LA woman on a quest to eat her way through Los Angeles

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Dining with Frankie and Dean



So, I dined at Jar last night. Let me start off by saying I felt like Frankie , Sammy, Dean, and Peter were going to walk through the door at any minute. The decor was modern retro. I don't even know if that's a real thing, but that's what it felt like. Ok, enough about that. Let's get to the food.

I had the Fried Ipswich Clams, cocktail sauce and roasted garlic tartar sauce as an appetizer. I was not that wild about them, and I love clams. I mean, they were tasty, but I wasn't super excited about them. I was ho hum about the tarter sauce and the cocktail sauce tasted like cocktail sauce. BUT, I was very excited about what I found underneath those little clams...crispy, grated potato goodness. It was a nice little surprise. They were crispy and delicious and a nice break from traditional fries.

My entree was the Char Sui Pork Chop. I ordered duck fried rice and braised mustard greens as sides. Ok, pork is delicious. I spent many years denying how tasty it is. While, I still dislike bacon, I have grown to love tenderloin, pork chops, and pancetta. Anyway, back to the chop. First of all, it was huge. The char sui sauce was really nice and I could taste the flavor throughout the meat. Mmmm. The sides were very good. The duck fried rice was delicious. I'm a big fan of the duck. So, the duck fried rice had me at hello. I also think it was prepared with brown rice. Sad to say, I'm not sure. All I can say is thumbs up! Now the mustard greens. I've eaten my share of mustard greens. I enjoy greens a great deal. So, I had high expectations. Thankfully, they were prepared quite nicely. Very flavorful. However, in the back of my mind, I could just imagine my mother having a fit about me spending $9 on a side of mustard greens.

Dessert. Yes, I had dessert. I was so full, but Banana Cream Pie was on the menu. I LOVE banana anything. It was a nice-size tart overflowing with bananas and cream. OH, and a nice little caramel drizzle. Mmmm. The cream itself was not sweet. As someone who grew up with banana pudding, it was a bit of a shock. However, coupled with the sweetness of the caramel, it worked...subtle.

I also had a glass of wine...white, of course. On the sweet side. I wanted a glass of Riesling or Gewurstraminer, but they did not come by the glass. The sommelier recommended a nice white (don't remember the name--I was kinda busy with my pork chop). So, it was really nice. The sweetness of the wine worked well with the sweetness of the pork.

In the end, I racked up a nice little tab---a subject I will explore on another day. But, I have lunch for today as well. Overall, great meal.


1 comment:

melette said...

It sounds like a good meal. That duck fried rice sounds great. I've never had duck before. Oh, and welcome to the blog world.