TNDC: Zed451

Alyssa is 2-0 as far as great picks for the TNDC. After hitting a home run with Province, she followed up with Zed451, 739 N. Clark. Amy was at her scuba diving lesson class (stupid jerk is going to Australia), and I believe Neha was sick.

Now I have to admit, I wasn’t too excited about Zed. It’s a Brazilian steakhouse, and my only other experience at that type of restaurant was in Vegas and I was not a fan. However, I wanted to try one again just to be sure it wasn’t that particular restaurant (Samba Brazilian Steakhouse at the Mirage Hotel).

Zed offers three options. You can do the “Zed Experience,” which allows you full access to their salad bar (I’ll get to that) and all-you-can-eat meat. Or you can do the “Harvest Table,” which is just the salad bar, or you can order ala Carte.

The Zed experience is pricy, $48 per person. We all said we’d be down with that on a Friday or Saturday night but it wasn’t sitting well with us on a Tuesday. So the three of us decided to do the Harvest Table. I was a little nervous I wouldn’t be full but boy was I wrong.

Zed had four separate tables filled with different salads, soups; breads, cheeses, cured meats, fruit, etc. For the salads, there was a traditional wedge salad, but also a fresh seafood salad with tuna, shrimp, avocado and mango in a vinaigrette; an heirloom tomato salad with fresh mozzarella; watermelon salad; octopus salad; etc. etc. etc. There were probably 20 different kinds.

Then came the bread, meat and cheese table: prosciutto, chorizo, salami-ish meats, various types of cubed cheese (including the Best Cheese in the World, which was some type of cheese with rosemary. As I have not eaten every cheese in the world, I could not back this statement up. It was tasty though).

If you’ve never been to a buffet or an all-you-can-drink with me, I can get a little out of control. I basically turn into a Depression-era hoarder, convinced the food or drink will go away unless I eat it all that very second. While Meghan and Alyssa had neat, separate piles of food on their plates, mine was filled to the brim. I went up three times, with the last plate being my “all star plate” with my favorites.

I would highly recommend going to Zed for their Harvest Table. It’s $24 per person and I left completely stuffed.

Meat and cheese table

Their cocktails are also very yummy. I ordered a kiwi strawberry martini, which was made from the crushed fresh fruit. Outstanding. They also had a watermelon mint mojito I am interested to try someday.

The décor and design of the restaurant reminds me of being in a bar in the middle of the Brazilian rainforest. Especially the bar area, which has wood seats and tree trunks for tables and greenery. I believe Zed also has a rooftop but since going up there would only bring us closer to the sun, we stayed inside.

The bad part about Zed is their service is shady. Again, I waited in the bar area for at least 10 minutes before I had to go up to the bar and order a drink. I can’t decide if I just don’t look like I should be served or if we just get to these places so early that their wait staff is just getting started.

But that’s not even the shadiest part. When we sat at the table, the only thing in front of us was a drink menu. Our waitress came over and explained how the restaurant worked but neglected to mention any option except the Zed Experience (the most expensive option). Luckily, we had all gone on the website prior to dinner and knew you could do just the salad bar or order off the menu. We had to bring this up to her and only after the second mention did she offer us a menu.

But now YOU know.

P.S.-Alyssa is 30 now so her choices from here on out may be on the sophisticated side. I’m still 29.