As I mentioned in my post on Sage, we've been finding firsts and appetizers to be much more interesting than main courses recently. And we've had a couple of meals that seem to support that theory. The first was at the Blind Burro, a rather trendy, fairly new "concept" bar/restaurant in East Village. A very nice and stylish sort of Baja-ish fusion restaurant. I'm more substance focused, so I'd usually pass on places like this. The menu however, seemed interesting and I'd heard good things about the place. So when my dear FOY (friend of yoso) Candice asked us to join her for food and drink, the Missus and I jumped at the chance. Of course there is always the parking thing, but hey, it's about location, right?
Like I said, very nice atmosphere and the service was decent. The Missus really enjoyed the rather thick, but very crunchy chips.
There were some interesting items on the menu. We started with the Sweet Potato-Chorizo Taquitos ($7.50).
First off, we thought the chorizo, made inhouse was very good, smokey, with a nice blend of spices. The sweet potato added a touch of starchy sweetness. The Missus really enjoyed the mole, the combination of savory-salty-sweet flavors was nice as well. The crunch? Well, the Missus loved that as well. This was a very nice start for us.
The Missus also enjoyed the Quinoa and Squash Cakes ($9).
I really enjoyed the cilnatro pesto, especially on the grilled panela cheese which always seems to work well with herbaceous and even pungent flavors. The Missus loves quinoa….we still joke about getting it for 79 cents a pound back in '06……nowadays it's sticker shock. The inclusion of black beans gave it a bit of heft and a mild smokey flavor. The shaved calabacitas salad was….well let's just call it zucchini, was pretty mild and really fell into the shadows.
At this point we were starting to really enjoy the food here. It seemed that the BBQ Yellowtail Collar ($13) spelled the end of that feeling for us.
I love the richness of hamachi kama, as I do the flavor which is perhaps a bit strong for some, but for me it just adds to the enjoyment. Grilled in a too sweet and sour glaze killed the richness, it blocked the flavor….you might have well been eating chicken wings. A bit too sweet and sticky for me, I really didn't taste the smokiness of the chipotle in this.
The seafood in the Mariscos Stew ($17) were perfectly cooked.
The mussels were especially tender.
Unfortunately, the whole dish was way too salty, even for a sodium lover like me. It got to the point of being rather unpleasant, though it didn't seem to bother JohnL who joined us at about this time.
The Angus Skirt Steak($18) was decent.
I mentioned that the flavoring tasted like something out of Rick Bayless's playbook. Candice cracked-up and told me that the Executive Chef has gone on those chef excursion/tours that Rick Bayless has every year and is infatuated with the food. The beef could be a bit more tender, the salsa macha was pretty weak, more like a watered down chili oil. The best part of this dish were the red mole beans which had a nice complex flavor and though you could make out the touch of sweetness, it was still restrained, as was the spice, giving this nice balance.
Overall, his was a decent meal. But as we've been finding recently, appetizers have been outshining the entrees on menus. So in the case of the Blind Burro, the next time we visit and reach the "corner of first and main"….we'll be turning onto first and checking out more of the botanas, ensaladas, and probably a side or two.
The Blind Burro
639 J Street
San Diego, CA 92101