Food is an afterthought at Draft

Draft’s lunch menu is extensive, and in the past I have tried the Kobe burger and chopped salad. I wasn’t impressed. But I wanted to give the fun boardwalk place another chance. This time my friend Cheryl and I decided to order off the “share menu.”

I ordered the Achiote Puffy Pork Tacos for $12. Our friendly server brought over three small street-size tacos piled high with shredded red cabbage, chopped red onions, and a lime cream with cilantro, queso fresco, and black beans.

The puffy tortilla was good and was made in-house, and the cabbage was crispy and fresh. The mild jalapeños had just enough spice but not so much as to make my eyes water. The lime cream sauce was a surprise, with a tang and creaminess that was unusual. But it blended into the queso fresco, and it was hard to distinguish what was what. The black beans didn’t have much flavor.

The biggest problem was that the flavors on the small tortilla were overwhelmed by the red onion. The taco was piled high with it. I longed for more of the lime cream sauce. I ate the second taco after taking much of the onion off and decided the third one just wasn’t worth the trouble.

Cheryl had the spinach-artichoke dip, which came with grilled pita and tortilla chips for $10. It arrived at such a scalding temperature that we couldn’t eat it for about 20 minutes. When we did finally dig in, we immediately decided that it tasted like Costco fare. After two bites I went back to dissecting the tacos.

Draft has an impressive layout, with a long bar and a huge screen showing good-looking people playing volleyball or skating on the boardwalk. The space used to be the tacky Cane’s nightclub, and this beautiful building is a huge improvement. But having eaten there a couple of times now, I believe that Draft is more about the beach and the 60-plus beers than the food.