Peanut butter and jelly. Cake and ice cream. Spaghetti and …..
Right. You know what comes next. What kid doesn’t love meatballs? Heck, what adult who’s a kid at heart doesn’t love meatballs?
So when someone opens a meatball restaurant, it’s got to be good, right? Right again.
Kal Tandel had a good idea when he opened Meatball District earlier this year. A restaurant focused solely on meatballs served in various ways. Want spaghetti and meatballs? Done. But how spaghetti and meatballs…with spaghetti squash?
Or how about meatball samosas? A best seller on the menu, a juicy meatball is surrounded by flaky dough and then fried. The result is a delicious blend of Italian and Indian cultures. You get to choose the type of meatball and how many samosas. A half order comes with 2, a full order has 4. And they are served with a lemon pesto sauce.
Choice is one of the things that makes this restaurant work and makes it fun. There are four different types of meatballs to choose from: beef, pork, chicken and veggie. Each meatball weighs about an ounce and a half. All are good but the pork and the veggie stand out. The pork is tender and has a bit of spice kick to it. The texture is what makes the veggie meatball interesting. Made from chickpeas, jackfruit and other ingredients, it has a very nutty and crunchy texture. My friend Susan and I ordered Extra Balls, a set of two, and decided on the veggie meatballs with the spicy tomato sauce (Oh, yes…be careful not to trip over an innuendo as order and discuss your…er, [meat}balls).
Next, there are several sauces to choose from. A classic tomato sauce is expected. But you can also choose from the spicy tomato, the lemon pesto, a sweet BBQ and Parmesan.
Finally, there’s a choice in how you want your meatballs served. You can order them individually as sliders – $3 each. You can also order them 4 to a baguette. And finally, you can order them in a bowl. With the bowl, you choose your protein, a sauce and then a choice of grain (risotto, egg noodles, spaghetti squash or angel hair pasta. My friend Virginia had the meatballs with noodles.
After Susie and I split our veggie meatballs, I chose 3 meatball sliders. I chose the pork meatball with barbeque sauce, the beef with red sauce and the chicken with the Parmesan. One thing I liked about all of the sauces – they are thick. Less mess when eating. So often, I get pasta sauce on my shirt. Not with these sauces. What else goes great with sliders but fries? Cooked and seasoned perfectly, they are served with a spicy chipotle aioli.
If all of that is just too much meatball madness for you, break it up with an appetizer. There are 6 appetizers to choose from including the aforementioned samosas, fried mac & cheese balls, and great seasoned fries. Then, there’s the pizza fries – seasoned fries topped with tomato sauce, pepperoni and melted mozzarella. There are also onion rings, fried mac and cheese balls as well as salads to start your meal.
For dessert, there’s a cookie and ice cream combo. But since there were 3 of us, we went for the cheesecake balls. Three round balls of cream cheese are rolled in vanilla cookie crumbs and deep fried. The result is an orb that is crunchy on the outside and warm and gooey on the inside.
If you decide to visit Meatball District, you might choose during lunch time. For $9, you get a meatball sub with fries or on Mondays through Fridays, from 4pm to 6pm, Coors Light cost $1, Sangria is $2 and Apps are $3.
Matter of fact, I’m making myself hungry. I need to make another visit to Meatball District to try something else on the menu. I need to try the baguette…maybe with onion rings…
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