Mazen's

After attending to a computer emergency at the restaurant I went to Mazen's for my continuing birthday celebration. The bread plate consists of pita bread and a version of Skordalia (creamy garlic dip). Quite delicious. The only problem is that they nuke the bread. It comes in a little plastic bag. If eaten right away it is fine but let it sit for any length of time and it turns to rubber. The microwave stimulate the gluten in the bread in such a way it over bonds just like when you knead dough too long.

Next came a very nice pan sauteed soft shell crab in lemon butter sauce with concassed tomatoes and green onions. Quite tasty and a change from deep fried. I enjoyed it.
Then a cup of Crawfish Bisque. Not a traditional but a creamy one. I expected as much. It possessed loads of taste and a nice spicy bit to it

The main entree was a special. Fish Chipotle (pan toasted fillet topped with shrimp, crawfish and mussels. The fish of the night was red grouper, a fish I am not familiar with. In future I will have to avoid the phrase "pan toasted". Evidently it means rolled in bread crumbs and then cooked in a pan. I am not really a fan of crumb coatings. Also I will probably avoid red grouper in the future as it seems to be very mushy when cooked. These things are personal peccadillos. What was not was that the mussels and crawfish were off. I could smell the fishiness when they set the dish down. The shrimp and chipotle cream sauce were good and that saved the dish for me

Potatoes Brabrant and Haricot Vert were the side. Excellent as usual

Last but not least a Grand Marnier souffle with Orange Zest Whipped Cream. A never fail dessert that has always been good here

http://www.mazens.com/