Review: Iris

18 March 2024

I was riding rather happy from the rib tibs from A&R Bar-B-Que earlier, but was also looking forward to dinner. Got a lot of steps in this afternoon in a rather cool Memphis, which is unusual during my visits but made it far easier to hike without sweat dripping into my eyes non-stop.

Tonight’s dining destination is Iris, a well-liked creole restaurant that had moved to the east part of town during the pandemic. It took awhile for my Lyft to show up and off we went…so I thought. After a few minutes I was wondering why we were headed north instead of north-east. Then to my horror, Lyft had the wrong address for the restaurant…

It’s the OLD LOCATION from over 2 years ago! FFS, really?! A terrible flashback to when this happened going to Baroo in Los Angeles, where both Uber and Lyft had different – yet BOTH WRONG – addresses for Baroo. So we got near where the restaurant used to be and I jumped off, and had to wait another 20 minutes for (now) an Uber to get me to the right place (using the street address, not the restaurant name, because Uber had BOTH for some reason…).

[To their credit, after I complained, Lyft did refund me the price of the ride, similar to the Baroo misdirect.]

I finally arrived, flustered, but soon relaxed with the excellent staff looking after me, from the hostess to my servers at the bar where I sat. I relaxed with a drink, and all was good. Looked over the menu and I ordered. Let’s hope this night can be salvaged, and so far so good.

The bartender was really good and friendly, and that made a world of difference. However, when the food came, I had to temper my enthusiasm.

This au gratin dish was very meh, sadly, and the escargots seemed dessicated, and had absolutely no flavour, much like the crawfish. The entire dish was underseasoned, and very bland. Sigh… I figured I was the last diner left in the restaurant on a slow Monday night, so perhaps this was to be expected…

Yeah… The duck was okay here, but the belly was so overcooked it was a piece of meat formerly known as pork belly. At least this dish was seasoned, but what can you do. Sigh… The bar was good still, so I carried on and tried to salvage with a dessert, which my friendly bartender recommended.

And yes, she was right, this cheesecake was by far the best thing all night. It’s a take on the Basque version, and done pretty well, with the perfect touch of banana in the sauce. A delicious end to a meh night of food.

I ended up having an extra drink because – once again – it took about 20 minutes for the Uber to show up. I thanked the excellent crew and headed out, disappointed that this trip ended so poorly food-wise compared to how it started with Brave New Restaurant in Little Rock. Oh well, now for my 3.30am alarm…

Iris
4550 Poplar Avenue
Memphis, Tennessee

When a Shitty Day Ends Shitty (Review #3: El Che Steakhouse)

30 October 2023

Since I started at my current job I don’t think I’ve had as stupid of a day as today. Needless to say, I needed to unwind. Luckily I had booked a place at El Che Steakhouse a week earlier, anticipating the unnecessary workplace drama. It’s amazing how you break your back helping a client and they go ballistic over something trivial that happened due to their own inability to anticipate problems.

Nevertheless, I myself faced a problem I didn’t anticipate, but let’s go back to how I got there. I got to El Che and seeing the bar rather full with no comfortable slots, I opted for a table. I know table service is less good for a lone diner, but knowing the quality of the food, I was happy with it. A pisco sour in hand, I ordered and relaxed.

My first visit here was such a wonderful discovery, as they did a wonderful version of one of my favourite things to eat, tira de asado. My second visit was less good but still good, but did make me think a little if the quality was sliding a little.

After awhile I switched to wine anticipating my food’s arrival. And I was certainly happy when this landed on my table.

My smile remained after a taste of the chorizo, which was delicious. However, when I cut into the morcilla, I was surprised – not in a good way. It’s like they changed their recipe or source, and this was just boring – both in taste and texture. That was a big disappointment.

The side of broccolini was nearly inedible. It was mostly fibrous stalks, and barely cooked. Wow, what is happening to this place, a victim of their own success? The tira de asado was good, but also nowhere as good as usual. The portion is noticeably smaller, sliced up.

I grew increasingly disappointed with the food, as the morcilla was just not good and I barely finished it. And I could not get another glass of wine as my server was busy and there were two other servers just loitering near me but chose not to react until I literally was flailing my arms like a certain robot on Lost In Space. This is just a FoH training issue, as my overworked server did good. It’s the other jokers standing around that’s doing a crappy job.

With the skimpier portion of tira de asado, compounded by the inedible broccolini, I was done. I could have ordered another set of tira de asado, but I was tired of this place this evening. Sadly, another “safe” place that I thought was an oasis for me on bad nights showed it was no longer one I can rely on.

Whether I come back to this place again I don’t know. Very disappointed, a shitty end to a very shitty day.

Recommendation withdrawn.

El Che Steakhouse
845 West Washington Boulevard
Chicago, Illinois

Not-Quite-A-Review: Marzapane

3 April 2023

After that less-than-expected lunch at Armando al Pantheon today, I need a good dinner. It’s my final meal in Italy on this trip, so after what has been a spectacular 6 days of eating, it has to end on an ever higher note. Right?

I had some trip logistics to work out, but went for a stroll before heading to the Metro to go out to my dinner destination. I’ve been hoping to visit Marzapane now for many years, so my anticipation (and expectation) were very high.

Well…

I decided not to write a review. I did not enjoy my experience for so many reasons, but I do not want to expand on it too much. It’s definitely not somewhere I’d return. I’ll just leave you with some photos.

Well, the trip is over. With Linea A down at night until 2024, it was a headache getting back by bus. Finished packing, and I’m off to Fiumicino and home tomorrow. Disappointing end to what has been a wonderful trip.

Marzapane
Via Flaminia 64
Roma, Italia