O is for Little Octopus
- Megan Victoria, Shelby Marie, Alexander Philip
- Feb 13, 2018
- 3 min read
RATINGS
Atmosphere: 4.5/5
Food: 4/5
Parking: 4/5 (garage or street parking. Not stressful. First hour free in the gulch in the garage.... or practice your parallel parking skillz)
THINGS TO KNOW
Reservations: Yes (OpenTable)
Must Try: Empanadas, Sweet Potato Tamales
Meh: Cornbread, Parsnip Cake
Sips:
Pain Killer: Pusser's Rum, Pineapple. This was Megan's drink, she thought it was terrible. But she also doesn't like spiced rum... who knew Pusser's Rum is spiced?? Megan wants her drinks to be 'beachy' and honestly if there's rum and pineapple that's not a crazy thing to expect. But this did not deliver the 'two pina coladas, one for each hand' expectation that Garth taught us. Everyone else thought it was decent.
Savory
Empanada: Chicken. This is a seasonal dish, ours happened to be chicken. This was delicious. Great crispy crust and the filling was seasoned to perfection. Still day dreaming about this dish. #eatmorechicken
Cornbread: chihuahua cheese, ripe plantain, lime perserves. This reminded us of an upside down cake, but with plantains and a whole bunch of limes. Group consensus was that the lime topping was way too limey and Lysol-ish. Like biting into a lime is not even that limey. It was so much. Inedible. If you removed the topping it was a good cornbread. But where the heck was the cheese?? We couldn't taste any, and you know the rule: when in doubt, add more cheese. In summary: don't order this.
Sweet Potato Tamale: roasted poblano, cotija. This was super good. Had a great flavor, perhaps because it was covered in cheese, coincidence? We think not. A spoon scraping battle took place because we all couldn't get enough of this. The presentation was super cute with its roasted corn husks. Only complaint was that we didn't order seven of them.
Giant Lima Beans: braised fennel, cilantro creme, pine nuts. They were good. Not amazing. Megan was super excited when she saw these on the menu. She yipped with joy, but also has been known to dance around her kitchen announcing to no one in particular that she looovveees lima beans. These were good, but not extraordinary. No dancing or announcing needed.
Octopus: black lentil, chorizo, scallion. If you love charred 'things' then you will love this dish. We assumed with the name Little Octopus, this would be the best thing on the menu. Octopus was burnt, crispy, dry, and flavorless. On the other hand, those lentils tho. Perfectly seasoned. We don't know if it was the chorizo, the cumin, or magic, but these lentils were on point. Maybe next time we will order the octopus dish sans octopus. Don't trade your voice for this underwater serpent dish. #poorunfortunatesouls
Shrimp: charred lime, spicy pepper salsa, herb emulsion. We don't really remember this dish. Except that we had to take the shells off the shrimp. And at these prices, we shouldn't have to work for our food. #werkwerkwerk The only good thing about this dish was that we did have a nice conversation about our spice tolerances. A helpful scale for future reference:
We had a strong hypothesis that Shelby and Megan would be the anchors. We were surprised that Alex had a higher tolerance than April, but maybe that comes from ten years of having to eat food that Megan prepared to her spice preferences. #poorunfortunatealex
Sweet
Parsnip Cake: Yeah. The only good thing about this cake was that it was free (HBD Shelby). Side note: you get a free dessert through OpenTable when you tell them it's your birthday. Back to the cake: it was a sad carrot cake made out of parsnips. Man, parsnips just can't catch a break. Parnsips are the Jan Brady of vegetables. #MarciaMarciaMarcia Just buy the Whole Foods carrot cake instead. #poorunfortunateparsnips
In Conclusion
Great location (in the gulch). Loved the ambiance. Small, cozy space was perfect for dinner before attending a concert with thousands of Garth fans. We noticed that our favorite dishes all had inspiration from south of the border flavors. So we would definitely recommend tamales, empanadas, and the lentils (86 the octopus). Trust us, you won't be disappointed with this choice. We will be back.
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