Bacar

So, about 4 nights after our lovely meal at Aziza, we ventured out again for Dine About Town. I had read about, and gotten recommendations for Bacar, but even so, I was worried that our experience at Aziza might overshadow the rest of our Dine About Town meals. But I wasn't going to NOT go, I mean, come on. Have we met?

Walking into Bacar, the space seems like an old loft - brick walls and high ceilings. You're immediately greeted by a three story wall o' wine on your left, and the bar, up a short flight of stairs to your right. We completely missed the hostess stand, which is directly to your left when you walk in, and we ended up walking directly into the dining area...awkward. Luckily the overdressed, incredibly snooty hostess chased us down (and by chased, I mean practiced her runway walk) and directed us to our table right away. When we were seated, we got their regular menu, but had to wait for our server to come to get the DAT menu. This rubs me the wrong way sometimes, as then your server has time to decide if you'll get a little less attention, as you're ordering from the DAT menu. Anyway. Our waiter turned out to be decent, and earned major points as he agreed to sub in a dessert for me from the regular menu (more on that later).

Drinks: We both ordered cocktails and I remember thinking that they were creative, although I can't remember what they were. I do remember Dan's being a bright color and him reporting that it was a little sweet for his tastes. I also remember them taking a long time to arrive. Also worth mentioning is that while we didn't have any wine, the wine list is insane. It has a table of contents, and is 38 pages long. If you have the attention span to read through it, I'm sure you could find something terrific that you would enjoy.

Appetizers: Dan ordered the tuna carpaccio, which was smooth and creamy, but it wasn't overly flavorful and probably could be replicated at many other restaurants in the area. I had the potato gnocchi and it was tasty. Gnocchi always reminds me of soft little pillows, and these were no exception. They were, again, good but not great.

Entrees: I had the wood roasted chicken, which came on a potato puree with a side of greens. I remember being really unimpressed when our server put the dish down in front of me. It looked like a chicken that we could have made at home. But, as I started eating it, it did surprise me. The meat was moist, and the skin was crispy and the right amount of salty. The potatoes with it were terrific as well. Dan got the grilled calamari entree, which came as three large pieces of squid. He was pretty excited about it, because while fried calamari is pretty ubiquitous at restaurants now, it being prepared without all the breading was a nice change. Additionally, neither of us had ever seen it offered as an entree, so we were looking forward to trying it. However, Dan didn't rave about it afterwards, and seemed to be disappointed in the taste. It seemed the overall impression we were getting was "It's not bad, but it's not good either"

Dessert: However, tides were about to turn. The dessert that I had substituted is called the Milky Way and is something I had read about in other people's reviews of the restaurant. If it isn't the best dessert I've ever had, it is easily in the top five. Wow. It's the chef's rendition of the Milky Way bar, on a larger scale. It comes out with a dense fudge bottom layer, topped with two small scoops of malt vanilla ice cream and another, thinner, disc of fudge on top. Sounds unimpressive, until the server pours a creamer full of warm bourbon caramel on top of everything. The top chocolate layer completely melts away and the ice cream melts slightly and it all combines to become quite the food-gasm. I think Dan got a chocolate mousse cake thing, light mousse on top, crispy bottom layer that was good as I recall. But as I was spending this portion of my evening in a euphoric state, I wasn't really concentrating on his dessert.

The bad news: Leaving Bacar directly after dessert, I thought it was the most fantastic place on earth. However, the next day, reality set in and I realized that overall, our experience wasn't that great. We probably won't be returning for a meal off their regular menu, as nothing really was that impressive. And $40 for a pork chop entree is a little higher than I would pay for not impressed.

The good news: I do forsee Bacar and I having a long committed relationship for late night dessert and drinks if/when Dan and I are in the area.