Epic Portions

Tag: review

  • Sabor Latino (Ann Arbor, MI)

    I’m always looking for good Mexican restaurants in my area, so I get pretty excited when I can find one that is both authentic, and well reviewed. This was the case for Sabor Latino, in Ann Arbor. Everything I had heard said it offered delicious, authentic Mexican, Colombian and Puerto Rican dishes for a very affordable price. Morale was high.

    I’m a believer that it is fairly easy to make average Mexican food by throwing different peppers and spices together, but extremely difficult to make great Mexican food using fresh ingredients and family recipes.  It’s always disappointing to me when I come into a Mexican restaurant and see that their menu consists of unoriginal items like wet burritos, quesadillas and simple burritos.  This just happened to be the case for Sabor Latino.

    As I saw down, this restaurant seemed to fit all of my criteria for a great Mexican joint.

    1. The salsa seemed to be freshly made, the chips were warm and there was no charge.
    2. The building was not free standing.
    3. Our chips and salsa were brought by someone other than our server.
    4. The menus were slightly dirty.
    5. No yellow cheese
    6. The walls seemed to have been painted several times
    7. There were several sombreros hanging from the wall
    8. The menu was up front and simple.

    My hopes were extremely high.  Things began to go down hill from there.  The temperature outside that day was around 75 degrees, and as we walked in I realized that the restaurant was warmer than it was outside.

    The chips and salsa were a good start.  The salsa was served in a small jug and tasted pretty good.  It was a little over pureed, but the taste was pretty good and spicy.   We decided to start with a bean and chorizo dip.  What we got was one of the saltiest things I have ever eaten in my life.  I know chorizo adds a lot of salt to any dish, but this was absolutely ridiculous.  We found ourselves pouring salsa on top of the dish to attempt to cut the saltiness.  Also, the chorizo was somehow ground and combined into a huge pile of refried beans.  I expected somewhat of a layered dip with chorizo and cheese, but instead we got this over salted pile of beans.  The worst part?  Our waitress abandoned our table for ten minutes, leaving us dying for refills on our drinks.  We couldn’t get get through half of the appetizer because of the saltiness.

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    The menu was extremely limited, and I attempted to order from the specials menu which apparently is only available on Fridays.  I ended up settling on the fajitas with chicken, steak, and shrimp because the waitress said they were very good there.  I’m always very hesitant to order fajitas at restaurants because I like to think that my family has the best fajita recipe in the world.  My girlfriend, Stephanie, was more observant than I and saw that there was a daily special for chicken mole.  I was immediately jealous.

    When my fajitas arrived, and I was extremely disappointed before even trying them.  The platter contained more large cuts of bell pepper than any of the meats.  The peppers were only slightly roasted, and a large amount of liquid had formed under the toppings.  The next thing I noticed was that in my small plate of fajita accessories, there was no sign of any cheese.  No cheese on fajitas?  I was assuming it was some sort of mistake, but found out when I asked for a small side of cheese that it was a dollar extra.  Party foul.  The fajitas were extremely bland, and when I finished the meat I was left with a heaping pile of peppers and onions.  Not impressive at all.

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    Surely, the mole would be better.  Nope!  The shredded chicken was smothered in a mole sauce that had a little kick to it, but no real notable flavor.  I can’t even begin to write a detailed review because of the blandness of the taste.  You will have to settle for a picture of this one.  I will note that when I asked for some form of hot sauce or green salsa, the waitress gave me a confused look and stated there was none.

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    We ended up leaving most of the food we ordered because of the heat in the restaurant, and the lack of any impressive food on our table.  I would have to say this is the second least impressive Mexican restaurant I have ever visited, aside from the always terrible Tios in Ypsilanti.  I’m not sure if it was simply the selection of food we chose, the lack of quality service, or the heat, but I left extremely frustrated and unhappy with the experience.  I tried to write this review as nicely as possible, but if you want normal ranting John’s opinion.. It sucked.   Terrible.  Don’t ever eat there.

    Sabor Latino on Urbanspoon

  • BK Burger Shots – A Crime Against Humanity

    I decided to give Burger King’s new “Burger Shots” a try the other day. The King is not a place I frequent, but if I see commercials for a new food product I usually stop in and try it at least once.

    I ordered the four pack which came wrapped up in twos. Here is what they gave me:

    The first thing I noticed was that the buns were way bigger than the beef. Next, after removing the buns I realized that the beef was connected. The patties aren’t separate little slider patties like you get at White Castle, they’re actually more like Siamese twins that you have to rip apart.  There’s just something unappetizing about food that looks like it’s in the middle of mitotic cell division.

    Another problem was that the patties kind of tasted like a normal Burger King burger minus the whole flame broiled part. So basically completely over cooked and generally not good.

    I recommend that you never eat these things. Never ever.  Stick to your White Castle sliders and Krystals.

  • The Lark

    Very rarely do many people of my age and income get to visit a restaurant that is regarded as one of the best in the country. This past Friday I had the opportunity to visit The Lark in West Bloomfield, MI.  The Lark is in its 25th year and is serving, by far, some of the best food I have ever eaten.  Every course was absolutely incredible, and it represented one of the few times where I have been amazed by a restaurant.  Their chef, John Somerville has been the head chef for 3 years and is up for a James Beard award.   If you get the opportunity, I HIGHLY recommend you visit.   The cost is around $80 or so per person excluding wine which is pretty expensive, but honestly it is well worth it.  This was definitely a top 5 dining experience for me.

    Oh, I apologize for the quality of these pictures.  The restaurant is a tad on the dark side and I am not working with the greatest camera in the world.

    The wine list at this place is incredible.  They offer a main list and boast of a supplemental list with includes over 1,000 additional bottles.  My father chose a 1988 Chateau Lynch Bages, which went well with the meal.  I am not much of a wine person, but my father is a rather large wine lover.  We also begun the night with a glass of Krug champagne.

    The meal begun with the with the cold appetizer with oysters, shrimp, salmon, curry duck salad, and feta salad.  Basically how this works is they wheel around a tray with these options and you can pick which ones you want.  I, of course, opted to try everything and had seconds of the salmon.  I’m not usually a big fan of raw foods, but I had my mind changed for me.

    We then moved on to the warm appetizers.  The choices were a pepper bisque soup with feta cheese, scallops or a pasta dish that I can not recall.  I chose the pepper bisque which was absolutely delicious.  The pepper was slightly sweetened and the feta cut the sweetness perfectly.  My father ordered the scallops and apparently enjoyed them because he would not share them.

    The meal then moved to the salad, which always offers a challenge to me.  I could count the number of salads I have eaten in my life on one hand, so if a restaurant can create a salad that I will eat it’s one hell of an accomplishment.  I chose the spinach salad which came with beats and goat cheese.  All I can say about this is I ate it, and that is the highest compliment I could possibly pay to a salad.

    For dinner, the choice was easy.  The Lark is famous for their Rack of Lamb Ghangis Khan.  This dish has been featured on Emeril and is known across the country as some of the best lamb available.  You even get a certificate saying which number lamb you are eating (i believe mine was around 66,000) and the recipe they use.  It was surprising how simple the recipe was.  The secret seemed to be the quality of the lamb and the hoisin sauce, which is brushed on for the last five minutes of cooking.  I was amazed at how delicious and tender these things were.  It is completely possible that this was the best dish I have ever eaten.  It was served with dauphinoise potatoes and glazed carrots.

    I think I have done enough talking about how amazing this restaurant is, so I will end this review by saying that The Lark receives an A+.

    The Lark Resturaunt
    6430 Farmington Rd.
    West Bloomfield, MI 48322
    http://www.thelark.com