Restaurant Review: Talula's Garden

The other night I invited my mom down to go out to dinner with me.  I have wanted to try Talula’s Garden in Washington Square ever since I drove by it the first time so it was the perfect opportunity for us to go!  We would have loved to sit outside but unfortunately, it was so windy and actually a little chilly – unlike the 90+ weather we have been having over the last few weeks. 

We decided to start out by getting two appetizers to share.  I have heard great things about their cheeses but we just weren’t in the mood for cheese that night (next time we go, we will definitely get one!).  The first one we tried was Glazed Colorado Lamb Belly with pickled baby carrots and turnips, fragrant citrus, served over a garlic-olive oil hummus.  This was delicious!  I didn’t think that I would like the citrus, but they paired so perfectly with the hummus.  The Hummus was really tasty and not too over the top with the garlic.  Lamb Belly is very similar to pork belly but you could definitely taste the lamb flavor coming through.  We love lamb!

The second appetizer we tried was the Sweet Pea Ravioli in a goat butter sauce topped with grated Aged goat cheese.  These were very light and it was as if the raviolis were in won ton wrappers.  They topped the raviolis with mint, which I wasn’t a huge fan of as I think mint has the power to be the only flavor you can taste, but once I tasted them without it, I really enjoyed them! As I said, this was a really light appetizer which you can’t find a lot when ordering raviolis. 

For our entrees, we opted to share two different ones.  The first one we chose was the Halibut with new potatoes and creamed spinach in sherry bacon vinaigrette.  My mom found the spinach to be a little salty, but I didn’t think so.  We both felt the Halibut was a little under seasoned – maybe the put all the salt in the spinach!  The dish was still good but I don’t know if I would order this again. 

The second entrée was the Roasted Hangar Steak with heirloom tomatoes and roasted potatoes in burgundy beef jus.  This was amazing!  The tomatoes were so ripe and juicy.  I could have eaten a whole plate of them.  The steak was cooked perfectly and was very tender.  This is a seasonal dish so I would definitely head to Talula’s Garden sooner rather than later to try this. 

Next was dessert.  Again, we opted to share two.   The first one we tried was the Little Sweet Ricotta Doughnuts which were drizzled with chocolate-hazelnut sauce and came with a side of Peach Jam.  The donuts were so good on their own we didn’t even use the jam!  They were very moist and had the perfect amount of chocolate on them.  The other that we shared was the Chocolate Pudding Tart with caramel Pecan ice cream and candied pecans.  We mainly got this one because my mom loves caramel pecan ice cream – which did not disappoint here!  I wasn’t a huge fan of the tart because they had topped it with salt and it was just too overpowering.  (unfortunately, no pictures of dessert)

Overall it was a great meal and we definitely want to go back! We would love to go and sit outside in the Garden and enjoy the fresh air next time.  It was a great night with my mom and I can't wait to do it again soon!