Latin Bistro, Gladstone Missouri

Ever get the feeling that the more of a "foodie" you become, the harder it is not to critique your food as you eat it?

Jon and I went to the Latin Bistro in Gladstone for dinner tonight. The first course was great... the raspberry vinaigrette on Jon's salad was divine, and my roasted poblano chowder was really very tasty, although I could have done without the poblano seeds (not super hard to remove them before putting the peppers in the soup, not sure why he didn't, perhaps just an oversight).

Main course... Jon loved his, although the recipe description didn't state it was served in a bowl of broth so it was a bit of a surprise. My entree was a disappointment though... The cod, while cooked well enough (perhaps just a tiny bit overdone), was the WRONG cut to serve in a restaurant. It was a steak, completely chock full of bones, not only pin bones but also rib bones and spine, instead of a nice boneless fillet. I can appreciate the fact that it looks prettier on the plate, but it really isn't pleasant to pull bones out of your mouth the entire meal, getting your fingers greasy in the process. Not to mention the skin was rubbery and not crispy, so I ended up leaving that on my plate as well. The sauce it swam in was very flavorful... but it was broken. I would expect any chef worth his salt (especially one who teaches) to know better than to serve a broken sauce instead of either fixing it or remaking it. There's not much that's more unappetizing than a broken sauce. It rather looked like curdled infant spit-up swimming in a pool of vegetable oil. Because of the broken sauce, the sauteed zucchini and corn on my plate were absolutely swimming in oil, and I couldn't finish them. I still feel a film of oil on my lips.

Dessert... it looked beautiful, a little fruit tart drizzled with chocolate. After the first bite, I immediately had that feeling in the back of my throat as though I'd just taken a shot of brandy. It actually made me cough. It overwhelmed the flavor of the blueberries and raspberries, rivaled only by the chocolate syrup. Now, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against booze in my desserts... but whoa. It's a good thing I wasn't driving.

The margarita... tasted like it came from a margarita mix. It's not that hard to throw together some tequila, lime, and agave syrup... and probably cheaper than using a mix... nuff said.

All in all, I guess it was a mixed experience... made a little more disappointing considering the $61 price-tag (it was a $55 dinner-for-two Friday night special, but I don't think the margarita was included in that price). We probably will give the place another shot, maybe the Chef was just having an off-night... but I find it disappointing when I see chefs make mistakes that even *I* know not to make, and I'm not even a real chef. :(