Restaurant review extravaganza 40

Here are some of this week’s most noteworthy restaurant reviews from across the country:

Broward-Palm Beach

Satoro Restaurant and Lounge

There’s a moment in each restaurant meal when you’re forced to decide if what you are doing with your life is in fact enjoyable. It happened for me at Satoro Restaurant and Lounge while I was eating a slice of Mediterranean flatbread pizza that I did not order. A female saxophonist had sneaked into the lounge area where we were seated and proceeded to play over the generic and loud dance music belting from the loudspeakers. The awful combination sounded something like: thump, thump, thump, thump, bwarrrgggllmmmmfweet, thump, thump, thump, yip! More >>

Dallas

Hacienda on Henderson

The people of Dallas love a good patio.

But until places such as Dragonfly and Fearing’s began sculpting refined enclosures and The Londoner found a location set back from the road, most outdoor spaces butted up against parking lots or busy streets. As a result, some of the most popular patios–Primo’s and Taco Diner, for example–also smell rather noxious, reeking of auto exhaust. More >>

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Denver

Red Trolley

When it opened in the middle of the hot summer of 2008, Red Trolley was an ice cream and gelato shop, and only an ice cream and gelato shop. Still, it was located in a lovely, historic space (the website claims Red Trolley stands on the site of an old streetcar turn-around) and dedicated to the worthy notion of bringing healthy, all-natural ice cream and gelato to the Highland neighborhood. More >>

Houston

La Plaza Mexican Restaurant

The milanesa at La Plaza Mexican Restaurant on Bingle is a thin, pounded steak covered with bread crumbs and fried. It’s served with a lemon wedge and a dollop of guacamole, along with some creamy refried beans and Spanish rice. Each bite crunches audibly while you chew. More >>

Kansas City

R Bar and Restaurant

The West Bottoms stretch of Genessee isn’t exactly kicking these days, so one has to suspend disbelief to remember that a hundred years ago, this neighborhood was one of the city’s noisiest and bawdiest, with pool halls, hotels, brothels, cheap cafes and taverns aimed at the cowboys and cattlemen. When the Kansas City Stock Yards finally closed in 1991, a vital energy drained out of this area forever. More >>

Los Angeles

Chong Qing

Some of the best cooking in the L.A. area happens in mini-malls: Everybody who’s lived here more than a month or two knows that. If you aren’t willing to dine in a restaurant sandwiched between a doughnut shop and a dry cleaner, you’re going to miss out on some of the best food in town. But the mini-mall that is home to New Chong Qing, the newest of the many, many new Sichuan restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley, is not of the sort usually conducive to cuisine. More >>

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Miami

Mai Tardi

“Coming soon,” reads the website of Mai Tardi, which two months ago took over the former Brosia space in the Design District. The only other homepage info is a motto: “A place where time is not of the essence.” That explains the coming soon pretty well, as does the translation of the restaurant name to mean “never late” — all in keeping with the idea of Mai Tardi being the sort of place where patrons tarry for a while. More >>

Minneapolis

Anchor Fish & Chips

Unless you arrive especially early or late, there’s a good chance that your evening at the Anchor Fish & Chips will begin across the street at the Peacock Lounge. That’s because the tiny Irish chippery doesn’t take reservations, and every night since it opened the place has been packed to the gills. Technically, Anchor’s liquor license doesn’t allow the staff to serve you a drink unless you order an entrée, so your best bet is to pop in, put your name on the list, and then hit the Peacock for a bit. More >>