So You Think You Can Dance in the Barrio

My take on the Barrio: Why is it named Barrio when its Bellevue location is the opposite of a ‘neighborhood’? I think maybe HighRise or SkyScraper is more appropriate, but I guess the Barrio sounds more appetizing.

Yes, the food was great, but we did make the mistake of bringing Tatum and she was not down to sit…down. So instead of an intimate Birthday Dinner where we spoke about our hopes for the upcoming year, the schedule for Christmas and whatever else came to mind, we minded our increasingly independent two year old who wanted to explore the restaurant.

It had been a long day of work and when we arrived, I was excited to cocktail it up. I ordered an Absolut Pear with Soda (light and refreshing). They did not have Absolut Pear at the Bar, my server told me, but let me know that the Bartender was willing to muddle some Pears and mix it with Absolut and Soda. I would have been fine with just switching to Absolut and Soda with a lemon and lime as that is my go to drink anyways, but the offer was intriguing and I liked the extra effort made to accommodate me. The drink was good despite the fact that Pears don’t muddle so well.

We ordered the Rolled Taco (taquito) app that were some of the best rolled Tacos I have ever had. It was fried to the perfect crispness and the meat inside tasted of a quality I am not used to for a Taquito. We also order chips and homemade salsa. They give you choices on the salsa which I thought was fun and we went with the two salsa selection. I wanted Fresh Tomato and Habanero, but was overruled by the Birthday girl who preferred the Tomatillo over the Habanero. I realize now that she was not only ordering for herself but also for Tatum who would probably be blaming us for her Sting-Ring if she ate the Habanero. The Salsa’s were fresh and delicious but bordering on too sugary. I was starting to feel happy with my special Pear Drink and yummy apps. Then Tatum took me away from those things to climb the stairs in the restaurant and pick up all the things she had thrown on the floor.

By the time I was able to convince Tatum that Santa wanted her to sit down at the table so that Mommy and Daddy could eat, my entrée had been sitting their for a few minutes. It looked good. I had ordered the Braised short ribs because I had never seen that on a Mexican Menu and because I love all ribs. The dish had a unique presentation with the meat on the bone sitting atop cooked Squash. I sliced the extremely tender meat up, combined it with some squash in a tortilla (add some of our fresh salsa appetizer) and I was magically transported to real Barrio in little coast town on the Yucatan Penninsula (not really, but I did enjoy it).

We followed Dinner up with a Churro for dessert. The Churro was recommended by my sister who is one of the Manager’s at Purple the adjoining restaurant which can be accessed by a snakey corridor between the two restaurants. I remember being introduced to Churros as a kid at Disneyland and ever since they have inhabited a warm place in my hea… er, stomach. These churros came with a dark chocolate dipping sauce that was very rich and not very sweet but not bitter.

I like to try new foods and only half the time do I actually think it’s an innovation worth continuing. Barrio had a couple of new twists on my favorite foodre (genre of food)…Mexican. Jess and I both agreed that we still think Purple has an advantage over Barrio, but I would definitely go back sans 2-year-old to try other intriguing things I saw on the menu.

After dinner we went home to watch the Finale of one of our Favorite TV shows (up there with the Office) ‘So You Think You Can Dance?’ Russell, the Crumper (yes Crumper) from Boston ended up winning. Congratulations to Russell, he was my favorite Dancer throughout the season and man, I have to admit, I like watching good Crumping. I even kinda like saying Crumping. If you like watching great dancing and not just looking at the hotties on Dancing with the Stars (and I don’t mean the Stars), I highly urge you to watch SYTYCD. I personally love Breakdancing and Popping and now… Crumping.

So there you go two plugs in one post… I should get paid for this.