I downed it with a glass of festina peche, which was fruity and refreshing.
On monday nights, they have a $5 half-pound burger and fries special. Me thinks Mr. BW and I will be going back, soon.
Mr. BW ordered a whiskey.
We each ordered the salad to start. Mr. BW was skeptical when I reported that numerous online commentators had mentioned that the spring salad was surprisingly tasty and highly recommended. Nonetheless, we both agreed ~ toasted rice on salad is scrumdiddlyicious.
For my main course, I ordered the feijao tropeiro. Grilled pork chop with black beans with pork, rice, farofa, oranges, and sauteed collard greens with garlic. I'm not sure I cared for the farofa* (the mealy yellow stuff which was largely tasteless), but everything else was heavenly. And this from a girl who doesn't really like collard greens. The meal also came with some heavenly and wickedly hot hot sauce *not pictured, which was delicious. I need me a tub of that, post haste.
Mr. BW ordered the striped bass veracruz. Presentation was wonderful and it was good, but my meal was better.
Mr. BW's dessert outshone mine by a mile: warm chocolate cake with banana espuma and fresh banana lime salad. So friggin good. I managed to stealthily sneak about 1/2 of it.
I ordered the sorbet of the day - passion fruit. Mr. BW said it was darned tasty, but just a bit too sweet for me. Should've gone with the chocolate cake.
BTW: service was outstanding. I've had a few disappointing experiences dining downtown with shoddy (ie slow and ambivalent) service, especially at the more trendy places, but Cafe Atlantico was amazing. Service was fast and friendly. Loved it.
Fried beggar's purse with kobe beef, compliments of the chef. Served with a very tasty aioli sauce. Both of us gobbled it up. Unfortunately, the tray full of beggar's purses that I was secretly hoping for never arrived.
For Restaurant Week, Bezu was offering a three choices for each course. Mr. BW selected the calamari, which he said was delicious.
I went went the seasonal salad, which was also quite tasty. The warm goat cheese and poached pears were a refreshing start to the meal to come.
I couldn't resist -- I ordered the Fuzu rice noodles course. An interesting twist on traditional asian rice noodle dishes -- this one included shrimp, chicken, and scallops with snow peas, carrots, bean sprouts and onions! And black sesame seeds on top! A distinctly asian taste, but also just different enough to be unlike anything I had ever tasted before.
Mr. BW ordered the ginger crusted skate, which he enjoyed immensely.
I ordered the mango beignet, which was also delicious.
To accompany our meal, we ordered the 2006 Cambria Viogner. The last time Mr. BW and I were wine tasting in Santa Barbara, we tried to go to Cambria but could not find it. A series of very confusing signs, dead ends, and other available and readily marked vineyards thwarted our attempts to visit the winery, which is one of the few more widely distributed Santa Barbara wineries. Luckily for us, Bezu's wine mark up was not that bad, particularly if ordering off-the-beaten path wines (which is to say that the price for the oft-ordered and well-known veuve clicquot was a hearty 3x what you'd pay at the store). Anyhow, our wine was reasonably priced and next time we visit Bezu, we'll be sure to go on a Monday, where all bottles of wine are 1/2 off. Yes, you heard me. Go. Visit. Order wine.
Our bread was delicious. And the brown sea salt on the butter? Fab.
I started with the sunchoke tortelloni with grilled ramps, lemon-spring garlic jus, and sunchoke chips. It was okay, not great. A little too heavy for lunch and the individual flavors did not seem to stand out.
Mr. BW started with the scallop cress salad with watermelon carpaccio and dressed with ramp-pink peppercorn vinaigrette. He gave me a tasty taste and it was delicious. Wish I'd gone with my first instinct and ordered it.
Mr. BW ordered the blue crab omelette with a salad of baby lettuce, tomato vinaigrette and topped with crispy shallots. I didn't get much out of him except that it was "okay." My guess is he wasn't blown away.
I went with the grilled lamb sandwich with goat cheese aioli, sweet pepper and asparagus slaw and a side salad of arugula to finish the meal. My lamb was tasty enough, but I always forget that lamb is a hard meat to have in a sandwich -- just a little too chewy and messy for when you're dressed up and have to go back to work. The breading was delicious and I heartily enjoyed it.
For dessert, I selected the passionate tart -- passion fruit, meringue and brandy soaked blueberries. As you can see, I had to get my dessert to go because the service was so exceeding slow. Our reservation was for 1pm, and we did not receive our entree until well past 2pm. I understand that it was Restaurant Week and that they were over capacity as a result, but I don't believe restaurants (or any business for that matter) should sign up to participate in an event of any kind when they do not have the necessary manpower to do it well.
Anyhow, my dessert was not great, and had I paid the $7 sticker price for it, I would've been sorely disappointed. Mr. BW got the bombe...chocolate bombe and they packed it with a scoop of ice cream. Not the smartest thing to do when it's take-away!
Pasta in spicy vodka cause and breaded pan fried chicken with fresh grated parm. There were any number of great things about this meal. First, we had all the ingredients already and were even able to finish up both the bread crumbs and the pasta sauce so less clutter in our cupboards and fridge! Second, the entire meal, from start to finish, took approximately 30 minutes. Third, I whipped up the following salad which was a perfect accompaniment to our main course:
Fresh tomatoes from our small urban garden, walnuts, artichoke hearts, and cheese smuggled in from Switzerland by our neighbor! (Just kidding all you wanna be ICE agents out there ~ he DID declare it on customs). Our salads always wear homemade dressing and tonight's outfit was my standard salt + vinegar + evoo + vinegar with a twist! For vinegar, I used sauvignon vinegar that we purchased last November after tasting it at Pasolivo.
For about $9, she seemed to enjoy her food well enough.
The presentation was certainly interesting and the chicken salad itself was quite tasty. However, the puff of very thin bread it was served in was stale. 
I don't remember precisely what it is, but as you can see, I got an Indian soup, which I didn't much care for, some naan, some spicy five-lentil type curry, and a healthy heaping of rice. The food was good, but not great. Then again, I was pretty happy given the close proximity to my office and reasonable price tag. With Greek Taverna only steps away, I'm not sure I'll be back.
The second course (Fish Chutneywala) was tilapia, mint, cilantro, coconut. It came with a cute little cucumber/tomato salad on the side. The first was perfectly seasoned and the combination of mint/cilantro/coconut/tilapia was amazing.
About this time, our naan arrived. Clockwise from top: plain naan, mint naan, and onion/vegetable naan. Yum.
The third course (spicy reshmi kebab) was minched chicken, mint, coriander, green chili and a side salad. This dish was not amazing, as the other dishes were, but by no means was it difficult to enjoy.
The best course of the night was the fourth course (black cod) seasoned with fresh dill, honey, star anise and red wine vinegar. The best fish course up until last night was the ginger crusted onaga that Mr. BW and I had enjoyed at Alan Wong's in Honolulu. We spent some time debating whether this was a suitable rival, but ultimately decided both were unique, different, and absolutely amazing.
The fifth course (bhindi amchoor) was sliced okra seasoned with dry mango powed and basmati rice...
Served with andhra lamb curry and chicken makhani. The chicken curry was hands down the best curry I have had in a very very long time. We were so full by this time, but I nonetheless still swept up as much curry goodness as I could with the naan and basmati rice.
By the time the final course (apple jalebi) rolled around, we were all uncomfortably full. But how could we resist the delightful apple ring beignet (yes, there was an apple slice baked in there) and orange cardamom ice cream topped with pistachio bits? The ice cream was amazing and just the right way to finish off the mean. I was too full to enjoy the apple ring beignet to the fullest, but I did turn to find Mr. BW sopping up his melted ice cream with the edible orchid.
Dinner was not cheap, but it was amazing and worth every penny. We also ordered two wine pairings to go with our chef's table tasting menu and the wines were wonderfully selected to accompany our entrees. If you have not been to Rasika, Go. Now. Eat. Enjoy.
Mr. BW and I decided to go simple tonight and get our old standby, the grilled pork vermicelli.
SIL BW had the grilled pork + shrimp + fresh egg roll vermicelli. SIL BW had a bad vietnamese experiences when she was in college and has not been a fan since. She heartily enjoyed her meal tonight and hopefully this signifies a turning point in her Vietnamese food enjoyment!
Brother BW ordered the lemongrass beef, which, strangely enough, he did not offer to share. It must've been delicious, because he slurped it right up!
We also ordered the Carmel Fish to share. Mr. BW has ordered it before and we enjoyed it greatly, but none of us were willing to commit to it for our entree. It was so tasty, I ended up eating most of the Carmel Fish and saving my vermicelli to bring to work for lunch tomorrow.
Mr. BW's plated meal (before the mac and cheese).
The glorious mac and cheese. I only ate one piece of chicken so that I could pick at the mac and cheese, which was heaven.on.earth.
I am not a huge cobbler fan and this didn't really do it for me. Accordingly to Mr. BW, it's like no cobbler that he's ever had before. It's baked in an aluminim pie pan and there's a very pie like crust on the bottom ~ not biscuity like he's had it before. Nonetheless, the streusel and the peaches were very good, so all parties we happy.
The best part about The Majestic Cafe is that everything but the butter is made in their kitchen. Including the bread. Everything is fresh, they encourage local, and the menu prices are very very reasonable. Nana's Sunday Dinner is also a great concept, and one that we'll definitely be going back for, as the menus change every month. Reservations fill up quickly, so call early and go.
