Strange Mercat

Last night Noey, the Gentleman Caller, and I went to Baco Mercat downtown (http://bacomercat.com/). BECAUSE WE WANTED TO. It's real cute-looking from the outside and the inside is in one of those nice downtown rooms with incredibly high ceilings but, you guys, THERE IS NO AC. Like, we sweat right through our meal. Some people are into this, I can only really do it with BBQ. Go for the outdoor seating, if anything. Anyway, this restaurant has been getting RAVES, possibly due to a Brussels sprouts Caesar salad that is no longer on the menu according to one Emily Moffet. I, however, give it a MEH. And I know my shit, and by shit I mean food. The best thing we got was this okra, resting in one of the best tomato sauces I've ever tasted:

Oh yeah, I was definitely the annoying girl taking pictures of our food last night. Also, swell, all of the pictures came out incredibly dark because at concerts I have to turn off the flash. ANYWAY, yum to the okra. Then we got this somewhat disappointing spaghetti squash with creamed corn, which was a little al dente and vinegar-y, in my humble opinion:

Everything was pretty full of vinegar; I think it's a thing at Baco. GC got two sodas, because the place makes special, vinegar-based sodas (also did I mention it was hot as BALLS in there?); one was a delicious blueberry thing and the other, a blood orange, was, well...vinegarific. Anyway, then we got this actually really great, oil-slicked beef tartare that came with cherry tomatoes and a freshly baked, dense hunk of bread (I love a bread hunk). Then we all got sandwiches, or "baco." Noey and GC went for the "toron," which was salty and delicious and I think it involved oxtail. I went for the chicken which was done in a spicy "lebni" sauce with crunchy cabbage. The bread was that great, thick kind of pita. Mmm:

Yeah, dark I know. I probably would've enjoyed this sandwich more if I wasn't pretty full. But of course, we had to get dessert. We decided to try a banana cream rice pudding with caramel sauce because please, did you read what I just typed? It was great flavor-wise, but GC and I agreed we prefer a thicker, more rice-ful consistency (Noey, however, does NOT):

Okay, okay I'll turn my flash on. Anyway, it was decent. If it's not to hot out and you're into vinegar, RECOMMEND.