Bashan

05/19/08

REALLY GREAT food, intimate setting

by susannap at Citysearch

So I'm always reading reviews but never written one before, so I really wanted to say something about this place, seeing that it's still pretty new and not a lot of people have heard about it. First of all, the food is SO AMAZING, we got the 7 course menu and everything that came out was truly unique and soo flavorful. I've been to a lot of nice restaurants, but the food at Bashan really stands above the rest in quality, creativity, and most importantly, taste!! I loved the braised short ribs and the desserts were awesome, especially the banana cake with peanut butter toffee. The ambiance is really great as well-- the staff was extremely courteous, attentive and just very personable in general... we also got to meet the chefs, who were really laid-back and friendly, so that was cool. I would say this place would be perfect for a date or special occasion to take someone you care about b/c you truly get the full experience of fine dining, with top-notch food and a great atmospere-- without the frou-frou pretentious feel that often comes with other restaurants.

DEFINITELY RECOMMEND IT!

• Pros: unique food that is just SO GOOD
• Cons: somewhat obscure location

05/04/08

Hidden Gem!!!

by chateaume at Citysearch

Wow I had no idea Montrose was stepping it up a notch, this restaurant rocks! The place is perfect for meeting with friends or having a little one on one time, wink wink nudge nudge. But best of all the food is outstanding!! Every plate my friend and I had was beautifully presented and the taste sent me to new heights. The wine list is small but full of boutique wines that are hard to find. The service was smooth and welcoming. Better try this soon before the Hollywood peeps find it.

• Pros: Food, service romantic
• Cons: none

04/11/08

Best rip off in the area

by sogliola at Citysearch

Here is an ambitious chef way over his head. The restaurant presents itself as a fine and somewhat sophisticated eatery, and so look the dishes, extremely minimal, nicely presented and expensive. Unfortunately the food does not match the pretentious appearance. The "burrata and bresaola salad" (appetizer) came as a small ball of burrata, that tasted more like old mozzarella di bufala than burrata, wrapped in 2 super thin slices of bresaola on an ambiguous salad with dates, endive and parsnips($15). As main corse I had the steelhead (a salmonoid trout) , seared as anybody could sear in a non-stick pan, that was dry, over some extremely salty cooked arugula and with a little blob of something vaguely resembling a super runny risotto with pearl onions, sweet potato and dry tomatoes, of ambiguous flavor ($24). The bread was gummy and as a freebie you get a quarter of a teaspoon of chopped olives with one tiny tiny carrot juice (!!). But we did have 2 waitresses waiting on us, which I believe is what you really pay for. The corkage fee is $15. This was a very disappointing dinner: if you want to be fancy then you can't serve this kind of food: Bashan needs to do a lot of work to justify its prices . And it could also learn to use the right amount of salt, as a start. I will never go back.

• Pros: None
• Cons: Small portions, ambiguous flavors, very expensive for what you get