| rev:text
| - Although I'm not quite sure if Babalu's is named after Ricky Ricardo's signature song (Lucy you got some splainin' to do, and no you can't play at the club), I can tell you a couple of things. They are in fact a chain with restaurants spread from Tennessee to Florida. The concept is Southern style Tapas, with larger portions, and a Latin flair. There's even a "sharing tong" you can use to pilfer food when your friends aren't looking - hehe.
My family and I were lucky enough to take part in the Friends and Family. I'm a pretty friendly guy, right?
First off, let's talk decor. Superb job! Lots of details from electronics outlets and purse hooks under the high tops to the numerous Concert/Music reproduction posters along the ceiling. Speaking of the ceiling - check out the barn wood on one half that leads into the more industrial portion. Really cool bar with some chicken wire highlights. A huge indoor/outdoor patio. Well lit and just a nice warm feeling over all.
We were again, lucky enough to get Erica, a really awesome waitress. Hard to believe she was training - she's obviously done this before!
To start with we ordered the table side guacamole - a "Guac Star" employee will come over and cut and mash everything. Two full avocados, kosher salt, some other goodies and sun dried tomatoes served in a 15 pound lava rock bowl. At first you might think - hey this needs some salt and I don't taste the tomatoes at all. Let it mellow - the salt melts, the tomatoes rehydrate and pow- it has a totally different flavor and is ready to eat. If you run out of chips just ask for more.
We tried one of the Signature drinks the Baba-Rita - which was a perfect summer drink that packs a fruity punch (of alcohol!). Hooray for having local beers - I opted for Eat a Peach from Birdsong.
Erica told us the menu will change on a regular basis - today different sections had different menus to test drive the kitchen.
The Carnitas Tacos on blue corn tortillas were a standout. I also really enjoyed the Sesame Crusted tuna served on Jicama slices - very creative. The Chicken Satay was nicely herbed and grilled - the sauce really added to the flavor of the rice.
Dessert was probably best - they really outdo themselves in this department. The warm bread pudding with Kahlua with a dollop of tequila whipped cream was delicious, as were the cheese cakes bites with the richness and texture of ricotta.
To sum up - some of the food was 4 star and some 5 star ( dessert!!!!) - what bumped it to 5 for me, was Erica and the other staff who were so welcoming, efficient and professional. Hopefully they can keep this up!
Babalu is off to a great start! There are so many great places to eat in the area that it only makes the decision harder!
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)