Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill

(Note: This post is loooong overdue.)

A while ago, my friend Allie came to visit me in NYC and we decided to go eatery-hopping. We visited such notables as Mesa Grill, Alloro, the Momofuku Ssam Bar, Pommes Frites, Grom, and Ping's Restaurant in Chinatown. (Don't worry, I will post about all of these places eventually.)

Today, I'm going to recount to you our experience at Mesa Grill, one of Bobby Flay's restaurants.

First, I'd like to say that I heart heart HEART Bobby Flay. He's such a cutie and I really enjoy his shows (Throwdown, anybody? Has anybody seen the episode in which he faces off against Paula Deen? It's hilarious.)

Allie and I made reservations at Mesa Grill for lunch the day before we went (using OpenTable.com, which is seriously the best thing since sliced bread). We got [what I think were] the best seats in the house, right by the window.

They started us off with some bread & muffins:



See that muffin in the foreground? It was delicious. SO GOOD. I believe it was a cornbread muffin with corn & pepper bits:



Warm and fresh, sweet and savoury... smothered in butter... mmmmmmmmm so good. Bummer there was only one muffin and I had to split it with Allie.

Anyway, on to the appetizers...

I got the spicy tuna and salmon tartares with red and green hot sauces, crispy plantains, and blue corn flatbread (I also got a glass of riesling):








WARNING: considerably spicy! I would have liked this dish more if the spiciness was toned down just a bit... mid-way through, my tongue was burning so much that I couldn't really taste the salmon and tuna anymore.

Aside: don't you just love the plating of the tartares? What gorgeous colours!

Allie got the baby romaine salad with chorizo, cotija cheese, pulled croutons, and a roasted garlic dressing. She called it a glorified Caesar:



For my main, I got the grilled mahi mahi with with roasted pineapple-cascabel chile sauce, caramelized pineapple-green onion salsa, and creamy green chile rice:



I liked the salsa and pineapple sauce with the mahi mahi. Not a huge fan of the rice, but all in all, the dish was pretty good. If I were to go again though, I would probably order something else... like what Allie got.

Allie got the pressed Cuban burger with smoked ham, Swiss cheese, pickles, dijon, and garlic mayo with adobo fries. Here is a photo of her monster of a burger:



And the adobo fries (of which I swiped quite a few) were so very, very good:



After we finished our mains, we were stuffed. But we refused to leave without dessert, so we shared the Meyer lemon-coconut crème brûlée, which was very nice - fresh & tangy:



Since we were getting rather sleepy at this point, we ordered two coffees to finish.

Quite satisfying.

For those of you who were wondering, the meal came up to about $110 (including tax & a 20% tip). It sounds steep, but if you think about the huge amount of food we had, plus the riesling and coffee, it really wasn't unreasonable. The appetizers were in the $10-13 range, and on average, the entrees were $15-16 each.

Verdict: good - no more, no less. Recommended for both casual and business lunches. Although Mesa Grill did not blow either Allie or myself away, the food was tasty and featured some interesting twists. I would definitely go again. I'd recommend trying the place out if you're ever in the city, especially if you are a Food Network fan!

Mesa Grill
102 Fifth Ave
New York, NY 10011
212-807-7400
Web site