For the most part, I bring my lunch, but we recently hired a new employee and decided to take her out for a "welcome to the team" meal. I chose Engine Co. 28, because none of us had ever tried it and I'd heard mainly good things about this comfort-food hangout.
The first thing I noticed was how nice the atmosphere was: High ceilings, comfy booths and chairs, a little fancy but not over-the-top. We were seated promptly (I made reservations through Open Table) to a nice table toward the back of the house. The hostess wished us well in our lunch endeavor, and we had good expectations for this new-to-us resto.
The bread "basket" was more like a cylinder, with one medium-sized baguette tucked inside. The bread was warm, and crusty in and chewy in all the right places. However, I think it's a bit odd to serve it like this...it forces people to take the whole baguette in their hand and rip pieces off for themselves. Luckily none of us are germaphobes, but I still found it a bit unsettling. Either serve the baguette sliced or serve a bread basket with rolls, I say.
I started with the beef carpaccio, which is one of my favorite dishes. According to the menu, it would be served with a "truffle oil-creole mustard sauce." What I got didn't fit the description. The beef itself was okay, though it was clearly frozen at one point as it tasted a bit, well, waterlogged. And the sauce was more like plain mayonnaise, which I'm not really a fan of. There was no hint of mustard or truffle in this eggy, white sauce, and there was way too much of it on the beef. The Parmesan came in thick shards, not thin shavings like I expected. The combo of the cheese and the mayo-like sauce was utterly inedible; my first bite tasted like Parmesan-flavored wax with salty cream and almost creamy beef. Blech. I scraped off all the toppings and managed to eat most of the beef, but not happily.
For my meal, I ordered the Grilled Ahi Tuna Salad. I got about four, finger-sized slices of tuna, which had way too many sesame seeds and peppercorns on the crust. I've never understood why restaurants coat fish with broken pieces of peppercorns - you get a shock with every bite, and you'll be picking flecks of peppercorn out of your teeth for years after. The greens were fine and well dressed in balsamic, but I was very disappointed with the dish overall. The fried ginger that came on top tasted more like ginger candy. Not a great addition.
My coworker Joey ordered the Braised Lamb Shank with parpadelle noodles. It was a huge portion, and looked quite tasty. Joey liked his dish a lot, and gave it a 7 out of 10. I had a bite of the lamb, which was tender and lovely, though I did have to cut a huge piece of fat off of my bite before eating.
Lily opted for the Rigatoni with grilled chicken, peppers and cream. She also gave hers a 7 out of 10, noting that there was way more chicken than pasta (strange since it's a pasta dish). She said she wished there was more carby pasta goodness, but otherwise liked her choice.
I think the lesson learned is that, if you're going to go to a comfort food restaurant, stick to the comfort food. Clearly they do the cream sauces and braised meats and home-cooking stuff decently while they cut corners on the healthier options. That said, I probably wouldn't go back because I rarely feel like loading up on such heavy food at lunch, but that's just me. If mac & cheese is your thang, then you'll probably like Engine Co. 28.
