Bootsy's: Funkalicious or Just Funky?

Bizarre. Funky. Delicious. Bootsy's is all of these things. I visited this mecca of all things Funkadelic last night with two good friends. We passed through the mini-shrine of Bootsy Collins memoribilia into the visually loud and quickly-crowding bar upstairs. A host was quick to have a table cleared for us and we were seated at a booth within a few minutes. Immediate seating at seven at a popular downtown restaurant? That's pretty funky.

So is the decor. It's like a permanent mardi gras upstairs with a little bit of Spanish flair thrown in. All of this I would find bewildering, even off-putting if the food wasn't good. Jeff Ruby is definitely pulling his weight here, because the food isn't upstaged by the surroundings. It's fantastic.

Incidentally, it's also impossible to photograph sitting at a glowing, neon-red table. Oh well. If you can make it out in the picture on the right, that's the braised pork belly. Trendy, trendy. And so good. I've never had pork belly, so I can't really compare, but I can tell you that this stuff melted in my mouth. We stuck to tapas and beer for a nice, round meal, and I'd recommend attacking the menu that way. Our favorites of the night include the pork belly, plantains three ways (pictured on the left), and the ropa vieja.

The prices are pretty recession-friendly too- six tapas and three beers came out around $60. Bootsy's is over-the-top for sure, and it won't appeal to everyone, but I'll be back for more plantains and funkadelic ambiance.