I saw them on food network, and was unable to shake them off my mind. The Lobster roll looked so darn good! just look at it! This is no a picture from a random search. This Lobster roll was MY Lobster roll. Although Soho is a but out of my way, I took a trip with my husband and a couple friend.

My rating?

it's hard to say. It has LOTS of Lobster meat, I give you that one. For me, I wanted half the Lobster  and half the price. To my surprise, the Lobster itself was not that impressive. It certainly did NOT taste like it was killed a few minutes ago. It had that weird chemically taste you sometimes get from shrimp? It wasn't that big, rich, lobster taste that I am used to. Tasted almost watery...?

I mean, after I ate 2/3  of the lobster mountain, I was able to pick it up and eat it like a roll. The combination of buttery toasted bread and mayo based lobster was very nice. But when I was eating that top half, it was not a big smile moment. More like... Hmmm? moment.


The friends I went with went back there for some oysters and clams. They said it was very lovely. So I would love to try that some time, especially now that the season is juuuust right :)

MESA grill

Sure, I do like to try restaurants owned by celebrity chefs :)

This is actually the first Bobby Flay restaurant I've been to.
My baby niece and family was visiting, so we needed to get a reservation at a restaurant that serves wonderful food, good with big group, AND is casual enough to bring a baby along. The server was very cooperative with the baby situation, and I can't really say much negative comment about MESA grill.

We ordered the corn soup for the baby since she could not wait too long. She Loved it (and so did we!!) the purest sweetness of the corn was so boldly present in this bowl of soup! it's healthy, and no chewing required :)

Let me talk about their meats though.

BEST MEATS! on TV, I see him cook lots of meats. It's no secret that he is a big carnivore.  About half the table ordered the filet mignon. It was cooked PERFECTLY: Moist, tender, melt-in-yo-mouth, and just plain good quality! And I am a sauce girl. So I appreciated the sauces the block of meat sat on. 

We had some desserts which were also yummy and satisfying, but I cannot tell you know what they were exactly. I just know that one time I went there, we left the restaurant full, satisfied, and happy.

 I had the rabbit. SOooo good! I loved the cous cous as well!

 Filet mignon. Just lovely

 Check out the perfection inside

 churros with two sauces. very shareable and comforting!

craft bar

Craft Bar.

Wonderful location, fine ambiance, nice servers....

But I really regret having to say that there was nothing spectacular about their food.
We ordered a few appetizers, and the only one that we really liked was the simple tomato salad.
I had the squid ink pasta. I thought it was very tasty, but also very salty. We were hungry enough that I did not want to comment on it and wait for another plate to return. My husband had the Duck Confit. We almost never go wrong with Duck Confit, right? meh. This one was somewhat bland and disappointing. My friend had the white fish, which was also boring.

For dessert, we had strawberry tart with lemon curd. THAT was delicious. Very very tart, but I like that in this kind of dessert.

So over all, I do not have the desire to go back, but maybe it was my expectation being too high from being told that the restaurant was very good.
I really want to try the craft restaurant, which is another sister of the craft bar. I heard their dishes are more expensive, but I am willing to give it a go :)

 

Tomato Salad

 

Fonduta

 Liver terrine, I think

 Squid ink pasta

 not so impressive duck confit

white fish

wild strawberry tart

Buttermilk blueberry muffins

These are the best blueberry muffins I've ever made!

I have tried many other recipes, of course, but this one is the moistest, yummiest, fluffiest muffins ever! I really think the amount of sugar in this can really be reduced depending on how sweet your blueberries are. Mine was very sour.
But I still only used 1 cup of sugar and sprinkled some extra on top before baking with some cinnamon :) Yum~
I tend to always go for recipes with buttermilk. I really love the tanginess it brings and I swear, it produces the finest, most moist crumbs!

Give this a go! You really will never look for another recipe again!




Here is the recipe

Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins, makes 18 muffins
1 ¼ cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
¼ cup butter, melted
¼ cup oil
2 ½ cups flour
2 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 cup buttermilk


** She has a wonderful step by step photo to show you with the instructions!!