Anne & I were invited on Saturday to a tasting of the new menu at the new Banana Bean location on Greenlawn Avenue, and we were extremely impressed both with the new space and the new food. The spot has a very different feel from the Whittier location… darker colors (but still tropical), dimmer lighting… definitely feels like more of a dinner restaurant, where the old place very much feels like a brunch restaurant. I’m not sure how to describe it any better than that.
The back patio was nice, fairly large, and partly covered. Our event next week will take place out there. The plans to add a patio to the front of the building sound like they will play out nicely as well.
As for the food… we were served a five course sampler that included:
(Note: I’m probably going to butcher the names and details of these dishes, so bear with me… I wasn’t taking notes, so I’m going off memory…)
1. Flash-fried Plantains with a spicy chili sauce
It was a tossup between this dish and Course #4 for my personal favorite. The plantains had a crisp caramelized exterior and a warm soft interior. The sauce was a perfect accompaniment being bitey enough to make my nose start to run without being so hot as to overpower the flavor of the plantains.
2. Deep Fried Oyster with Spinach Salad and Green Goddess Dressing
The oyster was tasty, and went well with the dressing, but I’m not much of a salad eater. I think a small basket of these oysters with the dressing as a dip would make a great item for their bar menu. The breading for the oyster had a strong cornbread flavor to it, which I enjoyed.
3. Shrimp & Grits with Arugula
A very similar item to the dish at the older Banana Bean location. The grits were changed up a bit with the addition of goat’s milk cheese. They were perfectly made, and pair wonderfully with the shrimp, which I believe may have been grilled. This was also Desi’s favorite dish who ate lots of our grits.
4. Crabcake with Aioli and Greens and Fresh Lime
I’m drawing a total blank on the type of aioli that was served with the crabcakes, but it was a wonderful sauce. The crabcakes had some of the lightest and tastiest breading I think I’ve ever had. I squeezed the lime over the whole plate before digging in, and the combination of flavors made for one of the best crabcakes I’ve had in a long long time. The greens were very tiny, but I don’t recall the name. I jokingly said to Anne that it felt like I was eating four-leaf clovers. Still, hands down a winning dish.
5. Sweet Tea Brined Salmon with a chilled mix of black eyes peas and wild rice
This may have been my least favorite dish, which doesn’t mean it was bad, as I still ate the entire sample. It’s hard to pick a least favorite when everything you’re served is delicious. The salmon was great, and while the tea gave it a very unique flavor, I think i would have preferred the bed of rice/peas to have been warm. I can’t recall the actual name our server gave us for this, and I’m sure it was prepared traditionally, but as I’m used to eating both rice and peas warm, it felt like it was too distracting for me.
EDIT: I decided to google “wild rice & black eyed peas” and found a bunch of recipes that also include Yellow Bell Pepper, which may have been another item in the mix. None of the recipes I’ve seen have a specific name for this dish other than “Wild Rice, Yellow Pepper, and Black Eyed Pea Salad” but it does appear that it’s served chilled.
Anyway, everything was delicious, and I’m highly appreciative that the fine folks at Banana Bean gave us a chance to come preview their new menu before launching it this week. I have no doubt in my mind that the place will do any less than stellar. I’m looking forward to plenty of upcoming reviews from everyone else to see how they like it.