A contingent of coworkers of mine wanted to take advantage of restaurant week and after a co-worker of mine shot down Coco Sala as "too fro-fou", my coworkers chose a more "manly" steak place for lunch. Unfortunately, Bobby Van's failed to qualify as taking advantage of restaurant week.
The decor was nice and the staff very refined and polite, unfortunately Bobby Van's is apparently one of those restaurants that really makes the most of restaurant week.
The restaurant week menu was 3 courses. Mine were the Boston Bibb Salad, the Grilled Flank Steak, and the Dark Chocolate Mousse and Sweet Pineapple Chutney.
The salad was unremarkable with avocado, tomato, cucumber, some leaves, and a weak blue cheese buttermilk dressing. I'll give them that the Boston bibb lettuce was nicer than iceberg lettuce and more unique than romaine, but it was still very ordinary and bland. Two coworkers got the pea soup. One said it was okay, but could have been better. The other didn't really look happy, but didn't say anything.
The main course was disappointing as well. Now, I was far more excited than my coworkers (who almost all got the same thing) because it came with broccoli and sweet potatoes and my serving size expectations weren't high, but it was really just a 3 ounce flank steak (nicely cut) with sweet potato puree and some tomato butter sauce. The sauce was light and somewhat flavorful and the steak was very well cooked, but overall I'd say the dish was bland and not very filling. The steak was fairly flavorless without the sauce, which didn't add much anyway. The sweet potatoe puree was good, but you can get better results from a basic cookbook. One coworker got the linguini and said it was solid, but not great.
Dessert was where Bobby Van's almost redeemed itself. My Dark Chocolate Mousse and Sweet Pineapple Chutney was quite good. The chutney, in a little cone stuck in the mousee, being the surprise tastiness. Mousse is pretty easy to do well, but the chutney was a nice touch. Unfortunately, those who got the carrot cake with mango and cranberry sauce were disappointed. They thought it looked like BVs had just cut a regular round carrot cake in half and they weren't blown away.
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