Bar Artisanal (http://www.artisanalbistro.com/) When walking in, you are immediately impressed by the large, well lit space with extremely high ceilings. There is a bar, a cheese bar and then various tables throughout. Now I must warn you now... we didn't not have the most "pleasant" experience with the host staff... When we arrived there were a number of open tables, however since we didn't have a reservation we were told the only place for us to sit was at the cheese bar.. host was rude and not accommodating whatsoever. So off to the cheese bar we went for a glass of wine and to scope out the cheeses before getting seated at a real table. We were given a cheese menu to look at (it's great cause you can check off the cheeses you like/want), however be careful asking to borrow a pen- if you don't return it immediately the person behind the cheese counter will stalk you 3 hours later to get it back!
Off to our table... LOTS of menus- they provide a small menu for you to "check off" which small plates you would like to try, a cheese menu (with suggested pairings), a wine/beer menu and finally a main menu. We enjoyed the wine we had started with (Albariño), but when we asked for a bottle to accompany dinner we were told that they had run out which was slightly disappointing. The cheese selection is fabulous as it is a collection of some of the great cheeses by Artisanal (www.artisanalbistro.com), so we started with a cheese plate- the cheeses were delicious! All of our favorites- Epoisse, Camembert, Taleggio, Gruyere, Humbolt Fog. It was a little difficult getting our waitresses attention, so we were unable to "pair" all of the cheese with wine since we ran out of wine and didn't get a refill until it was too late:(
For our main course we ordered a pizza, chicken, green beans and mac & cheese..... The pizza was good, but nothing to write home about. Now, here is where the meal took a serious turn for the worse... the chicken was SO salty, one bite was the equivalent of pouring a jar of salt into your mouth, and part of the chicken was raw....the green beans were good (only thing we were truly able to eat and enjoy), and to our disappointment our waitress forgot our mac & cheese! So overall, this was very disappointing.... Dessert managed to "save the night". The cherry creme brule was fabulous and the hazelnut mouse melted in your mouth. So overall, we could only suggest popping into Bar Artisanal for a nice cheese selection or dessert, but I don't see us running back anytime soon...
Enjoy the video.....
Friday, July 24, 2009
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