Among our myriad of meals this week (L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, Buzz BBQ, Yellowtail, Bistro Divino, RM Seafood, Los Molcajetes, Boulud Brasserie, BLT Burger, Marche Bacchus, STRATTA, just to name a few), these four menu items underwhelmed us.
They are, in order from left to right:
1) Chicken-free-tasting-chicken satay with gummy peanut sauce at Pin Kaow;
2) Fatty-yet-dry brisket at Buzz BBQ;
3) White truffle-enhanced salmon/sashimi pizza at Yellowtail (ELV loathes white truffle oil. ELV considers white truffle oil — a chemical concoction containing no white truffles — an abomination); and
4) Steak-flavor-challenged-yet-extremely-tender steak from Stratta.
Draw no overall conclusions about two of the restaurants from these dishes, however, as Stratta served ELV several perfect pastas, and Yellowtail kicks Sushi Samba’s you-know-what from here to Rio when it comes to finely rendered, trendy Japanese/fusion food.
Those two places get a definite thumbs up from ELV, and will be more fully reviewed in the future. After two visits, though, the staff at ELV has decided Buzz BBQ is just not low and slow enough to qualify for a third,* and Pin Kaow has good but not great Thai food for folks who’ve never been to Lotus of Siam (or who wouldn’t appreciate the difference between Americanized Thai and the real thing.)
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* Although ELV must remind you that barbecue is like sex….the worst he’s ever had was still pretty good.
No discernible smoke ring, no juicy drops of fat oozing out of the meat-grey meat at that-yet such a thick layer of fat? Hmm-me thinks Chez Buzz didn’t do justice to his Brisket. Low and slow heat and a rotating spin so the meat bastes itself with fat may just be the “Buzz” they need!