Thursday, June 26, 2008

Restarant review: PM

Subtitle: Fried Pickles, WHO KNEW?

I'm feeling very guilty, food blog-o-sphere for neglecting this blog. I am currently having several issues. First, because it is the height of summer, my diet is filled with very simple things that you really don't need to hear about. Sliced cucumbers with vinegar, oil and salt, grilled chicken breasts with balsamic reduction, grilled yellow squash with olive oil, etc. Exciting eh? Second, I don't feel much like writing. Third, I haven't uploaded photos recently.

I DID make beer butt chicken this weekend, which was good, but not spectacular. I think it has the potential to be excellent with a bit of tweaking. I dare not post that entry without the pics. What fun is beer butt chicken without beer in a chicken's butt?

A recent meal, which we really did enjoy quite a bit was a visit to PM. I know, I'm way late for jumping on the PM band wagon. But you've got to cut me some slack, we've only been in Nashville for about a year. So many restaurants, so little money. And so many have been a disappointment that I am hesitant to try new places sometimes.

So the husband and I went on Saturday evening with three friends. We met at 7 pm, and JUST beat the dinner rush. The patio is really nice, though the larger tables were full, so we sat inside. It's a casual place that has a definite college campus vibe, one I personally dig. We had read some reviews suggesting the service wasn't great, but our waiter was awesome, genuinely friendly, attentive, fun, and knowledgeable.

As I've mentioned before, I don't dig the umami scene, so I was really excited about their fairly extensive vegetarian menu. Plus, two of the five of us are vegetarian, so this was a great place. We ordered a smorgasbord of big plates, small plates, and appetizers, so I really can't go into everything we ordered. I'll just touch on highlights and disappointments.

Highlights
Sweet potato bisque- Unfortunately for you vegetarians, this soup apprently has a bit of sassage in it, so it's not for you. It was perfect, a little sweet, a little spicy, and SMOOOTH. I would've licked my bowl if I were at home.

The famous burger - I didn't try this, but my husband loved loved loved it. He felt guilty about order the burger with such a cool menu, but had to try it since it has become a legend in Nashville.

Fried pickles - My vegetarian friends ordered these, who I might mention are so NOT southern. They are Indian, so didn't really have a history with friend pickles. Actually there was not a southerner at the table so none of us expected much. But, wow were they delicious. I think the pickle slices were butter, not dill. It was a perfect little bite of tangy, sweet, juicy, crispy goodness. My Mexico city native husband, who DESPISES pickles loved these things. Get ye to PM and order fried pickles, I say.

All of the desserts we tried - Green tea ice cream, Lychee sorbet, and Thai pudding. All delicious and not too sweet. I had green tea ice cream, but I think my regular is going to be Thai pudding.

Disappointments
Now, when I say disappointments, I don't mean I didn't like these things. Everything was good, but I won't order these things again, because they weren't perfect.

Tempura vegetables - They were a nice mixture of veggies, and were fried very well, but they weren't salted after frying. Tempura needs a little bit of seasoning. The sauce was more sweet than salty, so it just wasn't perfectly balanced.

Lump crab wontons - Good, but unremarkable.

There was more, but I won't go on anymore. I'll let you make up your own minds.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tom and I have gone to PM. We really enjoyed it as well. And, I agree there are way too many disappointments when it comes to dining out in the city.

Unknown said...

I agree with you and nicole about the disappointments. There are a lot. But luckily, there are some gems like PM. I travel some for my job, so on nights I am getting in late from biz travel, PM is the place I know I can get a decent hot meal at a reasonable price.