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We’ll start with Gallery Bar since I went there first. It’s an art gallery/street food concept restaurant that specializes in Asianish fusion wraps called “bonzais” and beer cocktails (cocktails made with beer). Nothing about the previous sentence appeals to my sensibilities. In fact, it’s just about a roundhouse kick to the old gag reflex. An open-minded friend and I went one evening for after-work drinks and snacks and, against all odds, liked what we got, the food in particular. I’m still not sold on beer cocktails.
The “bonzai” in which chef Patrick Glatz specializes are described on the menu as “Boutique Street Rolls” but are basically wraps that you can order “destructed” if you’re sharing. That sounded annoying so we ordered the Wonton Ahi Nachos, an obnoxious-looking fusion dish that you can’t be mad at because it tastes good. A heap of crispy, deep-fried wonton chips cut in a familiar triangular shape are topped with creme fraiche-wasabi sauce, a sweet-spicy tamari sauce, and gleaming pink cubes of raw tuna. Shreds of dried seaweed are scattered on top like so much frizzy hair. On the side (on the same plate) are three different slaws: warm sauteed cabbage, a Day-Glo green seaweed salad, and a sweet, nutty, crunchy one made from jicama matchsticks. The tuna was fresh-tasting, had wonderful texture, and all three slaws enhanced its supermild flavor in different ways.
My dining companion and I tried cocktails made with the bacon-infused bourbon and strawberry-basil-infused rye. (If you order the infusions neat or up, it’ll set you back $14, which seems insane; custom cocktails made with the infused liquors are a more reasonable $12 a pop.) The BIOF!—Bacon-Infused Old Fashioned, presumably—was thick with bacon flavor, which sounds like something people might like. I can’t imagine anyone liking the slick white globs of congealed fat that float atop the drink, though. Rye Me a Basil Berry, a Manhattan made with the strawberry-basil rye, was really lovely; sweet without being cloying. Unfortunately, we only made it through one round of drinks because service was slow. One waitress and one bartender on a Thursday night might be a little too lean staffing-wise.
