Park Cafe - first 1/2 visit

I had driven to where a short lineup of restaurants reside in a ‘residential-feeling’ neighborhood of Sylvan Park. Located in an area where it is common to park on someone’s lawn on a busy night. I ended up wedging my car between a few barrels of fryer oil and a medium-sized dumpster behind the restaurant.

Amidst an upstanding taco joint, a homely Italian restaurant, and your average bread and cheese pub, was Park Cafe. Park Cafe was open Monday, and respectably slow. Eagerly, their staff welcomed me into their home-converted restaurant. Put in the most exaggerative way, the interior felt like the backstage of a strange theater set; a maze of rooms and hallways, each with a quirk of their own. I was seated in a reduced-capacity renovation, of what looked to be the original dining room; now, an inoperable water fountain adorned with plastic plants centered itself in the space. This hub led to several other dimensions of reality; a dark, empty room flaunting bold artwork was to my south. I felt the twisted romance of dining alone.

Park’s semi-cohesive menu has reasonable pricing. Main course dishes are in a modernized French style and appetizers tend toward Italian. An underlying southern flare peaks through in many dishes including the shrimp ratatouille and roasted chicken with crispy okra and cornbread croutons. The menu features entrees composed of the usual suspects; crustaceans, red meat, fowl, fish, and vegetables all done in a bold preparation. Chef does not skimp on the flavor, but maintains definition among the components in the dish. Bold sauces like Béarnaise, aioli, fruit reductions, cheeses, creamy risotto, and even an Asian-inspired plum sauce accompany main course dishes. The menu is definitely playful and mostly cohesive, but I deduct one point for their inclusion of an Asian-inspired salmon dish (Menu cohesion -1). This just doesn’t play well with the others, and it’s all too common to dress salmon up this way (Flavor pairing originality -1). I skip right to dessert.

'Lemon Icebox Cake' carmel & lemon creme topped with meringue, graham cracker crust, blueberry compote, carmel sauce $7
The description seemed a bit ambiguous, almost misleading; was the graham cracker crust to be on top? I received my icebox cake; a chilled tower of custardy lemon, creamy creaminess, rich caramel, and graham cracker crust... on the bottom. On top, sat what I thought was whipped cream, not a meringue, but I may be wrong... corrections? On top of THAT was the blueberry compote, and unfortunately perched here, was my only qualm. The compote was made from frozen blueberries, which had a terribly flat, chewy texture, and lacked their inherent ‘blue’ flavor (Texture profile -1, Flavor pairing fundamentals -1). The rest of the cake had luscious layers of creamy lemon and caramel. The graham cracker was a crusty vessel for all that sweet fattiness. What else is there to say? it was decadent, sweet, fatty, and mostly executed with precision.

REVAMPED. 'Lemon Icebox Cake' graham cracker crust topped with lemon and caramel cream, meringue, blueberry compote, and caramel sauce $7
My only suggestions would have been to reword the menu description and improve the texture and flavor of the blueberry compote by using fresh berries.

Overall I really liked Park Cafe. Their staff was marvelous, the food was big and bold, the atmosphere was bizarrely romantic, and prices were reasonable. But in the food category, this review only touched upon dessert, so they inevitably scored high. Another one and a half dinners, and this study will be concluded.

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1. Menu cohesion -1
2. Pricing 0
3. Beverage pairings 0
4. Atmosphere for romance 0
5. Cleanliness 0
6. Waitstaff competence 0
7. Waitstaff enthusiasm 0
8. Overall management 0
9. Flavor pairing fundamentals -1
10. Flavor pairing originality -1
11. Texture Profile -1
12. Use of "easy-pleasers" 0
13. Use of salt 0
14. Doneness precision 0
15. Dish sin factor 0
16. Dish sex factor 0
17. Presentation 0
18. Dish practicality 0
19. Healthful dish execution 0
20. Kitchen speed 0

1st visit (100-4 = 96)
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