Thursday night, I met a coworker for dinner at Besito. On Main
Street in Blue Back Square, it has a prime location for the bustling West
Hartford neighborhood. Having attended food and wine events in Hartford before,
I had sampled their food, but not until last week did I get a table at the
restaurant.
My coworker and I met early so we had time to catch up over
happy hour. We initially sat at the outside patio. Only having about eight
tables, it was a bit small, but it faced Main Street and was well shaded. Unfortunately,
happy hour is only served at the bar, so we migrated back inside to whet our
appetite.
Happy hour consists of $5 appetizers and drinks. We sampled
the flautas de pollo. Dark meat chicken was wrapped in a tortilla then fried to
a crisp. The rolls were covered in queso fresco, onions, cilantro, and salsa
verde. The heat was mild and the salsa verde was richly spiced, the crunch of
the taco shell, which was quite full of chicken, was smoothed out by the fresco
and verde. To match was a margherita de casa, which was flavored with pomegranate
and citrus, giving it a royal purple hue. Sour was more present than sweet,
which is the way I prefer it.
Tortilla chips and salsa came to our bar table. The chips
were thin and still had the remnants of oil, showing how fresh they were. While
I would have preferred mine to be a little more salty, they went nicely with
the tomatillo salsa. While puréed rather than chunky, it was bright with
flavors of onion, cilantro, and garlic. The salsa was on a shallow plate and
was a tad runny, making it difficult to get a solid scoop.
Once we moved from the bar to back to the patio, a second
basket of chips were brought. The salsa on round two was both thicker and spicier,
with a kick of jalapeno. At the suggestion of our waitress, I ordered the mahi
mahi (pictured). The cut of fish was light and flaky, yet thick . The blue corn
and crab crust added a nice crunch to the soft flesh of the fish. It was plated
with roasted onions and peppers down the center of the plate, separating the
two sauces. The yellow was a sweet corn atole. It was thick, rich, and was reminiscent
of creamed corn, but much smoother and with a roasted, smoky flavor. The green
sauce was lighter and thinner, a pumpkin seed pipian. Nuttiness mixed with earthy
herbaceous notes (not like cilantro or mint) while remaining light, not
overpowering the fish.
Declining the dessert menu, as the check came, we were
treated to churros, served in a small paper bag. Still warm and leaving small
grease stains (a good sign for fried food like this), they were heavily coated
with cinnamon and sugar. They managed to feel thick in your mouth, heavy and
doughy, while at the same time airy and crisp, and interesting study of
contrast.
The next day, I go to my usual cheese purveyor, Whole Foods.
As I frequent the fromage selection so much, I am on a first name basis with
one of the brokers of dairy goodness, I have “a guy.” Unfortunately, my “guy”
no longer works at either West Hartford location. Looks like I get to make new
friends. As Megan and I wax poetic over cheese, I begin to wonder how many of
the cheeses we review I have consumed. How many are there at Whole Foods? I
know I’ve seen that vintage gouda before, but was it the three year or the
five? Thus, the cheese diary was conceived. I plan to sample my way through the
SKUs of the cheese department at Whole Foods and document my gastronomic
journey. Details and highlights to come.
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