U is for Union Common
- Megan Victoria, Shelby Marie
- Feb 21, 2018
- 3 min read
RATINGS
Atmosphere: 4/5 (*caveat: We don't think we are their target audience. We noticed a lot of 65+ old white male bankers. They also sat us in the back where no one could see us.) #nooneputsbabyinthecorner
Food: 4.5/5
Parking: 2/5 Ugh midtown street parking. May the force be with you. Or hope that Vandy is on break.
THINGS TO KNOW
Reservations: Yes (OpenTable), but we didn't need one. We went on a Wednesday night.
Must Try: Cheesecake Beignets, Corn Pudding, Pork Belly
Meh: Lobster Sliders
Sips
A Wrinkle in Thyme: Altos blanco tequila, grapefruit, lime, St. Germain. Oh another grapefruit cocktail, I wonder who ordered this.... cough Megan cough. It was good. But may explore something else on the menu next time.
Apple a Day: Pimm's No. 1, Laird's apple brandy, lemon, saigon syrup, earl grey syrup. This was pretty good. It gives you all the warm fuzzies like any great cider. Would be a good fall drink.
Savory:
Fresh Corn Pudding: andouille sausage, corn. This was good. The only sad thing was the portion size. Tiny baby dish. Sweet corn flavor, creamy, and Andouille was a nice complement. Counting down the days to come back and order this again.
French Fries: duck fat, parmesan reggiano, fresh herbs. These were good shoestring fries. Not outstanding, which is usually the expectation when you hear "duck fat fries". Didn't deliver on expectations, but did deliver on increasing Shelby's waist size. #teamstretchypants
Lobster Sliders: butter poached with lemon terragon aioli, sea salt roll. Grease isn't usually our first thought for lobster rolls, but it was definitely the overwhelming flavor when eating these. We know some lobster roll enthusiasts will tell us that it was the melted butter... but trust us. Paula Deen taught us what butter is. We could barely taste the lobster. Maybe Grease Sliders would be a better name? ..... or Grease Lightning??
Seared Pork Belly: spiced carrot puree, maple syrup. This was delicious. And that's the expectation when you order pork belly, and boy did this deliver. The serving size exceeded expectations. Nice smoky flavor with good amount of marbled fat. The carrot puree was mesmerizing... it didn't have a texture. It was just nothing. Carrot air. Heavenly pork nestled on a carrot cloud.
Marinated Beef Skewer: spicy harissa dipping sauce. These were the tiniest little skewers we've ever seen. Pretty sure we paid more for labor costs of skewer assembly than for the current market price of beef. Megan didn't really like this dish, mainly because of the harissa sauce. Shelby liked these, mainly because she didn't dip her miniature beef skewer into the harissa sauce.
Sweet:
Cheesecake Beignets: pineapple, caramel sauce. Lawd child! These were amazing! Perfectly fried. Great flavor combiation of caramel and pineapple. Caramel wasn't too sweet, just sweet enough to balance the cheesecake beignets. We could go on and on, but this is a blog post and not Anna Karenina (Megan language: a really big book).
In Conclusion
Everything here was solidly good. You aren't going to find something you won't like (even if you aren't a 55-65 year old banker). This place had a classy 1920's era vibe that makes it perfect for a girls night out. Or if you're a big spender, for a nice steak. (did we mention this is a steakhouse, but we are too cheap to buy steak? Our food scientist salaries aren't large enough to cover that bill). We assume the steaks are just as good as everything else we tried. But bottom line: don't leave this place without trying those cheesecake beignets.
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