we spotted the brand new Red Tapas (they’ve been open a month) and decided to give it a shot.  I thought the atmosphere was pretty decent, we sat outside near the bar in an interesting cushioned, bench-like table combo, they also have tables with little gas firepits at them which I thought was cool as well.  The music selection was a bit odd for 3 o’clock in the afternoon, a pulsing, generic club beat, but at least it wasn’t too loud.  I’m in total agreement with Maria’s evaluation of the food, very good but way too small and overpriced.  The lamb chops were the bomb, but $15 for two little ones?  Their beef carpaccio was delicious, but again, $11 and very small.  You can go around the corner to the Gardens Mall and have an equally delicious, giant beef carpaccio for less money at Brio.  Honestly, we’re the furthest thing from cheap people that you’ll run into, but we’re also not about squandering money either.  I’m certainly not ready to give up on Red Tapas.  The place is aesthetically pleasing and we noticed they have a happy hour 4 to 7, so I’m pretty sure we’ll give them another try.  But I would say if money is a concern for you and you’re starving, you may want to consider an alternative destination.

I’m definitely up for giving them another try.  Planning would have garnered some success, as Ross previously mentioned, we could have waited for happy hour.  The place has only been open for a month, so I’m hoping they get some accurate feedback and make the necessary changes to be successful.  On a positive note we did have a very tasty Riesling called Su Yuen, made by the Francis Ford Coppola winery.  This crisp and refreshing white wine could have easily accompanied any of the numerous dishes on the diverse menu.  It was the highlight of my first experience at Red Tapas.  Hopefully, there will be more things to rave about following our next visit.

Ah the Su Yuen.  Nice wine, nicer bottle, with a little fable about the Princess and the history of dim sum on the label.  You know, we ended up at The Cheesecake Factory for the ahi carpaccio the next afternoon.  Christmas shopping takes a lot out of you, you simply have to find a place to unwind and detox from the “holiday cheer” you encounter out there.  Wherever you end up, I hope you find the right combination of loved ones, laughter and libation.  Cheers! 

Maria’s Rating: 2.5 Wine Glasses out of 5.

Ross’ Rating: 2.5 Wine Glasses.