Three Drunken Goats

A new year, a new resolution from both of us to actually blog! And funny that the first place we review is a restaurant not in our new or old neighorbood, but instead in the city of Montrose. A quaint little town with lots of character.

The restaurant: Three Drunken Goats -- 2256 Honolulu Avenue - Montrose/Glendale
818-249-9950
On one web site, they say the "3" is the restaurant's three owners, Chef Jason Micheaud from Cobras and Matadors, Owner Brandon Kim and General Manager, Daniel Sevilla. On another site, they say the eatery derives the latter part of its name from the semi-soft artisan goat cheese which is imported from the Mediterranean coast of southern Spain from Jumilla (a small village in the Murcia region). Drunken Goat Cheese is soaked in Doble Pasta wine for 48-72 hours imparting not only additional flavor, but also a vibrant purple color to its smooth rind. The cheese is then aged for an additional 75 days. This process gives the Drunken Goat a sweet, smooth flavor.

Type of food: Tapas
Price point: SHE BLOGGED: $$$; HE BLOGGED: $$

Atmosphere: SHE BLOGGED: It's everything that I expect of a tapas bar in Spain except the place wasn't standing room only. Loud and noisy. Not a good first date place. HE BLOGGED: The restaurant definitely had an energy about it as the air reverberated with the conversations of everyone around me. The acoustics were a bit harsh, as my ears strained to hear my wife, the waitress and the three ladies to my left who were sharing their intimate secrets with each other. However, the tapas definitely was a pleasant surprise. I'm sure the wine would have been an exclamation point to the food but we weren't drinking that night. They have a good size selection of Spanish wines that I'm sure we will definitely partake of on our next visit.

Service: Quality service is always half the experience in our book, and in this case, it was excellent. We had a great server who knew her food and wines. HE BLOGGED: Service was good and food was served pretty quickly, which never hurts when you are starving! The other servers appeared to be just as friendly and helpful as they conversed with patrons who laughed along or chatted with them.

The food: Our first small dish was a recommendation by the server, stuffed piquillo peppers with iziabel cheese. SHE BLOGGED: Excellent. What a way to start the meal. HE BLOGGED: This was definitely the way to start out dinner. The peppers had a nice smokiness from the grill and the cheese was delicious. Definitely could have put away a couple of more. The next dish I ordered and don't recommend; the potato, cheese and chorizo croquette. SHE BLOGGED: Croquette's are a very typical Spanish tapas dish, but I don't know what I was hoping for...maybe a twist to the dish? Don't get me wrong, it's good, but it's just like eating a ball of fried mashed potatoes with little bits of ham in it. HE BLOGGED: eh.. it was alright, I think it needed something to give it a bit of complexity. The textures were somewhat there, but tastewise it was like the inside of good french fry. Third dish was steamed clams. SHE BLOGGED: It was good, but pretty standard. Didn't knock us off our feet. HE BLOGGED: it as if my wife is reading my mind. Yeah I've had better, but it was still good. I think the broth tasted a bit watered down. Perhaps more garlic or a dab of butter. Fourth dish, was grilled octopus with chorizo and potatoes. SHE BLOGGED: This dish was just ok. The octopus lacked flavor and it could have been a little more tender. I think I liked the potatoes and chorizo better. HE BLOGGED: I was really looking forward to this dish because I love grilled seafood. The dish was adorned with about a five inch grilled octopus tentacle and one can smell the grilled flesh. Chopped up pieces were also incorporated into the potatoes and chorizo. Taste alone, the octopus didn't have tremendous flavor, it had an interesting texture which I thought went well with a bit of chorizo. Seafood and bacon or cured meat products go hand in hand. It was a good dish. Interesting textures, I just wished they could coax more flavor out of the octopus. Fifth dish was a recommendation from the server, Bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with chorizo. SHE BLOGGED:I'm not a date fan, and this dish easily could have been dessert. It was so rich and heavy and...heavenly! HE BLOGGED: slap bacon around anything and its almost unfair because it generally is good. The bit of saltiness from the bacon helped balance out the sweetness of the date. The chorizo nugget at the core of the date was sort of lost in the saltiness and firmness of the bacon.

There's always room for dessert so our final dish was the homemade churros. SHE BLOGGED: They came hot out of the oil, fresh as can be with a side of chocolate dipping sauce. They totally melted in our mouthes. HE BLOGGED: what can I say it was a darn good churro and it got even better with that chocolate dipping sauce. The churro is not as sweet as a churro that comes from the stall at your local sporting event or theme park but it is soft, light and delicious, where its not about the cinnamon or sugar but the churro itself. They come in interesting shapes, you tell me what they look like.

Any downers?: SHE BLOGGED: This restaurant, as of January 2009, does not have a web site? WHA the ?!? It makes it difficult for me to refer people to the place if there's no place to direct them to, or an online menu to jog my memory of what we ate! HE BLOGGED: the only downside is the noise. But if you drink and eat enough, you'll be just as loud as your neighbor so drink up.