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2009-12-04
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So I've been craving fried chicken for about 2 months and that's really why I found Magnolia. Reviews were mixed but just the thought of yummy fried chicken with crispy buttermilk batter made me drool. Anyway, so my friends had actually been there before and highly recommended the place so we all went there together. Environment: When you first get there you're sitting down on the kitchen/living room level. A little cramped (but not bad) since we didn't get the couches and just sitting in our li
Environment: When you first get there you're sitting down on the kitchen/living room level. A little cramped (but not bad) since we didn't get the couches and just sitting in our little corner. After a little while you're led up to their dining room level. Each room sits about 20-ish. Comfortable and lights are pretty dim.
Service: Overall I thought service was great. Unlike other private kitchens food came out quickly (no long lags in between courses) and all food were served at proper temperatures. When they were a little short on the fried chicken (I didn't get a piece) they immediately went downstairs and got me 3 pieces. Staff was friendly and kind of gave it a homey touch.
Now onto the food:
Pre-dinner food
Cheese with Crostini Bread - At first I thought their cheese looked liked tiramisu and I was like "wtf...dessert first?" but quickly realized it was cheese. I'm not a big cheese guy but this was so good! Cheese was strong flavored but not overly strong and the crostini provided a nice crunchy contrast to the smooth cheese.
Crab Claws with Honey Mustard-Horseradish Dip - Taste wise this was ok. The claws were a little small and the meat did stick to the 'bones' so it wasn't that easy to eat. The funny thing was the servers wait there until you finish so you can throw the claw into their little bowl. Since I was having a tough time eating mine it definitely put a little pressure on me to finish it quickly...haha. Would have been better if they just left the dish there.
Mini Pizza: Tasty but nothing particularly special. The pizza crust was pretty thin and felt a little like a mini pancake. Personally if there was a little crunch I think it would be have been better. Not bad overall.
Dinner (served communal style so everyone passes around the dishes)
Seafood Gumbo - Personally a great start to the meal. Gumbo was flavorful and rich. Also there were generous (by HK standards) chunks of crab/shrimp/sausage meat. I want more of this!
Cesar Salad with Soft Shell Crab - Good twist to the traditional cesar salad. The soft shell crab was encrusted and baked with a cajun spice. The slight heat from the spices was a nice contrast to the creamy dressing and cool salad. Another good dish.
Okra with Corn and Tomatoes (side dish) - Not bad. Tasted ok (maybe a tad on the salty side) but at least the okra was still somewhat crunchy (sometimes dishes like this the okra can be kind of mushy).
Sweet Potato Mash (side dish) - I really liked this. The hint of sweetness really to me makes this better than regular mashed potatoes. This doesn't need gravy at all. Also a big plus for me was how silky smooth and creamy this felt in my mouth. Nice!
Fried Chicken - The dish I had been dreaming about for 2 months! Sadly it was pretty decent but not great. Batter was crispy and chicken was pretty moist but to me it wasn't particularly flavorful. Another plus would have been if they used larger pieces of chicken since I felt there was an overall deficit in amount of chicken served.
BBQ Ribs - Now, this took my disappointment away! To me this dish is a star. The meat is 'almost' cooked to a point where the meat is falling off the bone. Really nice smoky flavor and the BBQ sauce it was covered in provided a nice tang. I stuffed myself and ate 3 ribs...haha.
Mustard Greens (side dish) - This is a miss in my book. I'm generally a fan of collard greens and variations of it but this didn't really work for me. Also they seemed very heavy handed on the salt for this dish.
Shrimp Étouffée (side dish) - Decent. Again, I felt it was heavy handed on the salt. There was a generous amount of shrimp in this dish.
Jambalaya (side dish) - I guess ok but clearly this was not made properly. It felt like Cajun fried rice to me. To me there should be more liquids in this dish and it shouldn't have been this dry like fried rice. Taste wise...it was ok.
Corn Muffin with Honey Butter (side dish) - Really nice. I'm used to eating this not in the 'muffin' variation but it works. Tasty when eaten hot and also with some of that honey butter on top. I could eat a whole basketful of these...haha.
Pecan Pie - WOW! I LOVE THIS! The piece of pie was warm and moist with just the right sweet crunch coming from the caramelized pecans on top. I ate a few mouthfuls combining the scoop of cold cream with the warm pie...so delicious. When you eat all the way to the crust...it also tastes great. The only minor gripe...the slice of pie was too small! Haha. Seriously, they should just serve us less of those sides and more of this awesome pie!
Overall I left Magnolia feeling like was pregnant (I ate way too much)...haha. The food in general was good but it's just such a shame most of the side dishes were misses for me. Although the fried chicken was little disappointing (maybe my expectations were too high) the BBQ ribs and pecan pie will draw me back here.
A side note: The place is BYO so I bought 2 bottles of wine. We also tipped $50 each at the end of the night.
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