Mesa Grill New York

102 Fifth Ave
New York, NY 10011
212.807.7400
website

One of Bobby Flay (Food Network Iron Chef anyone?) restaurants.
Beautiful decor and we had a lunch there to celebrate K.'s graduation.

appetizers
*shrimp+grouper ceviche: with serrano chiles, tomatoes, and key lime juice.
-Yummy and cool, great for a warm summer day. Colorful.
*"rough cut" raw tuna nachos: with mango hot sauce and avocado crema.
-It was really rough cut...almost looked mushy. I did liked the blue corn nacho chips with the colorful sauces though. Blue, pink, and green all on one plate.
*blue corn pancake: filled with bbq duck, habanero chile sauce and star anise sauce.
-amazing, definitely worth ordering again.

entree
*sixteen spice chicken: with red chili peanut sauce+butternut squash tamale with hazelnut cinnamon butter.
-Really can't complain about this. Maybe if you're starving, the portion size may appear minimal. But since we shared a bunch of appetizers and it was lunch, I thought it was just right. I really liked the butternut squash tamale, almost like a sweet dessert for a side. Very nice.

dessert
*chocolate peanut butter mousse (not listed on the menu online)
-You can't lose with chocolate and peanut butter combo. I loved this.
*warm dark chocolate crepe
-Sweeter than I expected but too sweet for some relatives, but I guess it's not something you can't get elsewhere. I was actually surprised the presentation for both desserts were not that impressive. I guess I must be spoiled by some really fancy presentations at other not as famous restaurants to expect more.