| rev:text
| - I'd heard about it, being that anything that pops up 'new' in Bellevue tends to be a hot topic of chatter for a few moments, and wanted to give it a try but never had the real motivation to get in the car a drive up the hill. Tried once when a friend was visiting, and, well, it was a Monday, and they weren't open. But finally had the chance to try it last night when another friend came by and we were hungry.
By all that I'd heard previously, it sounded like a suburban attempt at another pretentious bistroid, that would pop up and evaporate once the three trendy people in the area raved about it, then stopped coming, and the local yokels who are more Eat-N-Park-ish would avoid it.
I was rather pleasantly surprised that this was not the exact case. I mean it IS 'trendy'...for Bellevue. But then again just about anything not involving chicken fingers and the Sysco truck would be. Frankly, it's about the best of the Bellevue options.
Some prices are higher than they need to be, and some are pretty fair for what you get. I was somewhat budget crunched, and needed 'fair for what I got', so I opted for a burger (which I've been craving for almost a year since the damned Winghart's in Market Square burned, and has yet to reopen), and chose the Portabella Swiss burger with a side of fries. My friend had the grilled marinated chicken with fries and a side salad.
Coke products...always a winner in my book. So Diet Coke started me off, as well as an order of fried Zucchini.
The zucchini was tasty, though a little odd, being cut more like french fries, breaded and fried in what almost seemed like a light tempura batter. They didn't stay stiff for dipping, but were very good. I ordered a side of Ranch to stay away from the marinara, and it was fine, though a little watered down to be runny and not real clingy. I did taste the marinara though, and it wasn't too bad.
The grilled marinated chicken was pretty much just that. Chicken with brown stripes on it. The side salad was very basic.
I was actually rather surprised by my burger. 1/2 hand formed burger, topped with a nicely done portabella and melted Swiss, two tiny leaves of lettuce and two very thinly sliced small tomatoes. It came with a side of mayo, and the waitress found me some dark mustard so I could do my favorite burger swirl sauce, and I bit in. The fries that came on the side were real potatoes, skin and all, but they seemed a bit skimpy. Almost like they'd take one average sized potato, shoved it through the machine to cut it into strips, fried it up, then scattered it around the empty side of the plate to try to make it look 'full'.
I ordered the burger medium rare, and although color-wise there wasn't any red or pink, it wasn't dried out over cooked. It was actually very juicy and flavorful, as was the mushroom. Just the right amount of cheese, and when all was said and done (and swallowed), the amount of fries, which looked skimpy, was actually quite adequate.
The burger was $8 or $9, and the fries added another $1, the chicken was $10. The zucchini was around $8, and with the sodas the total bill came to $31. Not too bad at all. Similar in price to the other places in the neighborhood, BUT, they take credit and debit cards, where most of the local places will not, or if they do, they are pretty over priced.
The service was excellent. The gal was very friendly and helpful.
Apparently, this was Bellevue's night for a 'wine walk', and the downstairs space was participating, and it was a bit comical to see some of the wannabee hipsters coming and going, followed by the suburban haus frau types. Yay...free wine...go stillers...grunt, grunt...look how cool I think I am. Free floor show.
All in all...a much better option for the little village of Bellevue. As long as it's not a Monday, if I have a visitor and don't feel like driving all that far, it's really nice to see a local option that is viable in both food, price, and comfort level.
|
![[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)