Barton G's

There is dinner theater and now there is theater dinner! That's my impression of over-the-top Barton G.

The website is sophisticated, the room is subtle, the clientele [at least on this Sunday evening] is family-oriented and very casual. The food is good [not excellent] but the props are very disconcerting and this makes the food difficult to eat. Not what I expected.

One of their specialties is the mixed drink; double portioned liquid nitrogen foamy creations. We opted for wine: Tour de Pez, St. Estephe [$82].

Appetizers: Lobster Pop Tart served in a toaster [$27] with three dipping sauces, Tour Eiffel Foie Gras [$26] served in the freaking Eiffel Tower with a blue light on top but prop removed for eating and my Sashimi Cones [$18] of Tuna and Salmon sushi-grade fish draped over two snow cones with caviar on one and wasabi on the other and accompanied by two sorbet, blood orange and wasabi.

Salad: we split a Burrata and Heirloom Tomato salad with onion tart [$24]


Entrees: Chinese Duck [$29] served in a guess what? a big duck decoy holding a plate of duck two ways, Southern Fried Chicken [$24] served in a big holder shaped like a chicken with mashed potato and creamed corn. We also shared a side of sauteed Spinach [$9] which was perfectly done. My entree was the least theatrical: Twisted Lamb Chop Tajine [$42] served in a tajine over spiced greens and figs. This came with toasted flatbread, cucumber raita [excellent] and tabbouleh.

Dessert: shared an order of Beignets [$18]; chocolate, vanilla and plain with chocolate sauce, raspberry preserves and whipped cream. Two coffee and a Lemon Ginger Tea [for me]

The check came in a little envelope with 'The Damage' [so too cute!] printed on it.

bloginfo: check out this cool website Barton G. Weiss is the Chef and runs a high end catering service. Maybe that is why there were so many children in the place celebrating birthdays.
blognote: My brother-in-law, the chef, picked up the check for the wine. Thank you.

Damazonia Chocolates

On my way back to Miami, I stopped to shop at the Duty Free Shops in the Belo Horizonte Airport [CNF]. I purchased some Damazonia Chocolates; not cheap @$11US a package of 14 tiny chocolates. But they are delicious with a very high cocoa content and each filled with a tropical fruit or nuts from the Amazon River area. Great with white wine and mixed fresh fruit over vanilla ice cream.

blognote: damazonia website with great music and graphics

Xapuri

This is a great restaurant specializing in Mineira cuisine which is "miner's food". This is very hearty food presented as it would be at home. Fantastic ambiance in that you sit at wooden plank tables on benches under a 'thatched' roof with open sides. The place is huge and can seat well over a hundred.

For appetizers we [five of us] ordered Bolinho de Mandioca [balls of fried manioc] and a grill platter of Linguica with onions which was perfectly split and grilled.

Main dishes: a 1/2 order of Frango con quiabo [Stewed chicken in okra], Moranga [a pumpkin stuffed with dried beef and cheese and baked in the oven] which was certainly the specialty of the day as we saw it being served at many tables in many sized pumpkins. It was delicious and beautifully presented. The final entree was a Picado filet [pieces of steak in a delicious sauce]. The table was also laden down with various extras: rice, beans, vegetables and then there was the sauce and condiment tray. We ate for two hours.

We skipped the dessert [sobremesa] course which was another complete buffet. We did enjoy [included with the dinner] cups of strong Brazilian coffee, espresso quality, with cookies and cake.

The entire meal above [including tip] came to R$230.23 which converts to less than $100. Find that around here!

bloginfo: check out the website
blognote: the restaurant is a little hard to find at Rua Mandacaru - Trevo but I saw directions and map on Google

Brazilian Pizza @ Fiori

Had Brazilian pizza last night in Belo Horizonte.
I should definitely open a Brazilian pizza place in Connecticut. I would either make a fortune or go broke because of the amount of ingredients. It was absolutely delicious. We had a large with 'Suprema' on one half and 'Moda' on the other. The Suprema had shredded chicken and three cheeses and the Moda had two cheeses, peppers, bacon and linguiça. I don't know which I prefered as they complemented each other so well.

This place was just a neighborhood place but it was super. Lots of families were enjoying the food and there was even a birthday party [the have a little playground for the kids]. I understand it gets quite crowded later. If you ever get to BH or even to Brasil, you have to try Brazilian pizza.

bloginfo: Fiori is located in or near the Ciudade Novo section of the city
blognote: I guess the pizza blog war is still going on in Marlborough; lots of comments.

fratelli Lyon

Before leaving for Brazil, we had an interesting meal last night at Fratelli Lyon in the Design District of Miami. The room is very industrial, heavy on the color orange, situated next to a furniture/decor store. The dining room shared a common wall and the two rooms complemented each other.

Apps: two salads; one fennel and the other bibb, both interestingly dressed. one gorgonzola fondata; a dish of melted gorgonzola topped with lots of toasted focaccia swimming in the delightful mess [each @$12].

Entrees: Petto d'Anatra [duck breast a little to the medium rare ($26)]; Ravioli Evalina [house recipe ($16)] and my lamb stuffed tortellini [$17] which was the perfect sized amount of delicious lamb in home made tortellini on a mint sauce [anid I don't mean mint jelly, dear]. A nice bottle of Poggio d'Arna accompanied the meal [$49].

I skipped dessert but tasted a bit of both the others: a berry Panna Cotta and a piece of the cake of the day [$10 each].

bloginfo: 4141 NE 2nd Ave, Miami, FL
305.572.2901 with website here
www.fratellilyon.com
blognote: we started outside but the sun was blinding and the traffic loud; a good place to sit at night

Pollo Tropical

We usually theme dine after a play but couldn't find anyplace serving mockingbirds. So we ended up at Pollo Tropical. This place has been getting good reviews and had wanted to try it.

Food is good but lacks that 'criollo edge' found at many island eateries on Park Street and Franklin Avenue. It is, after all, a chain. You order food at the counter, get a number and retrieve the food when it's ready.

I had the chicken and ribs [$8.69] with yellow rice and black beans. The half chicken is well seasoned and the small rack of ribs has a lot of flavor. Where it lacked was in the sides. There is a large salsa bar with a good assortment of condiments; the mojo was strong and the guava barbecue sauce was sweet and lush. There were two strengths of a cilantro/tomato salsa, the mild one a little watery.

The others tried the yucca, white rice and the roast pork tropical. All were good but not terrific. We ended with an order of fried sweet plantains which were right from the fryer. They got a couple of flan to go.

bloginfo: 465 Flatbush Avenue, Hartford, CT and the website has a lot of info.
blognote: Saw lots of these in Miami so they seem to be more Cuban than what I am used to. Will try it out again!