Saturday, August 12, 2006

dishwatching: ginger snap

C H E L S E A' S K I T C H E N

Tuna Tartar and Guacamole Dip .......................................................................14
Ultra fresh blue fin tuna with shredded radish and soy lemon vinaigrette. tortilla chips.


wine pairing: angeline dry creek zinfandel ....................................................9/35

some places are hard to get a handle on - they seem to attract the most diverse clientelle, serve the widest range of menu selections, decorate unassumingly with no real thought... succeeding in somehow pleasing everyone from swank mr.- or mrs.-right-now to little old ladies who lunch, they are strangely comfortable, yet aggravatingly crowded. chelsea's kitchen fits that bill, with a packed parking lot at 11:20 am for button-downs with bluetooth's , and a busting-at-the-seams bar of mostly beautiful people after 8 pm. (or is it 'blueteeth'... whatever -they're idiotic...)

chelsea's, out of all the LGO hospitality exhibitions, takes the bravest (however miniscule) step out and away from the pottery barn catalogue as far as decor goes, although it utilizes the great space that it has poorly, ensuring long waits and dining at a one-foot-wide bar rail that taints the experience to no end.

a recent lunch visit was so tainted, with plates and glasses precariously and precisely arranged on this rail, where sitting at the (admittedly comfortable) leather bar chairs, you knock knees with whomever is seated across from you. just made the sauce served on the Howie burger even more tasteless than it was, and my medium rare burger had no pink to begin with, even less so when i had to drench the thing with mustard to give it any flavor other than too sweet carmelized onions. typically their medium rare is cooked to tuna steak specs, barely seared on either side. the fries aren't as greasy as wendy's curly fries but chelsea's has recreated the spices exactly, whatever that says. i watched one of the owners do a quick breezethrough which included reaching from the aisle back into the line seemingly to touch the french fries as he was walking by in jeans and a plaid shirt.

an interesting dish, however, is the tuna tartare appetizer. it's only as good as how fresh the tuna can be (way inland) and this fish was as the menu described. you can catch a hint of ginger added to the soy lemon vinaigrette, not normally expected in a guacamole dish. (barrio cafe adds pomegranate seeds to its made-at-tableside guacamole casero for an added sweet/acidic pop.) at chelsea's their asian/mexican fusion combination becomes quite snappy and cooling, balancing off the rich avocado. i only wish that the tortilla chips were a little thicker and heartier - they are kinda thin, causing more than a few breakages when trying to sample the guac and tuna together in one bite.

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