Last night Alan and I met Mary & Steve out for dinner at a restaurant none of us had been to yet. Located in the little town of Lawrenceville, NJ...just down the road from Princeton, this one sounded intriguing with it's eclectic New American menu and it's BYO status. Our reservation was for 6:30pm...the restaurant basically empty when we arrived. It's a popular place though - by 7:30pm it was packed solid.
It's a small place located on Main Street with maybe fifteen tables inside and other four or so outside. The ambiance was nondescript and a bit on the dark side. Upon being seated, our waitress told us of the three specials of the night in addition to the menu. We decided to order appetizer, salad and entree.
To start off the evening, Mary and I both ordered the tuna tartar with ponzo, avocado and chives in a soy / sesame type of broth. It was an attractive dish. The tuna was fresh, as was the avocado. The problem with this one was the sauce; there was too much of it and it was overpowering. It could have been a great dish with only a drizzle or no sauce at all.
Alan and Steve both ordered the sweet and sour calamari with sizzling peppers and a sweet and sour glaze. There were mixed reviews on this dish...at first Alan didn't love the combination of flavors. Steve's opinion was that he liked the flavors and the breading but thought the calamari itself was too chewy. I had a few bites of Alan's and actually liked it.
Next course up was salads. I ordered the baby spinach with fennel, chick peas, pancetta and an apple vinaigrette. While my salad had way too many chick peas, the dressing was light and tart and complimented the pancetta nicely. The spinach was fresh and crisp and I liked the crunch of fennel.
Alan ordered the Caesar salad. It looked nice but he didn't like it at all. It lacked any flavor - almost as though they forgot to dress it. No tang of anchovy, no creaminess from a proper dressing and tasted like a hospital cafeteria salad. Disappointing to say the least.
Mary & Steve both ordered the Asian pear salad with cranberries, cashews, goat cheese and a pomegranate vinaigrette. I didn't catch their opinion of their salads.
Now up to this point, the service had been pretty attentive bringing us glasses, chilling the champagne and servicing the table appropriately. But something happened during the salad course...they disappeared! What seemed to have happened was the patronage in the restaurant went from two thirds empty to completely booked with the same small staff that was there when we arrived. Our empty salad plates sat in front of us for a good twenty minutes - maybe longer before anyone came by to clean them up. These delays continued throughout the rest of the meal. Good thing there are no awkward silences when the four of us get together!
For our entrees, Mary tried the Veal Osso bucco with wild mushroom ragout, parmesan risotto and spring vegetables. The first comment she made was that the meat was well prepared and flaked apart at the touch of her fork. The risotto was the highlight of this dish for Mary who otherwise was disappointed by the vegetables and indifferent on the veal.
For my selection, I went with one of the specials of the evening. It was a 16 ounce ribeye with scallopped sweet potatoes, day boat scallops and baby asparagus. Right off the bat I will say that this ribeye was 50% fat...I literally cut half off and pushed it to the side of the dish. The next complaint I have is that it was overly charred. It tasted burnt; not helped by the fact that it was also overcooked and didn't come close to the medium rare I requested. So while the meat was a waste, the scallops were quite nice; I really liked the sweet potatoes and the asparagus was perfectly cooked. If only it had been a scallop dish and not a meat one!
Steve ordered the Mongolian barbecued Berkshire pork with carmelized shallots, bok choy and smoked bacon mashed potatoes. I didn't get a lot of commentary from Steve on this dish...I remember him saying it was good, in the tone that usually reflects that something is good. I did note that he left the bok choy untouched - not sure if that's a testament to the vegetable or the way it was prepared.
And finally, Alan ordered the seared Peking duck and confit served with roasted fennel quinoa, braised greens and orange chili sauce. The dish had sliced duck breast, Peking style that was okay but a bit on the dry side. The confit was overcooked and the quinoa was inedible; the greens were bland. A complete miss.
In summary, despite the truly interesting menu, the best part of this meal was the awesome company, the conversation and the wines we brought ourselves. This one will not be on the list to return to anytime soon. We skipped dessert to go get ice cream at the Bent Spoon in Princeton.
Jenn's rating: 69
Zagat: 23-21-22
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