The other night Mel and I went out to Bar Louie for a night out since we haven't had a night out with just the two of us in a while because she has been out of town for the past two week for work. We had been there before, but it had been somewhere between 8-12 months ago.
We started off with the potstickers. The actual potstickers were standard fare pork potstickers. Similar to what I made here. The sauce was different though. They call it their "szechuan" sauce. It had a nice little kick of crushed red pepper to it, with some garlic, and ginger. I also got some sweet form corn syrup I think. Overall they were a little better than expected because of the sauce.
Mel ordered the BBQ pulled pork sandwich. The pork was tender and the sauce reminded me of more of a Carolina or a Memphis style sauce. It was not a thick as a KC or Texas style sauce but thinner. It had a nice spice of black pepper and a slightly sweet/sour thing going on. It also came with crispy fried onion topping the pork. All of this was on a sesame bun. It was pretty good for not being a BBQ place.
I got the El Burrito Loco. It is a wet burrito with steak, seasoned rice, beans, lettuce, cilantro, tomatoes, and salsa verde and roja. It was pretty good. I would not call it exceptional though. For my taste there was not enough steak and too much rice. It did make for a great dip for my tortilla chips though. However I think I prefer the build your own burritos from Qdoba or Chipotle.
The first time we went we started with the hummus, tabbouleh, and tzatziki, platter which was excellent. I Got the BBQ pulled pork sandwich and Mel got the Tuscan chicken pasta.
Service was pretty good. My only real problem is with the drinks. They are good. The coconut mint lemonade that Mel had was fantastic. However they are also very expensive. All of the drinks on the bill were $10. The problem is that I have been to places that cost considerably less for the same or similar drinks. Take a $10 margarita compared with a $4.00 one from Sazaracs. Even more upscale restaurants like Bistro Bella Vita have many drinks less than $10, with the priciest cocktails and martinis topping off at $9.99.
I do enjoy going I have to say. It is close, fairly nice with a good menu and good food. Like I said my only grip is the price of drinks. It quickly adds to the cost of the meal.
