ABC Cocina
Summary
This apparently is one of Jean Georges Vongerichten’s upscale farm-fresh eatery, and it has a Latin American fusion influence. We came here without reservations on a weekday night and were seated at the communal table.
The spring pea guacamole with warm crunchy tortillas was actually pretty good. The chips themselves were nicely salted, and the big tortilla that came with the guacamole was more crunchy than the latter. The split pea guacamole had a nice fresh texture. I wish there was more citrus, but all in all a good start. The birthday friend I came here with thought it was amusing to interrupt my pictures during the n-times I took this picture. This one was the best of the collection of pics I took for this course.
The tuna tartare had chipotle aioli, chilies, and chives. This one was also pretty tasty and fresh. The previous guacamole and this contrast pretty differently, but it was still a good starter. The birthday friend thought it was amusing again to interrupt the picture, but I took it right before his action crossed the picture.
The raw shaved fluke came with green chili dressing, crunchy rice, and herbs. This one was pretty uneventful and tastes like how it sounds. It reminded me of ceviche with a slightly different flavor.
The roasted beet salad came with strawberries, chilies, and herbs. I was pretty indifferent from this one, mainly because I don’t care for salads all that much unless the dressing was a standout. I do like the red chilies, but you can already imagine how this tastes. It’s a fresh summer salad with a little heat and citrus in it.
The shrimp with sizzling garlic and chili aioli was alright. This definitely had more of a Sichuan like flavor to it than Latin American. It wasn’t spicy at all though. The shrimp itself though tasted a little on the fishy side there, so I wasn’t too thrilled about that.
The spring pea empanadas with green chili yogurt were a substitute for the maitake mushrooms since we both loathe mushrooms. The empanadas were quite good, although the chili yogurt was forgettable.
The crispy fish tacos with aioli, cabbage-chili, and pickles were probably my favorite non dessert course. The fish was very meaty and nicely cooked. I don’t remember the texture, but I vaguely recall it having a cod-like texture to it.
The arroz con pollo had with crackling skin and lemon zest. The chicken was very tender, but similar to when you marinate the chicken with corn starch for tenderizing. The crackling skin was flavorless. The rice was slightly overcooked for me as it came a little mushy. This dish as a whole did not have much flavor (read: salt) to it.
The tres leches cake came with roasted pinapple pieces and pineapple vanilla ice cream. The cake was pretty good although I rarely order tres leches when I see it on the menu.
The warm vanilla fritters were my favorite dessert for tonight. They came with mexican chocolate fudge on the bottom and chunks of mexican chocolate on the side. The vanilla fritters didn’t have much flavor in each bite, but you can scoop the fudge with chocolate chunks into the fritter for every bite.
The ambiance here was pretty loud and not my type of crowd for the most part. For whatever reason, women love to sit cross legged with their body positioned sideways. They take up more elbow space than the communal seats fit, so I was bumping elbows and bodies all night long with the woman next to me.
The service was pretty slow in general and quite bad, but I suppose people come here for both the Hollywood like dazzling of the food and ambiance. My water glass was constantly empty, so I had to flag servers a lot to refill. I really thought the food was alright, but not something I would highly recommend unless you love being out with people in a modern trendy restaurant. The farm to table theme is overplayed in my opinion, but if you’re craving for that, then this could be a win.
Final Verdict
If you’re intro trendy farm to table food with loud ambiances, this would be a great spot. If you want to hear your date, then skip.
Yelp Jabs
I actually see it more romantic than anything else. Honestly- with all this and style going on…Anita Baker sings it better- but I was caught up in the rapture of love.
I suppose if you desire to take a date to a loud open warehouse environments with loud untz trendy music, then sure.
Then we had 12 oysters. They were, I kid you not, the best oysters I have ever had.
If anyone mentions that this place had the best oysters ever, then their review can simply be discarded. No one in their right mind would ever equate “best” and “oysters” together at a trendy hip restaurant.