Last night, Jenn and I went to my office Christmas Party at Gabanna on Jasper Avenue and 111 st, just three doors down from the Sicilian Pasta Kitchen, across the street from "Who Cares" a shop that Jenn advises me is loaded with clothes for young professionals and is not at all trendoid.
Gabanna is what you might call "Asian and Western cuisine" but with an Oliver Square attitude. Upscale young professionals living cheek to jowel in condos call for equally upscale dining and drinking, and they get it in spades at Gabanna. The wine list, for example, includes Opus 1 ($300) and Chateau Muton Rothschild 98 ($450), and even the house red, Lindeman's Bin 50 Shiraz is passable. For a Thai joint, they did not have my favorite Thai beer - Singa.
For appetizers I sampled grilled portobello mushroom on tofu - wonderful, and green onion cakes - best I've had and came with a sun-dried tomato and goat cheese salsa. Main courses included my Thai Seafood Bowl, which was two huge scallops, two 6-8 count shrimp, a large piece of salmon, crab, deep fried banana fritters, and coconut black sticky rice in a mild red curry sauce, and Jenn's lemon chicken which was a whole breast pounded into a schnitzel-like cutlet with a wonderful lemon sauce seasonal grilled and stir-fried veg, and two "shrimp wontons" which were huge fresh shrimp deep fried in wonton wrappers. Jenn had a pomegranate martini or two, I had a Tiger Lager. Both our entrees, which were enough to choke a horse, came in under $20. The apps were $5-7, I don't have any idea what the desserts ran, but our Chocolate Truffle Cake was wonderful. The best part was that I didn't have to pay for it, which made me very happy. They also served wild boar salads, steak, wiener schnitzel, and a handful of other "western" dishes. If you want authentic Thai, don't go to this place, but if you want trendy upscale "fusion" (or rather an upscale re-interpretation of Chinese and Western cuisine) try this place out. It has great food, good value, and an atmosphere that was inoffensive to the senses. Everyone had a good time, and even the poor hostess who kept getting felt up by all the old guys in expensive suits waiting by the door was in good humor.
Gabbana gets 4 lemongrass martinis. I probably would have gone as high as 4 and a half, but it was too upscale for my tastes, not nearly dive-y enough.
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2 comments:
Now all you need is to review a Mexican place called "Dolce."
I think you may be thinking about an Italian place called "Dolce"
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