Throwdown at Mesa Grill

When we moved to the NYC area, something I promised myself we’d do is experience the restaurants of my favorite chefs. Being addicted to Iron Chef America, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that one of my favorites is Bobby Flay. His flare for creating spicy, savory Southwestern inspired sauces perfect for grilling with the best cuts of meat made his restaurant, Mesa Grill, an easy choice.

I have tremendous respect for Flay. Not only because he’s such a talented chef, but also because he’s a true competitor. If you haven’t already, watch one episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay, and you’ll see it in action. Anyone willing to do a weekly show where you face off with a leading expert in a discipline out of your comfort zone is someone who clearly enjoys a hearty battle. My question entering his restaurant was not whether the food would be delicious, but whether the holistic dining experience would rise to the challenge of providing the right complement to Flay’s excellent cuisine.

Approaching the address (102 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011), I spied the word Grill cut into the side of a small, black awning, a good sign that I’d found my destination. Yes, grill awaits ye who enter. I liked the simplicity and the understatement. But being me, I had to ensure that I wasn’t about to enter The Grill Superstore or something similarly named. I’ve been known to walk up to the wrong car in a parking lot and wonder why my keys aren’t working. The front of the awning does say Mesa, so I felt confident that I wouldn’t find a pushy salesman inside, trying to convince me that I need to buy a Weber or a Char-broil.

In most places, when you cook amazing food, you could serve it on folding tables and seat customers on cheap plastic chairs, and they would still come. But not in New York. The décor of Mesa Grill balances elegance, whimsy, and simplicity that doesn’t compete with the cuisine but holds is own in one of the most competitive restaurant markets in the world. The foundation is Southwestern without the loud, screaming in your face colors or cheesy pepper shapes. The touches of whimsy like the long lighting fixture over the bar with its repeating red image of a sizzling pot, and the wall mural of a woman’s face, add cheer to the fine dining sophistication of cream colored tablecloths and well-folded napkins.

When you’ve been to as many restrooms as I have, you become what I’d like to call a Bathroom Connoisseur (for more bathroom reviews, check out Restroom Ratings). Of course, it’s the cleanliness of the bathroom that’s the most important because it is a reflection of the cleanliness of the restaurant. But the bathroom is also critical to get right because it’s the restaurant’s chance to either start off or end with a positive impression. People often arrive at a restaurant and want to make a visit to the rest room to either freshen up or use the facilities. At the end of the night, many make a visit there to ensure that the trip home doesn’t involve a midnight stop to borrow the bathroom key at the Exxon-Mobil.

The bathroom at Mesa Grill earned the approval of this discerning Bathroom Connoisseur. I found the ladies’ room to be very clean. Not only that, but it was amply stocked, well laid out (I hate having to squish myself against a wall for people to get by), and there was no wait, despite the fact that we were there during prime time. The décor of the restaurant extended into the bathroom with a rustic Spanish tile twist. The earthenware sink basins were raised and resting on the countertop, a sophisticated touch that added to the upscale feel. Barbed wire isn’t something I typically want to associate with a bathroom, but the presence of it in the form of decorative tile along the top of the walls was a stroke of genius. The bathroom made a great first impression as the place where I could change my shoes before dinner (I wasn’t going to wear my stilettos on the subway), and the right last impression as I reapplied lipstick and prepared to leave.

It should come as no surprise that the food tasted fantastic. For appetizers, we choose the Rough Cut Raw Tuna Nachos, the Blue Corn Pancake, and the Crispy Squash Blossoms. Of all of them, the Crispy Squash Blossoms is the one that I found most surprising. It had a sweet and savor flavor, almost like the best concentrated squash that has ever been invented. For the main course, I had the Grilled Lamb Porterhouse Chops. My husband had the New Mexican Spice Rubbed Pork Tenderloin. The lamb was succulent, and the black plum barbeque sauce nicely complimented the medium-rare chops. But the star of the show was the pork tenderloin. It’s probably the best that I’ve ever tasted. Literally melting in my mouth, the sauce (of which there wasn’t nearly enough), was a bourbon ancho-chili sauce that had been reduced enough to concentrate the perfect blend of flavors but not too much so that it was overly sweet. Of course we had dessert, and we found it to be a nice finish to a wonderful dining experience. My favorite was the mint chocolate cake. The fresh mint infused the chocolate with the cool flavor of summer.

Drinks were good, but I haven’t made mention of them yet simply because we didn’t get too adventurous in the libations department. The standard margaritas at Mesa Grill are good, but I’d recommend the Especial Margarita (I think that’s what it was called) with the Grand Marnier option. The sweetness counterbalanced the pucker so often found in lesser margaritas. Have it on ice with salt around the rim.

If there is anything that I thought could be improved, it was the service, and I only mention it because it wasn’t a perfect ten. My only quibble is that the waiter could have been friendlier. When asking about the specials, he politely told us that there weren’t any. Would it be so hard to smile a little or to offer the suggestion that everything on the menu is special? Flirt a little. Work it, baby. Give me something. Admittedly, it’s tough to know which customers want a waiter with a large personality and which prefer their food to appear magically on their table without any hint of human intervention. But isn’t the best kind of service person the kind that picks up on and adapts to the customer’s needs?

All in all, my experience at Mesa Grill met my already very high expectations. It further reinforced my opinion that Flay is a culinary master who has the further talent to implement his vision without forgetting the nuances that can make or break you in the competitive restaurant business.