Boogaloo

Caribbean, Cuban, and Creole food plus swings for chairs...

what's not to love?

We found Boogaloo the same way that we seem to find all new restaurants lately - through Groupons.  It is described as a Cuban, Carribean, and Creole flavored restaurant.  After browsing the menu online, it definitely looked like a must try.  I have to say that the food was delicious and flavorful.  There aren't a lot of restaurants in St. Louis that use a lot of spice in their dishes. 

By far the most interesting and intriquing part of the restaurant is that some of the seating wasn't chairs.  It was swings hung from the ceiling!  Unfortunately, there were no swings available when we arrived and we were forced to sit at a boring table and chairs.

One complaint that Tony did have is that they tried to make it like a night club.  Granted, we didn't arrive until almost 9pm on a Saturday night.  Very dark lighting and loud music gave it that feel.  Tony even had to use the flashlight app on his phone to read his menu!

The restaurant was also beautifully decorated.  The light fixtures were absolutely gorgeous and I loved how they used the same tin tiles that are on the ceiling on the bottom half of the wall.  My favorite part was the wall paper used above the chair rail.  It had a leather like texture and feel to it.

Tony started off with the gumbo.  While the taste itself was great, there was no rice!  Who doesn't serve gumbo over a bed of rice?!?

For his dinner, Tony  chose a Cuban disha called ropa veija.  It's a cuban braised flank steak on a bed of Cuban rice.  He loved the taste of it, but was surprised to learn that the rice had a coconut flavor to it.  I wasn't a fan of the rice, but I don't like coconuts.

I had the plantain encrusted tilapia with sweet potato-andouille hash and topped with a orange scallion remoulade.  The tilapia itself was one of one of the best that I've ever had.  I loved the crispiness of the crust.  Also, I was interpreting sweet potato-andouille hash to be a mixture of sausage and sweet potatoes.  I figured that I could just pick out the andouille since I don't like sausage.  Unfortunately, it just referred to the way that the sausage was cooked and it was all andouille sausage.  I also wasn't a fan of the remoulade.  The taste was fine, but it completely overpowered the tiliapia which I really enjoyed.  Next time, I'd order it with the sauce

 on the side.