Babalu - Overton Square

Went to Babalu for the first time tonight with my parents. The restaurant has a pretty cool/trendy vibe to it (as do most places at Overton Square right now). We got there at 6 on a Wednesday night and by 7 it was completely packed.

We ordered several dishes and shared them all. Keep in mind that the dishes are tapas, so the portions are smaller than a traditional entree. Because of this they are also not very expensive. If you like a dish, a bigger portion is available for an additional charge.

For $10 they will come make fresh guacamole at your table. The guy I saw doing it looked like an even more retarded (if that's possible) version of Hannibal Buress and was wearing a headband. Needless to say that for that price, I passed on guacamole.

At Babalu, they bring dishes out individually as soon as they are finished, rather than waiting for all dishes to be ready. I'm a fan of this because it gets food to me faster, and keeps everything as fresh as possible. This is the order in which our food came out:

1. Delta grind chihuahua cheese grits - these were ok. they had a very corny taste, more than I expect from grits in the south. for what it's worth, i'd rank them pretty high up on the list of grits I've had in Memphis. 
2. Braised beef short rib - the short rib had the classic, falling-apart, braised texture. Having cooked short ribs sous vide for so long now, the meat felt a little dry and stringy, even with the jus. This was served on Delta grind grits, so I somewhat regretted ordering the other grits for the table.
3. Baba burger - the patty itself was very well cooked and had good flavor. There were too many thick, caramelized onions for my tastes. Sourdough bun was tasty. Probably the best non-dessert dish I tried. 
4. House cut thin fries - your standard fresh cut fries. They were cooked properly, but nothing made them stand out. 
5. Seared tuna tataki - the tuna itself was very well prepared. The outside had a light sear and the inside was completely raw and cold. The fried avocado wedge had no flavor to me, and seemed to not be very crispy on the outside. The wasabi-red chili aoli had good flavor, which was needed to mask the cilantro I was getting. (hate cilantro)
6. Dessert sampler
1. Dulce de leche cheesecake - this was my favorite dessert and favorite dish all night. It is exactly what it sounds like, caramel cheesecake
2. Cinnamon bread pudding - also delicious. very rich bread pudding that's not overly sweet. 
3. Cayenne chocolate truffles - probably my least favorite dish of the night. I'm not a fan of chocolate truffles, and it had an alcohol infused whipped cream that tasted like 100% crown royal XR

Overall, it was pretty decent. Nothing was mind-blowing, but most things were prepared pretty well. The wait staff was on point. We didn't really have any issues at all other than the cold weather and a little bit of a walk due to lack of parking. 

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Would visit again: Yes

Would recommend: Yes

Best dish of this meal: dulce de leche cheesecake/baba burger
Date of visit: 11/19/2014