It’s been a couple of years since our friend Eddie moved away from our dear San Leandro in search of hotter pastures. And in the meantime our monthly mom’s night out dinners sort of stopped – mostly because of logistics. But Eddie was in town for a visit, so we /had to/ get together for another special dinner. This time Natasha had the great idea of going to Mua, a newish, trendy restaurant in downtown Oakland (now called “uptown”). Natasha had been there three times, and couldn’t stop saying good things about the place. No wonder. In terms of food alone, this is probably the best restaurant I ever visited in the Bay Area. All the dishes we had ranged from very good to spectacular – and the majority fell in the latter category. All I can say is “Wow”.
Mua occupies an industrial-style space, with eclectic decorations which range from the cozy (an out of place cupboard) to the post-modern (pseudo graffiti decorated panels). I’m not very good at describing, so you might as well take a look at the picture at the bottom of this review (which I reproduce from their website). The results are quite interesting and surprisingly inviting – though clearly the place is geared towards an audience younger and hipper than 40+ year-old moms. The only real issue for us was that this is a very noisy place, in particular because of the loud music piped into the dining room. The noise made it impossible for the six of us to converse when seated at a regular 6-person table, but they kindly moved us to a smaller table that allowed us to talk to each other without too much trouble.
Service, as you can surmise, was quite efficient and good. Our waitress forgot one of our dishes, but given how much we ordered that did not prove to be a problem. Water was refilled, dishes brought and removed at appropriate times (basically, our 13 dishes were brought in two stages, which worked very well).
Mua doesn’t only serve great food (which I’ll describe below), but it’s well known for its cocktails (all $9). It has quite a variety of unusual mixes, and we found all of them delicious. Aamani had the Pepper Basil Caipirinha (leblon cachaça, black peppercorns, basil and lime), and she was very pleased. It had a small kick but it wasn’t very spicy. Natasha and Eddie both ordered the Min Mojito (oronoco rum, mint, lime, ginger puree and ginger beer), and even though Eddie ordered it with little ginger, she found it too gingery for her taste. Both Natasha and I thought it was perfectly blended, but tastes differ. Parker’s Cucumber Crush (leblon cachaça, cucumber, elderflower liqueur and lime) was incredibly refreshing, definitely a summer drink. It was very popular at our table. My Strawberry Ginger Lemonade (stoli citrus vodka, strawberry, ginger puree and lemon) might have needed just a tad more sugar and didn’t really have much of a ginger flavor, but still was very yummy – quite reminiscent of a strawberry daiquiri. The real winner of the evening, however, was Dolores’ Chamomile Whiskey Sour (chamomile whiskey, lemon, lime and egg white). I, personally, hate whiskey – it’s too strong for me – but this drink was so well balanced, with just the right amount of sweetness and a caramelish creaminess, that I loved it. So did everyone else. I’d definitely recommend you try it (or really, anything else in their cocktail menu).
But as good as the drinks were, it was the food that shined here. If you go, try to do so with a large group so that you can taste more dishes. And really, skip the main entrees, I’m sure they are very good (we only tried the burgers) but you’ll want to have the room for the small dishes.
The first dish I tasted were the Shiitake Mushrooms ($9). The perfectly sauteed mushrooms came on a crostini topped by bright green (I assumed herbed) goat cheese. The combination of the refreshing cheese and the savory mushrooms worked surprisingly well and I was lucky enough to manage to eat a whole slice (I think the dish came with three). The “mac & cheese” ($7) is made with butternut squash pasta and a light cream sauce (I presume) that has no cheese. I was surprised at just how delicious this dish was – if I could find the recipe I could say goodbye to Kraft forever. I hope they publish a cookbook very, very soon.
I didn’t taste the crispy tofu ($7) – it never made it to my side of the table, indeed I’d say that Natasha pretty much monopolized it 🙂 – but I hear it was also a star. Less interesting was the beet salad ($8). It was very nice, don’t get me wrong, but it didn’t have the superlative flavors that other dishes showed. It was just a very good salad.
The dish that really won me over to vegetables (in case you are new to my reviews, I’m a complete meaterian, I won’t touch veggies with a 6-foot-pole) was the collard greens. They don’t appear on their menu online, so I don’t know what they were made with, but the sauce they came with was pretty thin and must have had something like bacon. It was very savory and perfectly balanced, and the dish itself was my favorite. I could eat that forever. I’m really going to write and beg them to publish a cookbook.
I’m not fond of carpaccio ($8) so I wasn’t overly impressed with this dish, though Parker, who had ordered it, was quite happy. I did like the arugula salad that came with it.
I’m also not a fan of slimy food, so I didn’t try the mussels ($13). The roasted tomato broth that accompanied, however, was also out of this world – nicely acidic and with only a subtle seafood flavor. Everyone was enchanted. I never saw the string beans ($8) which Aamani ordered, though I’m sure they made it to the table, but I don’t recall anyone commenting on them (then again, there was so much food that I may have missed some specific dish discussions).
Eddie ordered the lamb cheeks ($10), which I never would have ordered myself, but given how good everything else was, I had to try them – and I was very happy I did. The lamb was very tender and perfectly cooked, and the wine sauce very tasty. I can’t help but think that it needed just a tad of more seasoning, however. Perhaps the wine should have been reduced more. In any case, I liked it.
I didn’t taste the asparagus, in the “Warm Asparagus-Marble Potato” dish, but did have several of the potatoes. They come with bacon and a mustard sauce and were also amazing.
The vegetarian Burger ($11) that Aamani ordered is made from chickpeas, bulgur, quinoa and walnut and comes with an aioli sauce. The burger was very nice but the sauce really transported it into the “delicious” level. Yum, yum, yum.
Along with the beet salad, the dish that least impressed me was the regular hamburger which I ordered with cheddar, bacon and avocado ($15). Don’t get me wrong, it was very good – but ultimately just a burger and I’ve had others just as good, it not better, elsewhere. I found it just a little dry and just a little salty. At 1/2 lb it was also very big. This is probably the dish I’d skip next time.
The fries which came with the burgers and the mussels also failed to impress. They were thin, unevenly salted and just OK.
We were quite full after that meal, but we still wanted to try the desserts ($7?, I’m not sure). They all seemed quite prosaic – nothing seemed very original or provocative. We decided to split the creme brule and the brownie with caramel ice cream and fudge. They were both good but not great. I liked that the creme brulee was warm and not too sweet – the the brownie went very well with the ice cream, but I found the brownie a bit too dry. This is definitely a place to come for the food, not the desserts.
In all, we had an amazing time, both eating and talking (about our kids, of course) and I will definitely have to come here again (hopefully with another group so we can sample all the dishes we skipped this time). The bill came to $42.50 per person after tax and 18% tip, which was incredibly reasonable given the amount and quality of the food and cocktails.
So take my advise and go to Mua. Make sure to make reservations, however, as the place was full even on a Wednesday night.
Mua
2442a Webster St
Oakland, CA
(510) 238-1100
http://www.muaoakland.com/
Su – Th 4:30 PM – 12 AM
F – Sa 4:30 PM – 2 AM
Marga’s Bay Area Restaurant Reviews
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