Nice Try

Once upon a time, there was a cute little restaurant on Magazine called Dominique's on Magazine. Last August, in what can only be called a soap opera worthy dustup, Dominique and his business partners decided to part ways. I'm not sure about everyone else, but it certainly set my tongue wagging. To top things off, Dominique announced that he was opening another restaurant with the same name just a few blocks away. Oh, Snap! A few short months later, Apolline emerged in the old Dominique's location with a new chef.

To be honest, I was torn about writing this review. The staff at Apolline are delightful. The ambiance is warm and comfortable. They have a Wednesday night special called Wine Down Wednesdays. Five dollar glass of wine? Yes, please. The issue I had with the restaurant was that I simply did not enjoy my meal.

I ordered the grilled flat iron steak. It came with white asparagus, chimichurri and a potato latke. Now I'm no fool. I am well aware of the fact that chimichurri is a very oily sauce. My complaint isn't with the food so much as the way the dish is imagined. My plate was drenched in oil. I am not exaggerating. There was so much oil that it ruined the rest of the meal. I couldn't stop thinking about it. Even when the dessert arrived, a delicious pumpkin ice cream I found myself still obsessing about the chimichurri.

I'm not by any means suggesting that Apolline is not a good restaurant. In fact, I'm sure I'll go back to visit them soon. It's the kind of place I would really want to see do well and I wish them the best of luck in that endeavour.