Bolo

[Fat Guy]

I'm generally against white truffle oil because 1) it doesn't taste like white truffles, 2) too much of it will give a dish a chemical taste, 3) not enough of it won't do anything for a dish, 4) there seems not to be a quantity between too much and not enough, 5) in the early 1990s it became such a ubiquitous flavor additive -- the Mrs. Dash of haute cuisine or, as one of the Times writers (Grimes or Asimov?) called it the "new car smell" of high end cooking -- that I now have a visceral reaction to it in most applications, 6) I suspect white truffle oil is typically made from the lowest level of truffle product; and 7) I generally think one should either just use real white truffles or not, because white truffle oil is not a useful substitute. All that being said, if a dish has white truffle oil in it and I still like the dish, I'm not going to complain -- I classify that as a "harmless" application of white truffle oil. Also it does seem to be an effective extender for a small quantity of real truffles.

Interestingly, black truffles seem to do much better in their various preserved forms.

[Pan]

We both had this, so I didn't get to taste either the shrimp or chicken entree. I'd probably have this pizza thing 10 times before branching out, though, and since I'll be having my 10th visit to Bolo right around the time hell freezes over I doubt I'll ever get to try them.

This was my favorite line in your report.

[slkinsey]

Interestingly, black truffles seem to do much better in their various preserved forms.

Yea... I've noticed that too. I tend to only use black truffles if I am going to use one of the various processed forms (oil, paste, whatever).

[scovilleFiend]

So usually before I go out to a restaurant I like to read the thoughts of egulleters on the dishes at the restaurant, and the restaurant itself. I'll be going to Bolo next week, and I am sort of being dragged along and being paid for, so I have no say in the restaurant, and am most certainly not going to complain.

I must say I am extremely dissapointed in this thread. I would put forward that if you have nothing to say about Bolo, then please do not say it on the BOLO thread. I just wasted 10 minutes reading through this thread, and thankfully fatguy saved me with the only actual comments on the restaurant. Of course, you can take my post to this thread as being in the same vein as not being about Bolo. I will make sure to actually post ABOUT the restaurant after I go. I think there are lots of i hate bobby flay threads on here, so couldn't most of this thread be kept to there?

I also find it hard to believe that no one has been there since 2003, maybe I'm missing another thread but I don't think so

[Eric_Malson]

I noticed the revival of this thread and decided to peruse it from pure morbid curiosity.

Bobby Flay is a thoroughbred racing owner and therefore can't be all bad.

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I find it totally baffling to contemplate what the logic behind this statement could possibly be....

At any rate, to touch briefly upon a point raised by the previous poster, I had dinner at Bolo sometime around the time this thread appeared (I never noticed this thread at the time, or probably just rolled my eyes if I did), and my meal was so relentlessly mediocre, I never for a moment considered returning for another one, ever.

[Sethro]

I've eaten there twice, and had two very different experiences.

The first time, I was with some friends of the pastry chef, and the kitchen sent out whatever they felt like--no menus. It was very good, bordering on awesome. I remember the jumbo prawn in red butter sauce being absolutely marvelous.

The second time I went solo and just ordered ala carte, and was much less impressed. It may have been an off night, or I may have just made poor selections, but everything was underwhelming.

Still, in fairness it deserves to be said that Bolo has the potential for greatness, as I've seen it (eaten it) first hand. Also worth mentioning are the dessert tapas, which are very clever and fun.

[rich]

I noticed the revival of this thread and decided to peruse it from pure morbid curiosity.

Bobby Flay is a thoroughbred racing owner and therefore can't be all bad.

←

I find it totally baffling to contemplate what the logic behind this statement could possibly be....

At any rate, to touch briefly upon a point raised by the previous poster, I had dinner at Bolo sometime around the time this thread appeared (I never noticed this thread at the time, or probably just rolled my eyes if I did), and my meal was so relentlessly mediocre, I never for a moment considered returning for another one, ever.

←

The reference to being a Thoroughbred owner was simply a way to say he can't be all bad as many have suggested. Thoroughbred owners go into the business knowing full well that 95% of them will lose money, yet do it anyway for love of the greatest sport on earth. How can anyone be all bad and still invest in that business?

A love and respect for horses indicates some level of compassion.

As far as his restaurants in NYC - Bolo and Mesa are very good - Bar Americain is not.

[Curlz]

I ate at Bolo once. On September 10, 2001, following a taping of Emeril Live. Needless to say, I will never forget the date that I went, but what I remember was that it was a tasty if not memorable meal. What I do remember vividly is an amazing fresh raspberry mojito that cost $11.

[juuceman]

if they still have the white peach sangria, and you think you might be into it, get it.. it's great..

he does amazing things with octopus.. the grilled octopus app is one of the best renditions of this dish in nyc.. i remember the paella being good.. there is (was??) a female bartender there who truly defines bitchiness.. one of the worst attitudes, on repeated visits, that i've ever seen in any human, much less one in the service industry..

[scovilleFiend]

As promised, I went to Bolo and now have some comments. I arrived with a party of 6 (with a reservation of course), and was seated promptly. Bolo is relatively small and does not have a whole lot of tables. Anyhow, most of the dishes I only had a couple of bites of, so I won't have any thoughts on them bestowed after munching slowly through a meal, only first impressions. We had two bottles of wine. I wasn't paying attention too much but they were both good reds.

The best appetizer by far was the baked manchego with yellow romesco sauce. The cheese had a wonderful crust, great flavor and perfectly cooked. The accompanying sauce was deliciously sweet, and went perfectly with the baked cheese. I wish there was more of it.

The oven baked flatbread was quite tasty, but the flavors didn't really come out very well. Despite what should have been the pronounced manchego and wild mushroom flavor, the dish mainly tasted of the truffle oil. While I thought this truffle oil was fine enough and not "chemically tasting", I also didn't want a dish solely comprised of it. Maybe there will be a special version soon without the oil and with the real deal, but I doubt it.

I also tried some of the charcoal grilled octopus, extremely dissapointing. The octopus was too chewy, and the charcoal flavor was practically non existent. The whole of the octopus was completely overpowered by too strong a lemon flavor from the sauce. Maybe it was just because the octopus was poorly done that this was the case, but in any event, not a winner.

For _my_ entree I had the smoked eggplant risotto. The rice in this was perfectly cooked. The smoked eggplant was in small cubes and was sort of lost in the dish. Manchego was used generously within the risotto and gave it a great creamy cheesed flavor. The balsamic and the piquillo blended well with it to give it a nice sweet hint, but I do wish there were more piquillo's.

I sampled the roasted rabbit, which came in two varieties. There was a leg that was very moist and tasty, and then there was the rabbit wrapped in serrano ham, which was overly dry and approaching cardboard. The risotto that accompanied it was slightly sweet and cooked well, but I preferred mine more.

I also snagged some paella. The rice was very peppery, but lacked any other complex flavors. Maybe I just couldn't taste it because it was drowned out by the pepper. The seafood looked good but I didn't dare suggest that I should be allowed to have some.

For dessert I had a selection of four cheeses. Two of them were very good, the other two mediocre. The rest of the table experimented with the dessert tapas. They all seemed to appreciate them, but I did not see anyone stare into oblivion in bliss. The bites I had were tasty, but I would not say remarkable.

That's it.

[Todd36]

Had the prix fix lunch last week, it's pretty good and well worth the $25. White gazpacho and a chicken dish (Flay seems to like frenched chicken breasts). The slice of chocolate and fruit cake at the end (I think apricot) was both good and very large.

[Lima Bean]

We went to bolo this week....rating it somewhere between a C+ or B-

For a tapas/spanish place we didn't get that feel from the decor and having all Indian help, wasn't helping either.

We started with the bolo margarita, served shaken and straight up...it wasn't cold enough

Tapas, we tried the salt cod fritters, shrimp with rice cakes, scallop with hot cherry peppers and the pork kebob. Oddly enough they were served at room temp, and not seasoned very well...almost like a left over and the portions were not even big enough to share, they were barely a mouth full. And the shrimp tasted like iodine.

Appetizer we tried the flatbread, tasty and the the squid with anchovy and pesto, which was good as well.

For dinner we had the pork tenderloin in a fig sauce and the lamb shank. Both were good, similar sauce in each, not much "fig" in the sauce.

Trio of desserts were decent.

It was an ok night, not worth the trip from NJ,...his Las Vegas resturant was an A+ in my book, so this was dissappointing

LIMABEAN