Dining at Beso

By Billa

Staten Island has many fine restaurants, and most of them are Italian. But every once in a while we get a hankering for other cuisines. (For example, see: https://www.dazzlingdinners.com/post/dinner-at-mello-bistro, or https://www.dazzlingdinners.com/post/lunch-at-lakruana-by-all-three-of-the-three-fare-ladies.)

This past week, we (my husband Martin and I) went with friends to dine at Beso, a Spanish restaurant. And although Beso has been around for a while, it recently moved into larger quarters at 70 Bay Street in St. George. The dining room in the new location is wood-paneled and, though larger than before, still has a cozy vibe.

In addition to Spanish dishes, the menu has some Mexican and Latin American selections.

For my entree, I chose shrimp al limone - shrimp sautéed with capers, grape tomatoes, parsley, basil, garlic, lemon juice, and Albarino white wine. It’s listed as served over linguini, but, wanting a break from pasta, I requested mashed potatoes instead. I’m glad I did. A bite of the shrimp, potato, and lemony sauce was perfection.

Martin ordered the fajitas with grilled shrimp. They placed a platter of sizzling shrimp, onions, peppers, and squash in front of him.There was also avocado pico de gallo, warm flour tortillas, shredded Monterrey jack cheese and sour cream. He enjoyed the contrast between the savory, salty shrimp and the sweet caramelized vegetables. Everything was seasoned nicely with a spicy blend of seasoning. An additional nice touch was that the tortillas came in what looked like a leather case, which kept them warm.

One friend had tuna Catalán - seared tuna topped with sliced mango, capers, onion, and fresh mint in a citrus chipotle soy sauce served over grilled asparagus.

Her husband ordered veal porcini - veal cutlets sautéed with mushrooms, Spanish sherry wine, thyme, garlic, and porcini cream sauce - accompanied by mashed potatoes.

Everyone liked their entrees.

For dessert, we all chose chocolate mudslide. It is described as a warm mix of chocolate cake, ganache, double chocolate brownie chunks, marshmallows, and almonds. I love having a warm dessert on a cold night. But I hesitated to order it because I’m not a fan of marshmallows. However, I’m glad I decided to have it because you couldn’t really taste the marshmallows. All you could taste is warm, chocolatey gooeyness and it was delicious.   

There is some very good cooking going on in Beso, and we’ll be coming back.