To all previous Yelp friends who reviewed Carlos' Kitchen--THANK YOU! I was aware of Chef Carlos when he was at the other place a few blocks away but never went there. After being reminded of him by Susie H.'s recent review, this was on my to try list ASAP.
We arrived early last night (Sunday) after the Ribbon of Life show at the Smith Center. We were the only ones in the place. The server told us to sit anywhere we liked and she handed us the menus after we were seated. Before leaving, she read the specials of the day. There were two dinners, a wrap, and I believe a salad special. She had me hooked with the first thing she read--bleu cheese pasta with steak! I ordered that and my wife ordered Chicken Angelina.
The bleu cheese pasta was made with penne rigate and the steak was grilled, sliced, and placed in strips on top of the pasta. The bleu cheese sauce was exceptional. A great bleu cheese bite with every taste and there was extra bleu cheese crumbles spread on the pasta. My wife chicken Angelina was a seared chicken breast served on top of garlic spinach and mashed potatoes with large pieces of mushroom. It was topped with artichoke and there was a dijon cream sauce. She enjoyed it a lot!
Although we were both full, we had our minds set on having dessert we had looked at online earlier in the day. She got a chocolate molten lava cake and I got the chef's indulgence. Both were outstanding!!! The menu describes the indulgence this way: A Cheesecake Spring Roll, Crunchy Bites of Brownie and Mini Banana's Foster Cheesecakes, served with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, Fresh Strawberries and House Made Berry, Caramel & Fudge Sauces. For the single version there's one brownie bite and one mini bananas Foster, but that's more than enough. There are sweetened tortilla strips on the bottom of the plate. This is one of the most creative desserts I've seen.
Chef Carlos came to the table twice to check on us and we chatted about the food and what he'd done since he moved to this newer spot. The restaurant is almost completely closed from the VP bar so there's almost no smoke smell from the bar coming into the restaurant. I can really see this place coming onto our rotation list of places to go again and again. I'll call and ask the specials before I go. What a wonderful gem hidden away in this video poker bar! And, what a fantastic and creative chef Carlos is. He cares about his food and his customers.