Mesa Grill – New York

Last night, I returned to one of my all time favorite New York restaurants: Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill.

I went with my friend Maddie, who had never been before. All she knew was that she was in the mood for some delicious Mexican and Southwest cuisine.

We started off by ordering the Barbecued Pork and Oaxaca Cheese Quesadilla for an appetizer. As usual the presentation was meticulous. The four slices were filled with shredded pork that had been lightly cooked in a tangy barbecue sauce, and pork was topped with melted Oaxaca Cheese, which is a white, semi-hard cheese of Mexican origin, similar to un-aged Monterey Jack cheese but with a mozzarella-like string cheese texture. On top of each slice was a light dollop of barbecue sauce. Placed on top of the quesadilla was a delicious hot and sweet cabbage relish, which was a perfect compliment to the barbecue pork and the Oaxaca Cheese.

Following our appetizer, we each ordered steaks...

Maddie ordered the Spice Rubbed New York Strip Steak. The larggggge piece of meat was rubbed in the Mesa Grill spice mix, which was extremely similar to a Cajun spice rub with salt, chili powder, paprika, garlic and onion powder and cayenne pepper. The piece of steak was then placed in a tiny pool of steak sauce. Neither the spice mix nor the steak sauce were too spicy, but they both had an amazing kick, and the piece of meat was delicious with very little fat. Luckily for me, Maddie couldn't finish all of it, so I took it home and had it this morning for breakfast.

I on the other hand ordered the Black and Red Pepper Crusted Filet Mignon, which was amazing! The piece of filet of fantastic. Big. Juicy. Perfectly cooked. And the black and red peppercorn spice rub gave it a delicious kick. And the piece of filet was placed in an amazing sauce: a Mushroom-Ancho Chili Sauce. It had tiny pieces of sauteed mushrooms, which were cooked in a delicious, but spicy gravy. Overall, was VERY pleased with the steak options at Mesa Grill.

Then, onto dessert, which was the only part of the meal that I wasn't crazy about: the Milk Chocolate Coffeebean Tart. As it says in the title, it was a tart filled with a light and fluffy milk chocolate and coffee bean mousse. Caramelized bananas covered the tart, and a scoop of passion fruit-banana ice cream was placed next to the tart. For me, the passion fruit did not contrast nicely with the banana, and with the caramelized bananas and the banana ice cream, I felt like the taste of bananas over powered the chocolate and coffee bean tart.

Overall, Mesa Grill was delicious as usual, and did not disappoint me at all! And let's be honest, even if the food was shit, I'd still give it a good rating because Flay is sizzling!



INFORMATION:
Address: 102 Fifth Avenue (between 15th and 16th Streets)
Phone: (212) 807-7400
www.mesagrill.com