Wriggling Lunch at Plead the 5th

Last week it was cold and wet I fancied a stroll and some food, naturally. I checked out Wriggle to see what they could temp us with and some scrolling revealed a stuffed cheeseburger with hand cut chips and some apple slaw for £6.50 at Plead the 5th on Park Row. Quickly purchasing two for such a bargain we headed out for some fresh air before burgering. Plead the 5th opened up last year in the place of the long standing Italian restaurant Mamma Mia. 

Plead the 5th is American themed, named after the 5th amendment of the US constitution, the right to refrain from speaking in court in case it incriminates you. An odd choice for a restaurant name but I suppose it's a phrase that has filtered down into everyday speech. Naming aside we arrived at the restaurant to be greeted by a friendly waitress and splashes of red, white and blue all over the decor. The music is overtly big American classic rock ballads and you'll find yourself singing along whether you want to or not, earworms aplenty here. 

Seeing as we had two such good Wriggle deals we decided to treat ourselves to some chicken wings to share. Opting for the cider apple barbecue glaze, which was a special item. When it came to the drinks I was disappointed that the selection was fairly sparse. Sodas are bountiful in America, they have many weird and wonderful options, this is where offering something a little different might be beneficial. There wasn't even any root beer, which was a little surprising. When I was a nipper even McDonalds in the UK used to serve root beer as an option, albeit not for that long. Plead the 5th has ten wines, four standard beers, and coke, lemonade and Dr Pepper. However if you want a cocktail the list is very long so maybe that is the best way to go if you want something different. We chose a diet coke and Dr P. but it wouldn't hurt for the drinks menu over all to have a spruce up it's all a little uninspiring and a missed opportunity perhaps?

Wings arrived and they looked delicious. Proper large full sized wings, a healthy portion. A pot of slaw accompanied them and an artistic smear of blue cheese dip. The apple cider glaze was delicious and the wings were nice and juicy we really enjoyed them. The blue cheese dip was really strong and was more like a paste but it really worked with the wings, I could have polished off a whole three plates of them. 

Our burgers followed soon after and again it was a pretty large plate of food the patty was large due to being stuffed full of cheese, The burger was topped with tomato, pickle and caramelised onions plus lettuce on the bottom with mayonnaise. 

The cheese in the centre was super hot and plentiful. It was a nice mature cheddar that was well flavoured. The burgers were all meant to be served medium rare but ours were definitely not pink in the middle, but they were pretty juicy and definitely messy. The buns though nice, disintegrated fairly quickly. The apple slaw had far too much mayonnaise and added nothing. The chips were nicely salted and did the job. It was a fair burger but not my favourite in Bristol. A table near us ordered the ribs and they looked great. They also do fried chicken and waffles which I've had before in London and I'd be interested in trying.

I just found our visit a little frustrating because Plead the 5th had some great moments but I just found the burgers a little underwhelming compared to the wings. The service throughout was great however, really friendly and attentive. I would visit again, because they definitely have potential just a few things need changing in my opinion. To find out more about Plead the 5th visit their Facebook page.

A Sunday at Gas & Co

In this blog Rich covers our recent trip (yesterday), to Gas & Co.

And God created BBQ food. And it was good; delicious even. And then somewhen around 2011, in the UK, and probably aided by Man Vs Food and other Food Network shows, everyone started to go BBQ and pulled pork crazy, reaching a new high in 2013 when seemingly every restaurant and every bar started doing pulled pork on their menu – with massively varying degrees of success. When Grillstock eventually opened their first restaurant in Bristol last year, it was met with very enthusiastic reception, offering choice meats cooked in an authentic tender, juicy and succulent manner, that for the most part most people were happy to overlook the canteen style seating, lack of being able to book, and the perhaps too high price (because the burnt ends are delicious).

Grillstock Lockjaw Burger

Jumping on the same American Diner/BBQ/pig-out food phenomenon bandwagon, Gas & Co opened their new restaurant in the old Henry Africas bar on Whiteladies Road, arguably to near equally great expectation. It would be wise then, from this point in our tale to lower those expectations.

Significantly.

We had a good start to our dining experience, being greeted at the door by a friendly waiter who asked where we’d like to sit, showed us to the table and then promptly fetched a menu. Perusing our choices, we fairly quickly decided what we’d have to eat and drink, and then waited.

Whilst waiting we were able to take in the surroundings. The first thing you’ll notice is that although labeled an ‘American Diner’, it is in a distinctly half-arsed way. Diner signs, red and white patterns and the occasional Americana picture indicate what Gas & Co is aiming for, but mostly it still feels like a bar that serves some food. Adding to the bar feel is the fact that it’s quite hard to actually discern who’s a member of staff – our waiter had an apron on, but everyone else working there seemed to be dressed in jeans and casual shirt. Additionally although we counted five different staff (maybe there were more, we couldn’t tell), only about two of them seemed to be in the ‘restaurant’ at any one time. Whilst we were waiting to give our orders, one was behind the bar having a chat with his mates, and the other was counting out a box of napkins; all this while the place was easily more than half full, and new diners were walking in.

After fifteen minutes our waiter re-appeared and we gave our orders. I was disappointed that root beer wasn’t available (not that I’m a huge fan, but Dominion Vanilla Root Beer served in most diner-y places now is a new favourite beverage) so went for a pint of Pepsi, and Abby chose an Oreo milkshake. For food, we went for half a rack of baby back ribs, a bacon and cheese burger, and some quesadillas with pulled pork and cheese - classic comfort food basically.

 

oreo milkshake

Drinks arrived after a five minute wait, and it wasn’t a great start. My pint of Pepsi was two-thirds ice, and the mixture was clearly off, tasting too much of the carbonated soda. Again, what you expect from a bar. Not a restaurant. The milkshake was an interesting hit-and-miss though; thick and with plenty of Oreo pieces and taste on the upside, a weak blending that meant all the ice cream was sat at the bottom in a sludgey pile, and a strange quite unpleasant hard-to-kill greasy film after-taste on the down side.

Food arrived fifteen minutes later and it looked good, and plentiful. The quesadillas were tasty too, but with plenty of extra filling that wasn’t exactly as advertised - each of them seemed to be equal parts pork, barbecue sauce and red onion, with a smattering of cheese as an after-thought. The pork and BBQ had a good taste to it though, and the quesadillas themselves were nicely cooked.

 

pulled pork quesadillas

The ribs came with a good amount of sides and trimmings, but mostly they just disappointed. The salad was dry, with plenty of brown edges (bringing to mind the supermarket bags of salad I occasionally bought as a student), and the coleslaw again seemed to comprise mostly of onions. The house beans were also oddly named given that we saw very few actual beans in there, and bizarrely what looked and tasted like chickpeas. The chips though were good. Although it was felt that these were probably shop bought home fries, they were soft and fluffy on the inside, had the right amount of crispiness on the outside, and they were also nicely seasoned. Awkwardly they were easily the best part of the meal.

ribs

Ribs, especially baby back, should always be sticky, juicy and tender, with the meat just falling off the bones. Mine managed to be none of these, being tough and chewy, and instead of possessing a sticky exterior, being burnt and crispy (which you could pull off separately) . If it weren’t for the nicely spicy BBQ sauce on top of the ribs, they would pretty much have been a write-off.

 

cheap buns

Bacon and cheddar burger

Sweet Potato Fries

Abby’s burger at first looked like the winning selection, despite the obviously supermarket bought bun. The bacon was thick and perfectly cooked, and the cheese was plentiful, but the burger – the main event – just let everything down. At first look nicely cooked, it was actually dry, overly chewy and lacked any real flavour or seasoning.

 

a close up to see how bad they were

Looking at the half finished meal in front of us, we were hardly in the mood for a mediocre dessert, so looked to settle the bill and then leave. Sadly getting attention of any of the staff proved impossible, so we got our coats, left too much money on the table (ie. the amount to cover the bill) and walked out.

So, where does that leave us with Gas & Co? Staffing and service definitely needs working on – we had a good waiter, but for the most part the staff were elsewhere or otherwise distracted. Aside from that, the effect really is one of everything done on the cheap. An onion coleslaw, a bean dish noticeably low on beans, a spongey burger bun that tasted packet fresh, dry and distinctly not-fresh salad, a badly-mixed heavily iced Pepsi, a cheap tasting oily milkshake, dry burnt (or re-cooked?) ribs, food wise there isn’t really a lot to recommend the place. Most of the food overwhelmingly comes across as having been bought from a supermarket and often didn't feel freshly cooked.

You don't want to give a new place a kicking when they're still in start-up mode, but there was so much wrong with it when we went, that there is little-to-nothing to recommend it (chips are nice, and the bacon was good - that's it). And anything that can be ordered there is better everywhere else AND cheaper too. If it's to survive, no easy task given the prime and expensive Whiteladies Road location, it needs a major re-think and overhaul.  Gas & Co. don't seem to have a website yet but may I direct you to our Grillstock review from last year instead?

Sunday Milkshakes and Brunch at Rocotillos

Last Sunday we had arranged to meet Rich's youngest sister for brunch and she had chosen Rocotillos, famous for their delicious yet filling milkshakes and American diner food. We arrived just before 11am and it was already rammed, luckily Natalie had secured a booth. The booths in Rocotillos are notoriously tiny, they do not make for overly comfortable eating if there are more than two of you in a booth, and we were a four so it was implementation of t-rex arms and elbows so as not to knock your neighbour's food off their forks.

Seat grumbling aside we eagerly pawed at the brunch side of the menu, eyes bigger than our stomachs. There was no question of not ordering a milkshake, I tried to protest but I was met with many voices of derision and 'but they are the reason to visit here'. So I ordered the week's special which was Raspberry Pavlova and Rich went for his favourite Banana one. Now for any of you who has experienced the sheer indulgence of a Rocotillos milkshake knows how huge and daunting they can be when paired with food. This was no exception. I had chosen the three crumpets with scrambled egg and side order of hash brown for my brunch whilst Rich went for the banana pancakes with maple syrup, bacon and a scoop of ice cream, a complete American style sugar overload.

Uber Milkshakes

I can be overly picky with scrambled egg, I make some of the best scrambled egg I've tasted, other than at The Vineyard hotel when I was 15 and breakfast was made completely to order, there has been no place to top that or my own. I make mine loose, creamy and you must cook it on a very low heat and take it off before it looks ready, it will have time to finish off on the residual heat. It is no accident that my family used to get me up early on a Sunday to make them breakfast by affectionately poking my cheeks and calling for the Egg Monitor (or Egg Mont for short) to rise from her slumber.

Crumpets with Scrambled Egg and Hash Brown

So in retrospect I should not have broken my, never order scrambled eggs out rule, because they were slightly disappointing in texture but that is only because I have such ridiculously high expectations and standards. After a little salt and crumpet placement they were pretty tasty though and the home made hash brown was good too, nice and soft but with a slightly crispy coating on the outside.

Banana Pancake Stack

By the clean plate that Rich presented after about 10-15 minutes of steady munching I am guessing he found his generous portion of banana pancakes the perfect partner to his hunger pangs. The bacon of his I sampled was certainly great quality and the maple syrup really brought out the smoky flavour, although an American staple it's definitely a combo that us Brits are still getting used to but it does really work. I first tried it when I was about 8 at my uncle and aunt's house, she is American, and always used to cook up American pancakes with scrambled eggs, bacon and the obligatory maple syrup. However I still build a pancake fort to protect my eggs from total contamination to this day.

Veggie Breakfast (companion breakfast)

Steak Breakfast (of one of our dining companions)

I do recommend Rocotillos for a lazy weekend brunch they offer something a little different to the usual, it's not super fine dining but it's certainly fun and comforting, now if only they would sort out the seating.  Follow Rocotillos on Twitter for their latest news and updates.