Roz, you are right about it not taking years to be considered a friend of the house. That was a bit of an exaggeration. That sounded like a wonderful experience at Benno, and a perfect example of hospitality and appreciating your customers, and treating them right.
In fact, we went to Bloom in Verona for the very first time last Friday. I didn’t mention it in my initial review but I did not exactly make the most graceful entrance. As soon as I was taking out my wine glasses, I preceded to accidentally break one glass and it shattered into many tiny pieces all over the table and chair. I was so embarrassed and apologized profusely. The owners and servers were very kind and told me not to worry about it. They moved us to another table and cleaned up the mess I made and were extremely friendly the rest of the night, like nothing happened. The owner came out several times to see how we were enjoying our meal, and we were effusive with praise. I wrote up a very nice review on Instagram, Yelp, & Trip Advisor and she thanked me. We liked this restaurant so much that we are actually returning tonight with our friends from Staten Island. We never return to the same restaurant a week later, but were treated so nice (as strangers) that we couldn’t wait to come back and share the experience with our friends.
Thanks Johnny. No, we couldn’t eat all of that fried food or steak at one sitting There were a ton of leftovers. That whale soft shell crab was huge and Mrs. P could barely eat one. It was originally prepared sauteed with different sides, but Drew very generously fried it up for us in a crispy panko batter, and provided different sides of the charred corn on the cob and crispy fries. The steak was delicious. It was cooked perfectly medium rare, and was smothered in garlic. The Chorizo con queso with homemade crispy tortilla chips was also a highlight.
Eli, The way Bloom handled your mini disaster speaks very highly for them. I hope your second experience is as wonderful as that first was. I look forward to reading your report.
By the way, if you’re interested in trying Benno, this would be an especially opportune time for you who prefers to BYO to go because they’re offering “Corkage-Free Weekends.” On Friday and Saturday nights, guests are invited to bring their own bottle(s) of wine, one per person, with no corkage fee. It began in July and continues until August 31st. (No need to bring glasses since, of course, theirs are top notch.) When we dined there a week ago Saturday, we took advantage of the offer. Michael brought a bottle of Pinot Noir and his Coravin. The staff took care of dealing with the Coravin and serving the wine.
Thank you Roz.
That is very generous of a high end restaurant like Benno to offer corkage free weekends, especially on the weekend. Some places might do that during the week. The menu looks fabulous, but we rarely go into the city, especially with the parking situation.
We had another excellent dinner at Drew’s. Besides the always excellent NOLA style broiled oysters, fried green tomatoes, and escargot Bordelaise, the unexpected surprise hit of the evening was Cajun seafood stuffed eggplant boat with panko breaded and fried eggplant, crawfish, crabmeat, sautéed shrimp, andouille sausage, eggplant stuffing, and Cajun sherry cream with a side of dressed greens. We had this around 2 years ago and have been begging Drew to put this on the menu ever since. It all went great with Mollydooker The Boxer shiraz. For dessert we took home version 2.0 of Drew’s famous SCCPT which contained a brownie crust instead of the usual pretzel crust. It was delicious, but I still prefer the original version with the salty pretzel crust. However, if I never had the original, this would still be one of my favorite desserts.
Wow, Eli and Greg hot two of my favorite spots the same night! Nicely done fellas. Great pics. I ended up eating way too much after eating boat load of Italian charcuterie
For the “main course” we had some sirloins, grilled buffalo wings, some kind of Asian inspired grilled wings, dry rubbed cribs with some Sylvia’s seasoning, shrimp salad, cuc/red onion/tomato salad, arugula salad, Nathan’s natural casing dogs, COB, baked beans, and of course some crabs.
We had another great dinner at Drew’s. We shared several appetizers of excellent crispy pork rilette with pickled peaches and ginger sweet potato puree; roasted local delicata squash salad with hazelnuts, dried cranberries, goat cheese, arugula, dijon vinaigrette, and a balsamic reduction; seafood eggplant balls stuffed with crawfish, crabmeat, and a remoulade. Mrs. P had her usual Nashville hot chicken and I had an excellent Octoberfest special of beer braised pork shank osso buco with a delicious smoked kielbasa sausage, cracklings, barrel sauerkraut, and smashed potatoes. It all went great with a 2015 Apriori red blend.
We had another excellent dinner at Drew’s. Besides the usual
NOLA style broiled oysters and Nashville hot chicken, I had a fork tender apple cider braised Duroc pork osso bucco, maple chipotle smashed sweet potatoes and apple pork jus. Drew also generously made us a spicy shrimp and grits in the style of the now closed Tillie’s. Drew also made us pork ribs with an Autumn spice dry rub, with Autumn squash risotto, and spicy cranberry sauce. We also had escargot Bordelaise with Benton’s country ham, sherry demi glace, garlic butter, and grilled bread. There were plenty of leftovers. It all went great with a 2017 Block 665 cabernet.
Ate at Drew’s last week. Not much to add to @paryzer’s monthly reports, other than to confirm that Drew is very much on the top of his game. Had been a while since my last visit, but didn’t seem that my business was missed. The room was packed the entire time and quite lively … an overall very fun atmosphere. Oh, and if you order a salad to share, Drew generously provides each diner with what must be close to a full-size salad. And the sweet potato gelato sundae was imaginative and delicious. Well done!!
We had another excellent dinner at Drew’s. Besides the usually awesome NOLA broiled oysters, and Nashville hot chicken, Drew generously made us a spot on version of Tillie’s spicy shrimp and grits, and we had a spicy 2 potato gumbo with sweet and red potatoes, along with andouille sausage, tasso ham, and rice. I had an excellent fresh mushroom cavatelli with truffle cream, black pepper and parmesan. It all went great with an excellent Shaw and Smith Shiraz. We took home the originally delicious SCCPT for dessert. The pictures aren’t that great because with daylight savings time there is no more sunlight by the window, and the lighting was dark and shadowy (which is fine for eating but not for taking pictures)
I think Drew’s made Tillie’s spicy shrimp and grits for me after I said how much I would miss Tillie’s shrimp and grits, now that they are closed. These were spot on. Drew’s regular shrimp and grits that are currently on the menu are more on the creamy buttery side. They are also excellent, but just a different preparation. Although I have heard that Drew used to make a spicy version many years ago.
We had another awesome dinner at Drew’s. Drew was nice enough to make us spicy Cajun crawfish with the same spicy sauce that he used for the shrimp and grits last month. Drew also had a refreshing special of tuna ceviche tostada with jalapeño, onion, tomato, cilantro and lime. The last appetizer we had was PEI mussels puttanesca with spicy olives, capers, and tomato sauce. For an entree I had an excellent special of voodoo surf and turf with Drew’s voodoo shrimp and blackened NY strip steak with that voodoo shrimp sauce. It all went great with Mollydooker The Boxer shiraz.
We had another outstanding dinner at Drew’s. He had some excellent specials including a huge Cajun empanada; tender octopus with a nice char; burrata, muffuletta, and spicy nduja. Drew also generously made us some spicy Cajun shrimp and grits. Drew ran out of the magret duck breast but substituted excellent crispy duck leg confit. It all went great with a 2011 Charbonniere Chateaunef Du Pape.
There were a ton of leftovers. That whale soft shell crab was huge and Mrs. P could barely eat one. It was originally prepared sauteed with different sides, but Drew very generously fried it up for us in a crispy panko batter, and provided different sides of the charred corn on the cob and crispy fries. The steak was delicious. It was cooked perfectly medium rare, and was smothered in garlic. The Chorizo con queso with homemade crispy tortilla chips was also a highlight.
