As we stated in our last post, Bolsa is a charming garage-cum-restaurant along Davis St in the Bishop Arts district of Oak Cliff. We know it will be a restaurant we continue to frequent because not only was the dining itself everything dining should be (the food was delicious, the ambiance was casual but well arranged, we sat on the patio and there were no flies -and this we offer as a suggestion to any dining establishment with outdoor dining: invest in mosquito netting!-, the clientele was diverse and well dressed), but we find ourself remarking on how good it was the next day or, as is now the case, two days later.
We began with The Mad Hatter- a champagne cocktail involving muddled fresh berries and some other number of delicious spirits. It is a lovely fuchsia/magenta combination of colors, with garnish of orange peel clawing it's way over the lip of the glass. Equal parts messy, classy, and whimsical- if this is what mad tastes like, we have found something to aspire to. We fairly gulped it.
To eat, there was first the bruschetta sampler, and we recommend it to anyone dining here as well. The plate features 4 varieties of the stuff- and we are pleased to report that there is something for every palate. Our favorite was the first (the bites of bruschetta are arranged in such a way that they encourage you to work through them, as a wine or cheese tasting, from freshest and lightest to richest)- a tomato that was just brimming with flavor and Texas-made goat cheese (there were other, fancier combinations on the plate, but we are a sucker for good simple flavors done well- plus we love cheese). We also must recognize the salmon on the last offering- for while we, as a general rule, are not wild for smoked salmon, we did enjoy the lightly smoky flavor of this particular bit of fish (we find, so often, fish -or anything one smokes, really- to be overly smoked- so that you taste the 'smoked' part over the 'fish' -or whatever- part. we find this, at best, annoying).
For the meal, we had Redfish from Louisiana, resting on a bed of collards and surrounded by a leek nage (do not be afraid to admit that you are unsure about what, exactly, a nage is, as we, foodie and denizen of the world, didn't know either). Redfish, while not the prettiest fish we have ever eaten, certainly was flavorful, and the leek nage was absolutely wonderful- delicate but with enough body to stand up to the greens and fish (our waitress said it was one of her favorite sauces served at the restaurant- we can see why). The collards provided just the right amount of fresh, ever-so-slightly bitter contrast- a break from the flaky, smooth texture and flavor of fish and sauce (delicious though they were). In total, we found the dish well thought out, well presented, and extremely satisfying.
After such a delicious meal (and bottle of wine), we were a little sad to leave Bolsa, and looking back, it was without question the highlight of the evening (we did so wish that there would have been more than one restaurant to impress us, but our ill-fated experience at Craft left a very bitter taste in our mouth, by comparison).
We had an equally charming, if entirely different, dining experience last night at BEE: Best Enchiladas Ever, about a half mile to the east of Bolsa on Davis (as we were on our way home from Bolsa, we passed BEE and thought 'that looks curious;' when we found out there were enchiladas involved, we knew we had to go). Billing itself as 'the world's first enchiladeria,' BEE has been open a scant 3 months (we know, we asked last night), and judging by the quality of the food we had last night, we are confident that they will be around for quite some time.
As our love of Mexican food is well documented at this point, it should come as no surprise that we will not settle for mediocre enchiladas. BEE did not disappoint. For a spectacularly reasonable $35, we bought 2 plates of enchiladas, chips, salsa, queso and margaritas (yes, they do serve margaritas, and while they are not the best we've had, they certainly were serviceable). The tomatillo salsa was flavorful and mild, the queso blanco was some of the better we've had- it was not blandly melted white cheese, as is so often the case.
And what of the enchiladas themselves? They were fantastic: we had a cheese with mole and a spinach & mushroom with poblano crema. We should explain- at BEE, one essentially builds one's own enchilada, picking the tortilla, meat, and sauce, after which they make it, and then one gets to pick garnishes- a la a number of other lesser, fast food chains. The idea is a novel one, and we find it surprising this sort of thing hasn't popped up sooner, but in any event, we are quite glad we discovered it. The truly surprising thing about BEE's food is the quality for value- nothing we ate tasted cheap, nor did any of the portions feel skimpy (we were especially pleased with the cheese enchilada, because often, they are flat, flaccid, sad tortillas with the barest hint of cheddar trailing through them, and we find that depressing; not so at BEE). If we were to offer one possible improvement, we would ask for a little bit more of the sauces, as they are so delicious, and we had to be very sparing with them as we ate.
We again ate outside at BEE, and while they did not have netting for bugs (alas), they did have the a sublime playlist of mid-century vocal jazz and bossa nova. It was cool, it was swank, perfect for the spring evening. We cannot overstate how much it added to the experience- for the second night in a row, the meal was done, but we desperately wanted an excuse to linger on in what is now the memory of a most wonderful evening.
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