Trial and Error

A friend of mine is opening a new restaurant, A5 Steak Lounge, in the old Frisson space. They were having a "Friends and Family" trial dinners so Wil and I decided to check it out. The space looks pretty much the same as when it was Frisson except they got rid of the cool orange upholstery and changed u pthe fabrics a bit. Our first course was the hamachi shooters (above, left). The glass they came in were too tall to really shoot them. All the staff raved about them as being "amazing" (as did A5's shillers on Yelp). We thought they were just okay.

Next dish was the side of broccoli rabe. This was done very poorly. No carmelization of the vegetables and topped with cheese.











This was the crab poppers (sorry poor pic). The frying was just right - light and crisp and the crab remained succulent. The sauce was nice and tangy too. But please do something with the name. So far in the meal, we've had a "shooter" and a "popper" - I feel like I'm eating at TGIFridays or Applebees with the nomenclature.











The seabass was delicious. The fish was flakey and juicy. The bit of fried shallot on top was just the right textural contrast. The saucing was a tad saltly for me, but we won't nit pick.

Finally our rib eye. Odd that they pre-slice for you. But I guess maybe as a bar bite. The done-ness was right (medium rare), but can you see the piece of gristle right in the middle of our steak? Yep, that middle piece is all gristle! WOw, for a steak place, someone is not trimming the meat properly or using meat that should be scrapped. Also the salting on this piece of meat was intense. I felt like I needed a kidney flush after eating a piece. In fact, we ordered beers to help quell the saltiness.

The restaurant needs a lot of polishing before they are ready for primetime both in the food preps but also the service - it was hilarious amateur hour.