Paul Martin's American Bistro and Crush 29

Paul Martin's American Bistro
1455 Eureka Rd
Roseville, CA 95661
916-783-3600
http://www.paulmartinsamericanbistro.com/

I heard a lot of good things about this place, but the drive to Roseville is a little far. We decided we would go shopping and then head there for dinner.

We started with five oysters or should I say two and a half. These were the tiniest oysters that I had ever seen; one was about the size of a nickel. The mignonette was fine, but the cocktail sauce tasted too much like ketchup.

Short Ribs braised, with mashed potatoes, horseradish cream and beef jus.

The short rib was tender, but the flavor was flat. One of the reasons I love braised dishes is that the flavors of the stock and vegetables form a complex flavor with lots of layers. All I could taste was the beef which was good, but nothing special. Where is the side of vegetables?

Hill Farm Pork Chop with fingerling potatoes, bacon and onion marmalade.

I barely remember this dish. The fingerling potatoes were under seasoned, and the bacon and onion marmalade did not add anything to the dish they seem to be added as an afterthought. The pork chop was a little overdone and tasted like a pork chop, nothing interesting at all.

Overall the meal was middle-of-the-road at best and definitely not worth the drive to Roseville.

To top it off, none of the dessert choices sounded interesting so we decided to head across the street to Crush 29 and check out their desserts.

Crush 29
1480 Eureka Rd
Roseville, CA 95661
916-773-2929
http://www.crush29.com/

We finished off the night with a "Chocolate Bomb". It was OK, not really the explosion of chocolate that I had anticipated, maybe because the cake/pastry inside was a little dry and after the first bite everything tasted the same. I think it was a little overkill on the presentation because the sugar sculpture at the top was distracting and not making the dessert any better. Also the berries were overpowered by the chocolate and did not make the dish any better.



The dish could be simpler and better by eliminating the fluff and just plating the chocolate with some whipped cream.

Chocolate Bomb