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| - When a bartender is wearing suspenders, listen to said bartender's advice on cocktails and the menu.
I struggled with the menu choices. Everything sounded amazing and I wish I could have tried a bite of each dish. But I also thought I could get really good fish tacos, or pasta or cheese plates elsewhere. I was secretly craving pizza, so I lingered on the flatbread list. I decided on the mushroom/truffle.
"Are you a vegetarian?" the bartender asked when I ordered. "No, not really," I replied. "Then don't get the mushroom," he said. After all, the place is called "Meat and Potatoes." So I asked for a small order of the fried taters with truffle mayo and the short rib (braised beef, bleu cheese) flatbread.
The Belgian-style frites were great, but I ate half of them and used the truffle mayo as a dip for the light, flaky, how-did-they-do-it buttery flatbread crust. The beef was tender and paired well with the cheeses and spicy greens. The pickled red onions were sweet and could have been sliced much thinner. Carmelized may have been a better option. Roasted, diced beets could have also given it a pop of red and and earthy note. Overall delicious.
The guys next to me at the bar were drinking the bartender's rum old fashioneds. A fan of brandy old fashioneds, I gave the cocktail a chance after learning the bar didn't have Korbel brandy (nope). Allspice syrup was the key to making this impossibly tiny, impossibly strong, impossibly delicious cocktail taste like Christmas and the solution for world peace. A common spice for braised beef, it paired well with the short rib flatbread. Ask for it.
Probably shouldn't go here if you're in a BIG hurry to eat or make the curtain call at one of the area theaters. Even at the bar, service was slow and the place was packed (reservations are pretty key here). But this place lends itself to taking your time, slipping slowly, and enjoying well-crafted food. As casual-hip as it was inspired, I had a great meal. So glad I went.
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