Alchemy Review: How I love Ricardo Heredia + Room with a View (Old Globe) Review

Love, love, love Alchemy.....Every dish is not spectacular, some are hit and miss. But I love how Ricardo Heredia pushes the envelope and does interesting things with food. The food there, quite simply, is FUN. I never know what he'll be offering (the online menu is not always the most current one), and how it will taste.

Starter: Acorn squash salad + buttermilk/cranberry dressing + arugula +smokehouse almonds + goat cheese. I can't say this was the best salad I have had lately. It didn't have me oohing and aahing to the rafters like the delicious salad I had recently at Flavor. The dressing could have been distributed more evenly; some pieces of arugula had no dressing, and then I would find a clump of dressing at the bottom. However, I admire the thought that went into this dish, and it was tasty overall. This is similar to the experience I have had with others of this genre from Heredia (like the sheeps milk cheese + horseradish/buttermilk dressing + other salad stuff a few years ago) - not a home run, but tasty and interesting.

Trio of Spreads: CH ordered this: humus + tapenade + melitzanosalata (eggplant) + tortilla/crackers. He only ate the humus, which was thick and lemony and good. I liked the other two well enough.

Main: He got roasted chicken breast + baby turnips + barley risotto with green peas. He said the chicken was "good" (this is high praise from him - it is the level above "fine," and is pronounced with a smile as he enjoys his food). He ate some of the barley risotto and liked it, but I ate more of it, along with his turnips. Both were delicious.

--For me: crispy salmon skin + beet greens + some other stuff (it's not on the online menu). The dish normally has Serrano ham, but I ordered without it, and didn't feel anything was missing in the flavor. This fish was PERFECTLY COOKED, so delicious, and it stayed hot for most of the meal (I hate getting lukewarm food). The bed of beet greens were super delicious. I scarfed up everything on the plate. This was the best dish of the meal. Asked the server to please tell Chef Ricardo that this new dish is a winner! Enjoyed getting a peek of him in the kitchen (he's sporting an eye-patch - I hope it's dress up as a pirate-chef day instead of his being injured).

Cocktails: different array than on the online menu. I tried something with lemon+lavender+pisco+nutmeg (forget the name - H-- H-- something). I was afraid it would be too weird a mix of flavors, but was disappointed that it didn't taste like much. The server graciously switched me back to the Keeps Pleasure (at least I think that's what it was called). This was a completely different cocktail than the one with the same name listed on their online menu. That one is apple juice + ginger beer + vermouth. What I had was more of a citrus-mint soda: tangerine, lime, vodka, mint. It was very flavorful and refreshing - and reasonably strong!

The atmosphere at Alchemy is much more low-key than at my more glamorous faves like Searsucker and Grant Grill. But it is so fun discovering what combos Chef Ricardo has up his sleeve everytime I go. And the atmosphere is still chill. LOVE ALCHEMY!!

(Oh - and they take Passport, which is great. But I still showed some love to the kitchen by buying 2 kitchen brews - a kind of $3/each tip to Ricardo and the line cooks for them to drink up after service ends!)

ROOM WITH A VIEW: Much less exciting than dinner. It was not a big stinker, but the positive reviews by James Hebert in the UT and others surprised us a little. The score was not very memorable (very operatic), and it plodded for us - and I loved the movie with Helena Bonham Carter! I would have stayed for the 2nd act, but CH was suffering enough with boredom that I agreed to go at intermission, and wasn't too disappointed. Two great shows this season, Somewhere and the Recommendation, are enough to ask for - I can't expect everything at the Globe to be spectacular.