Starbelly

My sister and hubby used to frequent Starbelly often when they had $1.00 buck a shuck. That’s no longer the case but my sister wanted to go for lunch here while we were in town visiting.

We dropped in on a Tuesday at noon and had our pick of tables on the makeshift patio. One nice perk is that they have sparkling water on tap.

The menu consists of salads, small plates, burgers + sandwiches, pizza, pasta + bowls and mains. Beware, the waitress casually asked if we wanted Parmesan fries, Caesar salad or a house salad without explicitly stating or implying that any substitutes cost extra. Not impressed when restaurants do that.

3x Bacon wrapped dates ($3.00 each)
Chevre stuffed California dates, bacon and balsamic reduction.

Rich and a good appetizer to start our meal.

Beet salad ($17.00)
Citrus braised red and golden beets, segmented orange, manchego cheese, pea shoots, roasted walnuts, aged balsamic and olive oil.

Small portion and overpriced but the beets were tender and sweet.

Fried chicken sandwich ($18.00)
Southwest breaded chicken breast, sweet pickles, lettuce, mayonnaise and house cut fries. We opted for the house salad ($3.00 extra); a mix of romaine lettuce, arugula, walnuts, goat cheese and pickled red onion. Good but not worth the extra cost.

We tried the the spicy sauce ($1.00) which was completely smothered in what was essentially Valentina red hot sauce. Don’t get it.

The chicken breast was soft and tender and I liked the addition of the sweet pickles. The sauce was too much and ended up drenching both the meat and bun. Should have went with the mushroom burger instead.

Steak sandwich ($22.00)
Local angus sirloin, roasted mushrooms, fried onion, horseradish aoili and cajun butter on a garlic baguette. The house fries were crispy but a touch oversalted.

We asked for our steak to be cooked medium rare; it came out cooked slightly more than we wanted but overall, this was the better of the two sandwiches. Roasted mushrooms were excellent and the fried onions added a bit of crunchiness.

Spicy mussels + chorizo ($21.00)
Mediterranean tomato sauce, roasted fennel, chili flakes and tarragon. My sister added the gluten free bread ($2.50 extra) instead of the toasted baguette.