One Market

One Market is classy in its simplicity.  Huge windows looking into Market Street made One Market feel spacious.  The earth tones and white linen covered tables gave this restaurant  a formal business feel without feeling stuffy.  The open kitchen added a cozy ambiance to the place. Serious business suit seemed to be the preferred attire at One Market.

It was my beautiful friend Heather's birthday and I wanted her to feel special. We also wanted to check out Dine About Town's lunch menu. And we also wanted to sneak in our monthly gal-bonding lunch before we go on our trips separately.

Heather chose to try the DAT lunch menu. For $17.99, she got a FARMER'S SALAD: A simple salad of seasonal greens. Very fresh and generously portioned that we had enough to share between the two of us.

STEAMED MUSSELS (chili flakes, pesto and grilled bread): Heather loved her dish! The portion was also generous. I tried the mussels with the sauce and it tasted like curry instead of pesto but I thought it was good!

I was about to try the DAT menu as well until I saw two dishes on the main menu that I could not resist:

STEAMED GULF FLOUNDER (soy sauce, shitake and bokchoy) $22 The fish was sooooo tender, sooooo flavorful, sooo delicious! Yes, you can tell I loved it! I wish they gave me a little bit more fish but it was really good in its simplicity.

CHICKPEA FRIES ($5): Heather and I were intrigued that we had to have these. We thought they were deep-fried chickpeas but they were chickpeas that were mashed, formed into sticks then deep fried. They came with aioli type sauce but they were good even without. Light, not greasy and seasoned-well. Best to eat while hot off the fryer.



SERVICE:
Service was efficient and friendly. We opted for tap water but our server somehow insisted with a bit of pressure for us to try the flavored lemonades. We declined twice and the 3rd time, we just went, "What the heck. We'll have one each." They were refreshing but we just really wanted tap water.

LOWDOWN:
One Market's DAT is one of the best DAT we have tried so far. Heather and I have tried quite a few DATs over the last couple of years and somehow we oftentimes thought they were just okay.
At One Market the DAT dishes were executed well, priced right and generously portioned.

And I also found out after our meal that One Market is a 1 Michelin Star awardee. As good as our meal was, no stars fell from the skies for me. It was very, very good but I had better Michelin star meals in the past.

Tab: $70 including tax and 20% tip

Foodie Girl's Rating: 4.25 Stars

Key:

0 Star: Never again!!! These people should not be in business.
1 Star: Chalk it to bad experience. Live and learn.
2 Stars: Some are good. Some are okay. Some are bad.
3 Stars: Like! I will return!
4 Stars: Love! I will be dreaming of you at night!
5 Stars: Perfection (or close to!)