Peacock Inn - Princeton

Last night Steve and I ventured down to Princeton and enjoyed a relaxing evening at the Peacock Inn, named one of New Jersey Monthly’s Top 25 restaurants of 2011, and Star Ledger’s Restaurant of the Year. The Inn, open since 2010, is located in the heart of Princeton, and is a renovated historic, grand home.

The atmosphere is warm and inviting. To the right of the entrance is a more casual, yet modern bar for a drink or lighter fare. The dining room has warm rich colors and a ceiling peppered with little white lights to look like the evening skyline. Although Steve and I debated on whether it was fitting, or bordereline cheesy – in the end we thought it was charming.

I started with a house specialty cocktail – an apple martini made with apple cider, nutmeg and cinnamon. A nice, only moderately sweet drink that had a very autumnal feel to it. Steve enjoyed a glass of Tattinger, which I had after my cocktail as well.

We began with an amazing amuse bouche of warm mushroom soup with truffle oil and a small piece of lobster claw immersed in the soup. The mushroom flavor was light and creamy, and not overly woodsy. A great start to the meal.

For a chilled appetizer, we shared bison carpaccio with a jicama slaw on parmesan toasts. Very mildly flavored and liked the bison a lot for a first time try. For a warm appetizer, I had the ricotta gnocchi with tomato, asparagus and a mushroom parmesan broth. The gnocchi was pan sautéed and had a really nice buttery flavor. Steve had butternut squash soup, perfectly served as it was poured over chanterelle mushrooms and crispy leeks. I think this was one of Steve’s favorites – a nicely sweet, cinnamon flavor that was complemented by the texture of the leeks. But it was served more cool than hot, certainly a miss.

For entrees, I had the halibut – sautéed in butter (a theme throughout the night) over a panzanella salad. The halibut was ok, not my favorite - alittle fishy flavored. The panzanella salad had small heirloom tomatoes but was over powered by a very tangy vinaigrette and the croutons were not as rustic as I would have liked. Steve ordered the filet mignon, close to perfectly cooked – slightly passed the order of medium – but yet delicious per Steve. It had a rich, enjoyable wine reduction and a really unique potato accompaniment that can only be described as a potato spring roll? The garlic mashed potatoes were wrapped in thin, crispy phyllo dough, sautéed in butter. The miss of the dish may be a spinach puree, which missed some opportunity for texture on the dish and had a baby food like quality.

With dinner, we enjoyed a 2007 Rombauer Cabernet, a pleasant red, not fantastic but fine. And despite a pretty impressive wine cellar I scoped out downstairs, the wine list was rather limited by both the glass and bottle.

After dinner, we shared two desserts - a chocolate valrhona pudding and a warm sticky toffee pudding cake – the toffee pudding the clear winner with its warm, creamy yumminess. And for a nice added touch, with the check came two light fluffy chocolate and caramel French macarons.

The service was very attentive, yet maybe slightly hectic – at times feeling crazed (missing a few opportunities to repour our wine). However a clearly, very nice dinner deserving a repeat visit. In the end – when placed up against elements, it would be difficult to call a clear winner – but I think we would have to say elements. The whimsy and creativity of elements was clearly missed last night. But the good food of Peacock, made with lots and lots of butter, can never be bad!