4.5 stars
Oh House of Tricks, you are a sneaky devil aren't you?
Did you know I was coming? Is that why you pulled out all the stops for my visit? Did you know you were flirting with someone who doesn't give 5 stars freely? Is this always how you are, or are you only charming when good company is around? Well if you keep it up, you're going to get hit with 5 stars!
I have visited House of Tricks three times. The first time I was on a hot date with a couple and a dog (yeah, that's how I roll). We sat out on the bar patio and decided to order a few dishes to share with each other. We started with a cheese plate that was very good and did not lack variety. For the entree I chose the beef tenderloin rare. The other entree that was picked was the vegetarian lasagna. Now, with me being a well known carnivore I will say that I was nervous about a vegetarian dish. We were served a bread basket with butter. Here's one of my pet peeves: Cold bread with cold butter. Never the twain shall meld. One must be warm! Give me a softened butter on cold bread or warm bread with cold butter. Get it? Moving on.
Our dishes arrived after a short wait. Ah and how beautiful it was! The tenderloin was on a bed of mashed potatoes and greens and tasted wonderful! The meat was perfectly cooked! Now to try the lasagna! Omigosh! What a surprise! The lasagna was so delicious that I almost pushed aside my steak to eat the lasagna...almost. I sat back full and astonished at the great meal I just had!
The second visit I had was lunch with a coworker. I chose the Chili Rubbed Hanger Steak. It came with Asadero cheese stuffed tortillas with roasted Ancho sauce, avocado puree and cilantro rice. Perfection! Absolute perfection! Everything was delicious, flavorful and well executed! I'm not a fan of cilantro and I even enjoyed the rice! The visit was certainly a 5 star visit.
My third visit was for a dear friend's birthday dinner. I was so excited to go! For an appetizer I chose the foie gras and fig appetizer. It was so decadent. The mixture of savory/salty foie gras with a sweet fig mixture was heavenly! For my main dish I went with the tenderloin on top of a greens mixture and mashed potatoes. Everything was great until I started tasting WAY TOO MUCH salt. I am a salt lover and it turned out that the potatoes were oversalted. I called our servers attention to it and and she brought another dish out with just sauteed greens. It was perfect!
I adore House of Tricks. Their menu changes with the seasons and there is always something new I want to try on the menu. If it weren't for a couple VERY SMALL issues, I would give them 5 stars in a heart beat! I look forward to visiting the restaurant again VERY soon!