This restaurant has so much potential. The atmosphere is very nice, the staff are very professional, and the menu avoids the boring.
Our early arrival for dinner at 5:30 revealed a bar almost fully occupied with about sixteen customers. Obviously, it was Happy Hour. It was still quite bright in the bar lounge as we were seated, and lights were dimmed somewhat to add more atmosphere closer to 6PM.
We started with a bottle of Saratoga sparkling ($9) as we studied the adult beverage menus. My wife decided upon the Harvest Moon ($17) cocktail, a blend of Curamia Blanco tequila, house fall spices, ginger, lime, and grapefruit. She was expecting it to be spicier and when our server heard this the server offered to have the bartender increase the spicing. It definitely improved the flavoring to both my wife's and my taste preference. I ordered a draft Allagash White ($8) since I had last enjoyed the same during our visit to Milas in Schenectady.
For starters, my wife ordered the Cauliflower Salad ($15), a delicious blend of mandoline sliced cauliflower, Castelvetrano olives, pomegranate, pine nut, preserved lemon, and muscatel dressing. The use of the mandoline was an outstanding idea as it presented the cauliflower as a crispier ingredient and prevented it from overpowering the other ingredients.
I started with the Onion Soup ($17). I can tell you right now that this was phenomenally rich in flavor with duck broth, a dark baguette that looked to be house made, Vidalia onion, and topped with what I think may have been Raclette or Caciocavallo cheese. Oh, so good but it could have been a bit hotter.
As an entrée, my wife chose the Pan Roasted Steelhead ($37) with farro, winter squash, and smoked yogurt. It was not only a beautifully presented dish, but it was also delicious.
I couldn't hold back from ordering something that I'd never had the opportunity to eat before - Elk Loin ($42). It was prepared with an espresso rub and served with broccoli rabe, wild mushrooms, huckleberry jus, and gnudi (which I don't think I've ever had before also). The elk was cooked to the chef's recommendation of medium rare. An acquaintance of mine used to say, "sometimes you just order wrong" when he was not excited about what he was served. That may have been my situation with this dish. Elk is a very lean meat, and the chef was correct in recommending it be served medium rare. However, I don't believe the huckleberry jus provided enough moisture to compensate for the lack of fat in the elk. I also was not impressed with the gnudi. A Google search tells me that while it is similar to gnocchi, it is a dumpling that is soft and pillowy, made with ricotta and spinach. The little "dumplings" that were served with the elk were neither soft nor pillowy and didn't seem to have either ricotta or spinach.
My disappointment with my entrée, however, had no impact upon our deciding to finish our meal with coffee and dessert. My wife had a Cappuccino ($6) while I choose black coffee ($4). Both were very enjoyable with the Crème Brulee ($14), served with fresh blue berries and strawberries, and the Chocolate Mouse ($14), served with passion fruit, marcona almond, and caramel, both of which we shared.
I'm looking forward to trying something else on our next visit. read more