| rev:text
| - I almost missed out on Botero because of the mixed Yelp reviews. Goes to show that it pays to dine outside the box from time to time.
Service was swell and the atmosphere excellent, trendy but not obnoxiously so, with lovely Boteros hanging all over the walls. There's a special kind of welcome in those paintings, an invitation to eat that can only be extended by adorable toonish fat people. Perhaps this explains why I stuffed myself to miserable excess.
It started with the bread tray, which came with three types of bread. I didn't try the sourdough, but the olive was great and the cranberry was absolutely fantastic. The bar was set, and it was high.
I came with a party of seven consisting of my very best friends who I've shared germs with since middle school, so this dinner was about as close to family style as you can get at a nice restaurant. I had a fork in every pot, and there were many, many pots. Everything was washed down with swills of a mellow pinot noir.
A shellfish tower kicked us off with fresh bites of select oysters, gulf prawns, Maine lobster, crab, and raw scallops in tangy sauce. I found the lobster to be the least enjoyable tier of that particular tower. The oysters and scallops were excellent.
For my meal, I ordered the olive oil poached halibut with haricot verts, fingerling potatoes, and warm balsamic vinaigrette. This was a lovely piece of fish. We split a variety of sides, which were great. The asparagus and mushrooms were solid, and the truffled mac and cheese was a knock-out, smooth, rich, and aromatic. The bone marrow with onion jam was a treat in that I'd never had bone marrow before, but I found it a little disappointing, with less flavor than I'd hoped for.
Bites from the buffet that is my friends' plates revealed a whole range of yumminess. My favorite of the bunch was the "pinwheel of wild salmon," which was salmon prepared two ways, both delicious. One involved a butternut squash and apple risotto, and the other a roasted cauliflower puree and lemon caper emulsion. The salmon was nicely cooked and the accompanying flavors were a good interesting mix of sweet, salty, and yum. Ahi tuna tartare with mango, avocado, and crispy ginger was also a notable dish. The organic roasted chicken and the prime rib were good, but not particularly moving. Ditto for the potato gnocchi with roasted tomato and parmesan - decent gnocchi but mildly boring.
Dessert was excellent. By the time the menus came around most of our party felt too stuffed to order and we ended up splitting two desserts (that's me eating 70%, the other six people eating 30%, as I am not a normal, socially acceptable human being). The warm banana bread pudding with homemade banana ice cream was just dazzling. The mini ice cream sandwiches (chocolate with vanilla, chocolate with mint, strawberry cheesecake, and rocky road) came in an adorable rack and tasted great, my favorite being the rocky road.
All in all, this was a fabulous meal in a pleasant environment. I was very happy that I had chosen to wear a rather billowy dress to dinner, because underneath those skirts, my belly was straight out of a Botero.
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