beXnlog

Vampire-Friendly

Last night be, O and i took a trip out to NJ to have dinner with Dyanna & Steve at The Garlic Rose. It's an Italian restaurant that puts garlic in everything, even the ice cream! (No, we didn't order it, more because we were too full than too scared, though.)

The place was decorated with garlic ropes hanging off the walls, which were painted to look like crumbing plaster, revealing the "original, old brick" underneath. The service was friendly but a little slow, but they were very busy with a crowded restaurant. Our table was the only one with any people of color, a weird thing to experience when you're used to dining in New York.

The first thing you get is Italian bread and a bowl of super-garlicky spread, consisting of olive oil, rosemary and other herbs, breadcrumbs and a ton of chopped garlic. It was very tasty, the garlickiest thing we ate. We went through 3 or 4 orders of the bread & spread being that we all were hungry and that it was so good. You can order the spread to go, also.

As appetizers people shared the stuffed mushrooms and a shrimp dish. O ordered the filet mignon while everyone else got different pasta dishes. Mine was good, the pasta wasn't overcooked (the #1 culprit of bad pasta dishes) and i liked the contrast of the salty olives with the sweet tomato sauce. I was surprised my pasta dish actually WASN'T that garlicky. Considering the spread left me with everlasting garlic breath, the other dishes lacked significant garlic punch.

Dyanna requested roasted garlic heads for the table. I ate half of my head alone and mixed the other half in my pasta. When garlic is roasted, it gets soft and slightly sweet while losing the typical taste and hotness of raw garlic. These heads were good, but would've been better hot from the oven. I haven't roasted any heads myself, but i'm going to try it sometime.

Funny note: in the bathrooms, they have mouth wash dispensers and little plastic cups!

I thought overall the restaurant was good & tasty but "could've used garlic in more original, innovative ways" as opposed to "just using garlic in dishes." Maybe i've watched too much Iron Chef. That spread though - even mouth wash, gum and mints won't do anything!

posted by beXn @ 2:53 PM