Blue Ocean
With the street appeal of a low-lit neighborhood lounge, Blue Ocean is a middling sushi joint that aspires to be an excellent bar, promising a range of Asian-influenced beverages and dozens of sake selections. At the moment, Blue Ocean is BYOB, and some of the more desirable menu options seem to be appetizers and salads engineered to work well with drinks. The Ocean Sampler is finely ground fish, octopus, and crab clusters served on crispy fried rice wafers drizzled with citrus mayo. Even the salads complement wine: the cucumber-mint combo with orange-miso vinaigrette had fine sweetness and acidity that paired nicely with a glass of white; shiitake mushrooms on mixed greens proved a simple snack that would suit a light red. Sashimi ain’t all that, unpleasantly slippery on the outside though seemingly fresh enough, and our Citrus Rainbow roll had an unappealing mushy texture. Kitchen dishes seem to slip into a predicable flavor routine: both beef tenderloin and duck were set afloat in a similarly tart glaze, kind of boring after three bites. For dessert, unexpectedly, creme brulee, mousse, and key lime pie. —David Hammond
Light-filled Ch’Ava Cafe, with its large tables, uberfriendly baristas, free Wi-Fi, and potted orchids (the owner’s mother takes care of the plants), has a nice atmosphere for working or chatting with friends. And the food ain’t bad either. The sandwiches, soups, and salads change seasonally, except for a favorite or two like the cashew butter, fig preserve, and melted Gruyere sandwich. Just slightly sweet with a lovely crunch, it’s worth keeping around. Other current offerings include a braised brisket Sloppy Joe, mushroom ragout with a goat cheese whip, pork rib stew with white beans, and roasted pumpkin soup with thyme creme fraiche. Croissants come from Red Hen Bread, other pastries and doughnuts from M&A Bakery. Intelligentsia supplies the single-origin coffee, which you can get brewed on the cafe’s Clover machine. —Julia Thiel
Ciao Amore, a place with lots of ambition and space to grow, is still getting its act together, though it promises to be quite a show. Chef Cesar Pineda responded enthusiastically to our request to just bring whatever was looking good. A salad of green beans, fresh mozzarella, oregano, and garlic dressed in balsamic had marvelously simple flavors. Ciao Amore’s zuppa Barese was a rich and substantial cream soup of hard-boiled egg, noodles, and potato. Ethereal house-made gnocchi with cheese and pesto were draped in a fantastically lush spinach cream sauce. Osso buco had delicate texture and sturdy taste and, laid on a bed of cavatelli splashed with a light vegetable-studded tomato sauce, was beautifully balanced. With most entrees between $16 and $22, Ciao Amore offers a high-value, high-quality dining experience, and is BYO with no corkage fee. —David Hammond
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Inheriting the slick interior of the Romanian nightclub it replaced, this weird mishmash of a restaurant is certainly a much more welcoming neighborhood spot, with artwork and flat-screen TVs softening the clubby edges. The menu, however—inexpensive though it be—is an imbalanced mix of Filipino, Italian, and Japanese dishes, with a hamburger thrown in for good measure. I found the Asian offerings most appealing: tightly rolled crispy pork and vegetable lumpia, homey eggy yakisoba noodles, and chewy sheets of tocino, sweetly glazed pork, to name a few. But that’s not quite the kind of stuff that plays nice with eggplant Parmesan, vodka-sauced penne, or the undistinguished penne and salsiccia, dressed in what sure seemed like barely cooked underseasoned canned tomatoes. I’d like to see the Filipino third of the menu expanded, as Dolce would represent a departure from the usual quick-serve buffet-style establishments you normally find the cuisine in. —Mike Sula
A cozy, dimly lit place with exposed brick, tall candles on the tables, and Argentine paraphernalia like mate gourds decorating the walls, Folklore offers a steak-centric menu of authentic Argentine fare very similar to that of its sister restaurant, Tango Sur. The squeamish may not love the authenticity, though: sweetbreads and blood sausage make up half of the parrillada, a mixed grill that also includes steak and chorizo, and there are no substitutions allowed. But there are also plenty of other options on the large menu—even several vegetarian ones and a few fish dishes (listed as pez and otro pez, or “fish” and “other fish”). A creamy risotto with asparagus, spinach, and shrimp was slightly gummy, but baked eggplant layered with spinach and cheese and topped with tomato cream sauce turned out to be one of the highlights of the meal. Empanadas of moist ground beef in a flaky shell were even better with the excellent house-made chimichurri sauce. Still, steak is what Argentina’s best known for, and Folklore offers several imported cuts of lean grass-fed beef as well as fattier domestic steaks; our bife de chorizo (strip steak) was perfectly cooked to medium rare as requested. The chorizo was also a real standout, one of the best renditions I’ve had. Because the portions were so big, it turned out that we’d accidentally ordered an overwhelming amount of food; this didn’t escape the notice of our friendly server, who brought us a complimentary flan—rich, creamy, and topped with dulce de leche—for being the “customers of the day.” We managed to find room for it. —Julia Thiel
