Brasa Bar Menu

[heyjude]

While you were all sitting around beefing, Richard and I and two friends went to Brasa for the half-price 5:00 to 7:00 PM bar menu. What a deal. We shared 8 dishes and one dessert and several drinks for under $100 including tip. This was more than we could finish, but we wouldn't have missed any of it. We started with two salads, one a wild greens and the other a spinach with a delicious Cabrales cheese. Good bread was served and replenished. Next came roasted mussels, large, juicy and sweet and some very spicy ribs. All of this was handled and paced well by our server, who then brought frites and Spanish Pork sandwich. Not slowing down by much, we finished up the mains with Cataplana Fish Stew, very generous with a spicy coconut milk broth, and a grilled chicken crostini sandwich. The signature Brasa Sundae was elegant and enough for all of us. It is layered with brownie, fruit and sauces. We will go back to try all the menu items we missed. There was a large birthday party nearby, but between the waiter and the busboy service was very adept. I'm sure they could handle an eGullet group.

[Schielke]

awesome, I have been meaning to drop by there for a long time.

Is the happy hour all week (monday-friday) or just some days?

Ben

[Blue Heron]

heyjude, thanks for the timely review. I was just asking about the Brasa bar menu at the Olive Oil tasting last weekend as I've been curious about it, too. Glad to hear you had a good experience there. I think it would make a great place for an eGullet get together, too. It looks like it is offered 7 days a week.

Here is Brasa's bar menu: Click Here

[heyjude]

Ben, go look at their website, www.brasa.com. They have all their menus posted with days and times.

[nightscotsman]

Half-price on that menu? Sold! Just tell me when.

[LaurieA-B]

Tamara Murphy of Brasa is cooking at FareStart in two weeks. Here's the schedule of upcoming chefs. I see that the chef from the Capitol Club, which nightscotsman recommended, will be there next week. I am rather flummoxed to see that the PF Chang's dinner is sold out.

I haven't been to a FareStart dinner, but I hear they're great and money goes to a good cause. Dinner is $16.95 plus tax/tip/beverage, every Thursday. We should make it an egullet night some time.

[tsquare]

Had fish with house made bacon, wild salad, and battered and fried onion strings for dinner at the bar last week. Half price, I left $10 including tax and tip! Hard to beat.

[MsRamsey]

Had fish with house made bacon, wild salad, and battered and fried onion strings for dinner at the bar last week. Half price, I left $10 including tax and tip! Hard to beat.

How'd you manage to spend less than $10? Did they forget to charge you for something?

[tsquare]

Bar menu prices between 5 and 7 pm are half price. All that was one plate. I think the original price was $13? Have to admit, I did not drink!

[MsRamsey]

Bar menu prices between 5 and 7 pm are half price. All that was one plate. I think the original price was $13? Have to admit, I did not drink!

Hmm . . . the menu has the 3 things you ordered listed separately with 3 separate prices. I still wonder if they made a mistake.

[tsquare]

No mistake - you can order the salad or onions ala carte, but they come with the fish. Same deal with steak frites - steak comes with fries and salad. Good portions - not overwhelming. Helps to ask if you aren't familiar with their plates. Makes a great cafe dinner.

[MsRamsey]

Cool! Thanks for explaining it!

[mamster]

Ten bucks? Next time I get out of work in time to make it down by seven, I am so there.

[Schielke]

I was both delighted and disapointed with my first trip to Brasa to sample their super cheap bar menu.

Food=Delight

The three of us ordered the following dishes: Pan-fried sea bass with bacon shallot vinagrette; Spicy Short Ribs; Mashed Potatoes; Green olive, tomato, and chorizo pizza; and Calamari (cant remember the name they used).

All the dishes were very nice, esp the fish dish I had. The sauce on the short ribs was a bit underwhelming but still fairly tasty. The mashed potatoes were pretty average. The pizza had a really wonderful crust that I loved. The squid had the perfect texture of being not too chewy and just chewy enough.

Overall I was overjoyed at the kind of food I was having for the price. Go Brasa!

Drinks=Dissapointment

One companion and I each had a glass of Chimay white label beer (about 8 oz or so) and my other companion had two Gin and Tonics. Our total drink bill was $30 before tax and tip. Each drink was $7.50!!!!! for 8 oz of beer! Good golly miss molly that is price gouging!

Boo Brasa!

So right now I am torn with the whole experience. I think I will just return for food and omit the happy hour drink. Or perhaps I could share one with three other people. Ill just ask for extra bendy straws.

Ben

[Blue Heron]

Ben and everyone... thanks for the reviews on Brasa bar menu. The food sounds incredibly good. Are you sure about those drink prices? Maybe the prices have gone up. The online wine list shows a chimay red beer for $5. The draft beers are $4. The online menu doesn't list prices for mixed drinks, though. Drinks menu

edit: Ben, I like your new kitty avatar. Is that your kitty?

[Schielke]

Ben and everyone... thanks for the reviews on Brasa bar menu.  The food sounds incredibly good.  Are you sure about those drink prices?  Maybe the prices have gone up.  The online wine list shows a chimay red beer for $5.  The draft beers are $4.  The online menu doesn't list prices for mixed drinks, though.  Drinks menu

edit:  Ben, I like your new kitty avatar.  Is that your kitty?

The drink prices were for sure 7.50 when we were there. Perhaps the white label chimay is a different price, but that seems a bit much...esp when the price in stores is exactly the same. Only the Grand Resereve blue label chimay is more expensive (.50 more on the large bottle size).

It would make more sense if the chimay was a full pint, but since it is a trappist beer, they serve it in the belgian style glass, which is somewhere around 8-10 oz. This usually makes up for the cost difference and they bill it as a regular beer. At least that is what happens at the Elysian when they had Chimay White on tap.

Perhaps Ill try to order a regular old beer there and see how much they charge.

Avatar note: Not my kitty, but perhaps one of them will show up as an avatar in the future. The kitty is from a picture that has nightscotsman's avatar in it. hehehehe.

[MsRamsey]

I went to Brasa last Monday night and had the bar menu fish dinner. It was "striped bass" that night. It was excellent, and I'm going again this Monday and will drag some work friends with me. I felt so guilty about the low cost of the food (silly, I know), so I had a glass of really good Barbera (it's not listed on the link that BH posted), which I think was $6.50 or $7.00. I worry about them staying in business! It's not like they fill up their dining room every night.

[nightscotsman]

Wow - I just had a great dinner in the lounge at Brassa!

First off, yes the drinks do seem a little expensive. I had a nice cocktail from the house-specialty bar menu called a "Confusion" (containing gin, muscat, fresh orange juice and champagne) for $7.25. kinda high, but not outrageous. The food on the bar menu is so inexpensive I really don't begrudge the markup on drinks. However, if the gin and tonics Schielke had were well drinks and not name-brand gin, then I would consider that too much.

moving on, I had the pan seared fish (which I think the waitress said was a river bass? probably the same as MsRamsey had) covered with sauteed onions, big chunks of crispy bacon and a smooth vinaigrette. The fish was perfectly done, tender and moist, with the skin intact. It was served with a tossed salad of baby greens and a huge pile of crispy onions. A great price at $13, but an amazing deal at half-price - $6.50

I finished up with a dessert from the regular dessert menu: huge, perfectly ripe blackberries drizzled with rosemary syrup and covered with creamy, tart lemon curd served in a cocktail glass. Very simple, but fresh and bright tasting. The syrup added just the right amount of sweetness and complexity to the blackberries and the lemon curd added creaminess to bring it all together.

Total bill: $21.58 not including tip.

This has to be the best dinner deal in Seattle right now. I confess like MsRamsey, I felt a little guilty about paying so little. I do hope they're making a profit. Thanks again to heyjude for the heads up on this place! I left with a big smile on my face

Edit: By the way, dinner was preceded by an amazing movie at the Uptown - "Spirited Away". It's a Japanese animated film by the same director and studio that produced "Princess Mononoke". If you haven't seen Mononoke then you owe it to yourself to rent it soon. If you have seen it, then I have to say I thought that "Spirited Away" was actually better. More complex and themes with deeper resonance. Like Alice in Wonderland on acid - in a good way, of course. It's dubbed, not subtitled, which works much better for an animated movie than a live action film. As a side note, it was the highest grossing film ever in Japan (Mononoke was second highest).

[Schielke]

Wow - I just had a great dinner in the lounge at Brassa!

First off, yes the drinks do seem a little expensive. I had a nice cocktail from the house-specialty bar menu called a "Confusion" (containing gin, muscat, fresh orange juice and champagne) for $7.25. kinda high, but not outrageous. The food on the bar menu is so inexpensive I really don't begrudge the markup on drinks. However, if the gin and tonics Schielke had were well drinks and not name-brand gin, then I would consider that too much.

moving on, I had the pan seared fish (which I think the waitress said was a river bass? probably the same as MsRamsey had) covered with sauteed onions, big chunks of crispy bacon and a smooth vinaigrette. The fish was perfectly done, tender and moist, with the skin intact. It was served with a tossed salad of baby greens and a huge pile of crispy onions. A great price at $13, but an amazing deal at half-price - $6.50

I finished up with a dessert from the regular dessert menu: huge, perfectly ripe blackberries drizzled with rosemary syrup and covered with creamy, tart lemon curd served in a cocktail glass. Very simple, but fresh and bright tasting. The syrup added just the right amount of sweetness and complexity to the blackberries and the lemon curd added creaminess to bring it all together.

Total bill: $21.58 not including tip.

This has to be the best dinner deal in Seattle right now. I confess like MsRamsey, I felt a little guilty about paying so little. I do hope they're making a profit. Thanks again to heyjude for the heads up on this place! I left with a big smile on my face 

Edit: By the way, dinner was preceded by an amazing movie at the Uptown - "Spirited Away". It's a Japanese animated film by the same director and studio that produced "Princess Mononoke". If you haven't seen Mononoke then you owe it to yourself to rent it soon. If you have seen it, then I have to say I thought that "Spirited Away" was actually better. More complex and themes with deeper resonance. Like Alice in Wonderland on acid - in a good way, of course. It's dubbed, not subtitled, which works much better for an animated movie than a live action film. As a side note, it was the highest grossing film ever in Japan (Mononoke was second highest).

The Gin and Tonics I thought were a bit high, but not completely unreasonable. The beer, however, is where I felt ripped off...but the cheap food evened it out so it was not all that bad...

Pan fried fish seems to be the dish of choice at Brasa's Bar, has anyone tried the steak with cabrales butter? I think it is next on my list...with water.

Spirited Away- Been on my list, I really need to go. Hmmm, perhaps a dinner at brasa and then a viewing is in my future.

Ben

[MsRamsey]

Pan fried fish seems to be the dish of choice at Brasa's Bar, has anyone tried the steak with cabrales butter?  I think it is next on my list...with water.

I'm going tonight . . . I would like to try the steak too, but I'm such a sucker for those fried onion strings!! The best Maid-Rite ever is in Marion, Iowa,* where they make these AMAZING onion strings that I DREAM about. Brasa's come very close to this pinnacle of fried goodness.

*Goofy fact about this particular Maid-Rite: It's owned by Terry Farrell's family. She played the sexy slug on Star Trek DS9.

[tsquare]

I've had the steak, though I'm not much of a red meat eater. A friend thought it was too tender when she ate there. I wouldn't have the same complaint. Comes with excellent fries and small salad, as I recall. If you don't drink, you can splurge on an order of onions too. Or even if you do drink.

Lamb buger is good, so is pizza, clams, most everything.

[MsRamsey]

I've had the steak, though I'm not much of a red meat eater. A friend thought it was too tender when she ate there.

LOL! What a priceless moment that would be, if the waiter had had to convey this to the chef . . .

[heyjude]

I'm not really a happy hour kind of drinker, but I do love a bargain, so I've got another one for you. Oceanaire, which Seattle Mag just picked as the best new restaurant in Seattle, has all oyster and shrimp choices for half price from 5:00 to 7:00 PM. I stopped in with a friend after seeing The Good Girl downtown last Thursday. We loved the presentation and the service and would've had many more if we weren't headed for dinner at Lush Life which closed for good two days later. But that's another story.

[MsRamsey]

That's exciting news about the Oceanaire happy hour. Thanks, Judy! I'm really looking forward to trying it. You are responsible for my new addiction to Brasa, you know.

And related to another thread (Chain Restaurants: Do you dare admit eating at them?): I really thought Oceanaire was an independent restaurant, but it's part of the Buca di Beppo family. They want to open 20 Oceanaires by 2005. Doesn't preclude me from wanting to try it out, though.

Article: http://twincities.bizjournals.com/twinciti.../21/story1.html

[tsquare]

I really thought Oceanaire was an independent restaurant, but it's part of the Buca di Beppo family.  They want to open 20 Oceanaires by 2005.  Doesn't preclude me from wanting to try it out, though.

All the local reviews made a big deal about this - no one wanted to like it, but everyone did. (See the archives in the PI or Times.) And like them, I'm not inclined to want to go there, but if someone offered to buy me dinner, I wouldn't turn it down (except I didn't like the dessert!)

I noticed Flemings has a pretty cheap happy hour as well, but I think it is 3-6 p.m.? And with Cascadia, Axis, Market St Grill, and others offering three course meals for $25, there is alot of eating opportunities out there. Let's get a new thread going, who's got the bargains, what's worth going to, who should we support?

And one for RIP? Though that is already there with places we miss...