Ada Street

The cocktail menu was fantastic. The food was fine.

Any cocktail menu that has a Mezcal Last Word on it will almost assuredly get my approval, but the entire list, including the off-menu items, was strong. I started with an off-menu mezcal-based cocktail, then the Last Word - on the menu as "las palabras" - and finished with an espresso martini. I mention the name choice for the Mezcal Last Word on the menu because I can't stop thinking about it. In my head, I imagine the conversation to name it went something like this...

All of these were enjoyable cocktails, and I had no complaints. I probably should have skipped the espresso martini, but they list it alongside a dessert wine at the end of the menu, so it felt thematically appropriate.

For food, we ordered the steak tartare, the brussel sprouts, the highly-recommended gnocchi, and the lamb. Served alongside the tartare, which itself I appreciated being a bit hefty, were these excellent roughly triangular hashbrowns, cooked like how McDonald's does it but for a steak tartare dish and not a happy meal.

The brussel sprouts and the gnocchi can probably be discussed in the same vein. These were heavy dishes, and though the sauces themselves were good, they overwhelmed quickly. You lose some of the benefit of having a well-charred brussel sprout if the glaze buries almost all of it. And the gnocchi melted in the mouth, but again, it rested in a sauce that was heavy in volume and flavor.

The lamb was uninspiring. It was done char siu style, which drew me to it at first, but the textures and flavors were just uneventful. For what it's worth, I had it on good authority that the steak is excellent - we just didn't order it. In part, I wasn't exactly craving steak at the time, but also - and this is my fatal flaw when going out to eat - I have such an aggressive penchant for trying the thing from which I have less of a clue about what to expect. It is undoubtedly a higher variance approach, and I am not sure if I will ever shake it.

If you are looking for a place that knows their way around a cocktail, there are certainly enough things on the menu that can make it a worthwhile cocktail-forward visit. I wouldn't rush to get there for just the food, though. Despite the category of rating this falls in, we will go back with a couple friends in the summer, and I will order the steak and try the mussels.