[My ongoing series for 2016 continues ... with the TWENTY-SECOND of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA (coming to you on sequential Thursdays. All. Year. Long.)!]
Establishment: Bull Market (American bar and kitchen)
Location: downtown Ft Lauderdale
Meal: Sunday Brunch
Drink: Bullberry Lemonade
smirnoff citrus, smirnoff blueberry, orange liqueor, lemon-lime soda
Round 1: fried chicken, sausage and biscuits and breakfast meats
Round 2: fried chicken, home-fried potatoes, bacon and eggs and fresh pineapple
Round 3: wafles and syrup, bacon, fresh watermelon and s'mores doughnut
Round 4: bonus s'mores doughnut
Server: Me! ('cause it was buffet style!)
Website: https://www.bullmarketbar.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bullmarketfl/
For the second time in this series, it's buffet time! So it seemed only right to visit an award winner for Best Brunch 2015 (although my comments below suggest that I clearly wasn't on the committee handing those out). It reminded me a lot of Duffy's in Chicago (my most recent hometown for the last dozen years) -- in both good and bad ways. Don't be alarmed by all the rounds -- the plates were on the small side (the better to control the hungry masses, I'm sure). And once we get the whole bathroom controversy around the country worked out, let's next tackle the sexist drink specials, as seen in the shot from the menu. As for the score, here's how things shook out:
AMBIANCE: 6/10 (it's a fun area, is that Himmarshee Village ... with lots of people-watching opportunities ... plus with an outdoor seating option, we could get up close to all the interesting types and colorful characters passing by [and their little dogs too] ... a point lost for that 'hood being so hot and hip that parking is a challenge ... a second point lost for the douche parade [a bunch of people on loud bikes who seemed to get joy out of setting off all of the car alarms on the street as they passed] ... a third point lost for having a wobbly table that we had to fix ourselves ... and a final point lost for having to fight through throngs of drunk girls to get to the buffet)
FOOD: 5/10 (I feel it a little harder to judge a buffet ... what with food sitting in chafing dishes and what not ... but the bottom line is that I don't feel like the offerings are going to win any awards [ironically, they DID win one of the best brunches in town] ... to be fair, I did not sample a whole row of seafood [I just couldn't agree with having mussels with my waffles] ... but the demerits are as follows: two points lost for dry tasteless chicken [I tried it twice in hopes that I just had grabbed a bad piece], another one lost for a second drink that was delivered that was supposed to be a duplicate of the first but tasted like a really bad clone that was missing ingredients, a point lost for biscuits that didn't get the memo that they were to "flake", and a final point lost for the staff having never refilled the sausage ... the best option was the freshly made mini-waffles, which I found too late in the cycle)
SERVICE: 7/10 (it might be hard to work the buffet shift, and I can only guess that the person tasked with monitoring our table was brand new on the job, but a point lost for waiting too long to have our order taken in the first place, another one for him walking back to the kitchen multiple times without a dirty plate, and a third one for how scared he was of the reservationist)
BACON: 9/10 (lookit -- it's dangerous to have a buffet with bacon when someone like me comes to visit ... so thanks for that ... if only there could have been some crisp pieces in amidst the ones drowning in grease [hence the point lost despite me having bacon during each and every round])
BONUS: 9/10 (+3 for that doughnut, though [so good I had to have two], +3 for the customer who answered me when I accosted him about where he got his waffles [I had missed the waffle station], and +3 for the way that first drink tasted)
TroyScore: 36 out of 50 -- aka 72, a low C
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