Brasa

We went here for our advertising sales conference and the private room was small, but there was great service. They had excellent wine and plenty of food to go around. The Paella was perfect, even though I couldn’t eat all of it. There was just the right amount of spice and seasonings to it. I would definitely recommend this place, unless you are on a budget.

I had seen the chef of this place on the americanized Iron Chef sometime in the past and had meant to drop by. They accept reservations online (big plus in my estimation).

Tonight they were very busy; most of the dining room was obviously reserved for a few large parties. The atmosphere was not really me, but it was fine.

The food and drinks were very good. My spouse was not up for drinking a lot of wine, so I got a martini and a glass of wine with dinner; she got a glass for wine as well. For appetizers, we got a grilled vegetable dish and a beet/citrus/blue cheese salad. Entrees were ricotta dumplings with veggies and fontina ravioli in a porcini sauce with currants and morels. I really liked the ravioli dish. I got semillion ice wine for dessert and sampled the spanish doughnuts with chocolate sauce my spouse got (very good).

So, the food was very good, but the problem was I thought it too pricey. The pasta entrees were $25 each, and if pasta going to cost that much it had better completely knock my socks off. It was good, but not that good (IMHO of course). The other dishes were good as well, just pricey again. Yes, I know I could have saved $$$ if I had not gotten three separate alcoholic drinks.

Of course, if we wanted to save money, we would have just cooked at home. We did have an enjoyable time. I thought service was good and functional; my spouse thought they weren’t “friendly” enough… I could see her point.

Had I realized it, I would have seen if they could have done a vegetarian tasting menu (they do have a six course tasting menu that needs to be ordered in advance). I think that was $50 plus more for optional paired wines. That could have been fun, especially since someone had just repaid me a nontrivial amount of money. They also have a happy hour menu in the bar that looks to be a better deal.