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| - Go for the tots and taps. That's all you need.
The BF and I headed to The Side Door on a sunny, unseasonably warm Friday afternoon. We were a little confused to where it was until we saw a small sign with an arrow that pointed forward then left in a little table-filled walkway to the right of Samba. Once you get to the back of the walkway there's a door that leads down a few stairs and into a nice open bar and seating area.
The Side Door is nothing fancy, but it's pleasant and, when we went, blessedly uncrowded. There's a large tap menu on the wall and they drop off several stapled pages listing the taps off at your table. While we skipped drinks on this go-round, there were a lot of tempting options.
We started with the Baked Potater Tots - handmade tater tots doused with cheese sauce, sour cream, and bacon. They were phenomenal. Obviously terrible for you, but worth the caloric intake when you're craving that sort of thing. The taste reminded me of Tato Skins chips from my childhood, but, you know, with real ingredients.
My gent and I each took down half the order, and I honestly could have stopped after that. I was full, but I'd already ordered dinner when we put in our tots order.
I had ended up going with the Sunset Burger but with a black bean patty and no egg. On paper, the combination sounded good - potato bun, black bean burger, cheddar, guacamole, bacon-bourbon jam, lettuce, and tomato - ingredients I've eaten together several times before. The execution, however, didn't work for me. The bun was a little dry, the black bean burger's seasonings didn't meld with the rest of the toppings [not their fault, I made the substitution], and the bacon jam was almost non-existent. At first I thought they left it off (which would make sense with my meatless patty and no egg request) but the server said it was on the bottom bun. I had looked before asking her for the jam, and when I double checked it with her at the table she said the jam was what I thought was grease spots on the bun. My previous experiences with bacon jam is a chunky, rich mahogany spread, not an oil that's melted into the bread. The server did offer extra jam, but I decided to just eat it as the kitchen intended now that I knew it was there. With the black bean patty I couldn't taste it.
The side salad I chose with my meal was just mixed greens and a side of my dressing choice - fine but nothing special. If there's going to be nothing to the salad besides greens I wish it came dressed with an interesting house dressing. Next time I'll have to look more closely at the menu to see what the dressing choices are and see if there's something better than my default choice of ranch when I don't know my other options.
Now, my burger and salad weren't bad by any means, it was just a swing and a miss for my taste buds. The service and tots were great and I would happily return for them, and maybe venture into an entree salad or a flatbread pizza next time around if we're not going to gorge on the tots.
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