Sazerac Lounge (n/k/a Rezervoir Lounge), 1418 Plainfield NE - 6/8/11

9/20/12 Edit: Forced Name Change.

If you are walking down this street, you may not even notice the restaurant, other than maybe the “Open” sign. But if you’re looking at it from across the street, you can see what a distinctive building it is. Bono’s Italian Restaurant used to occupy this space across from Red Jet Café.

Upon entry, there are three booths on the right, and long tables/booths on the left, with both meeting up at the fairly large, dark wood bar. To the left of the bar is an entry to a second dining area that offers pool tables, ping pong, and dart boards.

Exposed brick walls, an old tin ceiling, and a subdued, warm atmosphere create a very comfortable ambiance, and the friendly, attentive service completed the picture. The clientele ranged nicely from young to middle-aged, and older.

The menu is fairly large with appetizers, sandwiches/wraps, burgers, soups/salads, eleven entrees, and many pizza variations/choices. But along with the traditional food items were some very unique dishes (e.g., red beans & rice and jambalaya). Things we’ve seen only on menus in New Orleans and other places due south, we found here at Sazerac’s (see also Chez Olga’s).

We were on a burger search but indulged our cajun appetites with an appetizer choice of Crawfish Rangoon. The crawfish was blended with cream cheese and spices, lightly deep fried, and was served with their orange zing sauce. The sauce was a tad sweet but was a necessary and essential component to balance the crawfish flavor.  It was a wonderful dish and a crawfish treat.

Of the five burger selections, our choice number one was the Drunken Angus, served with sauteed mushrooms, red onions, bourbon sauce, provolone, romaine lettuce, and tomato. It was quite delicious but messy to eat and required extra napkins. The bourbon sauce had a great flavor but did overwhelm everything.

The second burger was the Bleu Bayou. The Cajun seasoned burger came with bacon, blue cheese, fried onion tanglers, and also with romaine lettuce, tomato, and chipotle mayo. The blue cheese over-shadowed the bacon and onions but their presence still worked for a nice textural contrast.

Both burgers were ordered medium rare and although they arrived closer to medium, they still retained plenty of flavor. The pretzel buns were lightly toasted and were perfect containers for the tasty burgers. The tomato slices could have been omitted, however, as they were flavorless and completely lost in both combinations. Cajun seasoned fries were a spicy and welcome accompaniment.

If you arrive in the summer towards sunset, don’t take a booth by the windows on the street; the heat will drive you out. And if you want to see the beers-on-tap list, don’t sit along the wall on either side of the bar unless you don’t mind getting up see the list. It’s to the right of the bar and the selections are not on the menu.

And what’s in a name? Sazerac - the official cocktail of New Orleans. We see a cocktail and red beans & rice in our future. Sazerac Lounge is a comfortable, neighborhood bar with decent, and interesting, food and a welcoming atmosphere.  

Stock Photo

Their website is sophisticated and informative, and the restaurant has a presence on Facebook and Twitter.

www.thesazeraclounge.com

The Chez Olga, 1441 Wealthy St, SE - 10/6/10

Remember Rafav’s Mexican Restaurant in that crazy building where you had to struggle to find the door because it was disguised as a tree? It now has a new tenant, The Chez Olga. The restaurant opened in July and is run by a couple from Haiti who immigrated to Grand Rapids in 1993. After a failed clothing store, they started a catering business that evolved into the current restaurant. Featuring Caribbean and Haitian cuisine, they invite you to “feel the heat.”

It’s not a large restaurant and the configuration is close to how it was as Rafav’s but the decor has changed and is simplified. A few booths remain and there are about 12 tables filling out the restaurant.

We checked out the appetizers and decided on pate with chicken. This is described as a Creole pastry, fried or baked, and filled with chicken, beef, or vegetables. We ordered them fried, with beef, and they arrived very hot and quite greasy. Similar to empanadas, these were better with more flavor. However, they were not served with plates so it was messy eating with grease dripping everywhere.

The Chez Olga signature dish is the gumbo shrimp and chicken served with rice, so we had to try it. Rice arrived in a large bowl accompanied by a small bowl of gumbo in red sauce. Our second dish was the Chez stir fry, a blend of onions and peppers with beef. It arrived in the same manner as the gumbo and they looked almost identical. The chef who served them to us was confused as to which was which. We sorted it out and enjoyed both dishes immensely.

When our order was first taken, we were asked by the very charming Olga to select our spice level, which ranged from 1 to 10. Having never been there before, we played it safe and chose 5, but it wasn’t hot enough. If you like your food quite spicy, 7 or 8 would probably be more appropriate. Overall, everything had big, bold flavors making Chez Olga an interesting option and something different in Grand Rapids.

The website contains their menu along with opportunities to make donations to Haiti.

www.chezolga.com