13 Gypsies - Jacksonville, FL

Last night we had a lovely dinner with out great Friends A&J. They just started their first jobs (real post-college jobs) as first year associates with their respective law firms. I wish them all the best. I know they will be successful at whatever they do. I am trying to get one of them to do a guest post on here but they are super busy.

They asked me to review the restaurant we went to last night so here goes.

13 Gypsies - Restaurant in Jacksonville, FL

The restaurant has a pretty good atmosphere however they could make some changes. There is too much open space. I know it sounds crazy for me to request this, but I feel like they should put more tables in. That would make it a little more cozy and give it a European bistro feel. The staff was friendly, but not exceptional. No complaints. Our server was willing to answer my list of questions about the menu without an attitude.

The Food
The restaurant markets itself as a Peasant Kitchen. Here is a quote from the website/menu:
"STAYING TRUE TO HIS ROOTS, CHEF HOWARD HAS FOLLOWED AND CAPTURED THE DOCUMENTED GYPSY MIGRATORY TRAIL... OUT OF INDIA AND WEST ACROSS CENTRAL EUROPE, ITALY, FRANCE, SPAIN, AND NORTHERN AFRICA. KEEPING THE RECIPES OF EACH LOCATION AS CLOSE TO TRADITIONAL AS POSSIBLE."

We ordered 6 tapas and 2 desserts with a side of Flat Bread and Peasant Bread. I will start with the 6 tapas dishes:

STREET STYLE PORK KABOBS - OLD WORLD MOORISH SPICED KABOBS, WITH FLATBREAD - The pork was extremely overcooked. The cut of meat was indistinguishable, but the spices were good.

SPANISH 'GAMBAS AL AJILLO' - SHRIMP SAUTÉED IN OLIVE OIL, GARLIC, AND RED PEPPER. - This was our least favorite dish. In a coastal fishing town like Jacksonville, Fl previously frozen imported shrimp from China just won't cut it. If it's a price thing, increase it and buy the best ingredients. We found ourselves very disappointed with this item.

ROMAN GNOCCHI SEMOLINA AND PARMESAN FLATS, TOPPED WITH A MUSHROOM TAREEFI SAUCE. - This was the star of the show however I have several comments to make. The dish should have been a little warmer to start out with. The plate should have been warmed before plating the food. The flavors were good, especially the Parmesan which was a high quality cheese. The mushrooms were cooked perfectly however there should have been more of them on the plate. After careful consideration of the meal, it is possible that we liked this dish the most because it was the only carb dish we tried, everything else was meat and seafood. It was also the last dish to be delivered and the flavors in it were nothing like the others we tried.

FRESH CHORIZO AND PEARS - CHEF'S HANDMADE CHORIZO SAUSAGE, SAUTÉED WITH PEARS AND SPICED DATES - The Chorizo was a little dry in my opinion however the flavors were good. A thought the dish lacked texture. We determined that the dates should have been caramelized to give them more of a crunch to contrast with the sausage and pears. Overall the flavors were pleasant.

ANGRY BULLPAN SEARED BEEF FILET, SERVED WITH PACHECO SAUCE AND CROWNED WITH CRUSHED RAW GARLIC AND PEPPERCORNS - We enjoyed this dish very much. The peppercorns added a great crunch to the beef. The sauce was very unique, like nothing I had ever tried before.

BLACKENED OCTOPUS - SECTIONS OF TENDERIZED OCTOPUS, BLACKENED WITH CHEFS OWN SPICE BLEND. The table enjoyed this dish however it need to be crispier in order to call it blackened. The spices were great and the butter sauce was incredible. It just needed a little more sear on it to make it perfect.

Bread: The Peasant Bread was blase' while the flatbread was satisfying.

Dessert: Both of the desserts we ordered were okay, but not exceptional: Bread Pudding and their famous Tres Leches cake. We were not impressed.

In sum, I think we would go back to this place. The wine and sangria was inexpensive which was a refreshing change to most restauarants. The bill for two couples was 117.00. This included a bottle of house white, and 2 carafes of Sangria. Not bad for a pleasant evening with friends.