Guest Contributors - Restaurant Week Wrap Up

Several of my friends have asked if they can write about their food adventures in my blog. So I thought it might be fun to have a guest contributor column occasionally. (Guest bloggers would be especially helpful with restaurant reviews, as it is difficult for me to try every restaurant and I often pick restaurants based on friends' recommendations.)

To wrap up Restaurant Week, Moizza sent me her restaurant reviews:

Taberna del Alabardero

They have a neat wine loft and kitchen, but otherwise not impressed. The appetizer I chose was a mushroom and spinach crepe, in which both ingredients were pureed into rather bland room-temperature paste slathered all over soggy too-thick pancakes. The entree, mahi mahi served over tomato and other vegetables, was just okay. Their rice pudding was delicious though - runny, just the way I like it.

Poste

Great atmosphere for lunch and friendly service. The food is a little daring, but in a good way. My starter was a sunchoke and enoki mushroom (my favorite) soup that was fresh and delicious. I was particularly impressed with the presentation: they presented me with a clear glass bowl with seasoned mushrooms piled in the center and then poured the soup on top of the ingredients from a teapot. My entree was a "duck ham" (i.e. duck cured like ham) and brie (I think) panini. The sandwich was well-prepared and satisfying without being too filling. My only criticism was that the haricot vert side salad was rather tart. For dessert, I had an amazing date bread pudding with caramel ice cream on the side.

Firefly

This place is adorable. I'm definitely coming back, especially since they have really great food and drink specials all year. Since I filled up at Poste for lunch, I did not order the Restaurant Week menu, but I nibbled from friends' plates. The appetizers: fresh, perfect calimari that just melted in ones' mouth and an incredibly light and tasty three-cheese macaroni. For entrees, we had the bass special and roasted chicken. I should note that the entree options for restaurant week were all the entrees on the menu - this place is truly fly... Anyway, the bass, served on a bed of quinoa, was bloody unbelievable. A big, simple portion of delicious. The chicken was moist and hugely portioned as well. For dessert, I tasted a mocha parfait with a spicy kick, a pear crumble, and carrot cake a la mode. The carrot cake was my favorite. My other favorite was the sweet tea vodka (!) you could order on the rocks or straight up... My friend also had a ginger-infused vodka that was quite intriguing. So of the bunch, Firefly is my pick.