My first impression of this place was that we were younger than most people in the restaurant by 10-15 years, but I guess in this area most people are professors or faculty members and the students more or less can't really afford to eat out so they go elsewhere. The waitress was very helpful and tried to guide us through the drink list. I wasn't a huge fan of their cocktail list but decided to try the Calla Lily based on her recommendation ($10). It turned out to be way to girly of a drink and super low on alcohol, so I wasn't a huge fan of it. Meanwhile Nima got this super strong drink called the Bijou which was the complete opposite of my drink: manly and very heavy on the alcohol. Menu-wise, it was 2 pages with about 5-6 dishes each. The cuisine was your standard "fancy" American food. I had noticed some specials on the blackboard in the back but the waitress didn't tell us about all of them, only the appetizer (so I wonder if the other ones were sold out). For food, we split the home-made charcuterie ($14) plate and the butternut squash cavetelli ($12). For my main, I got the grilled skirt steak ($28) - I thought it was a bit weird that she didn't ask how I liked my steak, although usually skirt steak usually (and it did) come medium rare. For some reason when I think of a charcuterie plate, I think of a meat plate with thinly sliced meats like prosciutto and such but this was a variety of mousse-like meat products like pate, pork tarine, some other kind of meat made into a smooth textured format, and then some small cuts of sausage. If you get squeamish about "smooth" meat, I wouldn't recommend this dish but if you are ok with it, it was quite good and they were all super flavorful without tasting gamey or weird. As for the pasta appetizer, you could definitely tell that the pasta was fresh and homemade and it was served in a thick butternut squash butter sauce.
Sadly when my entree came out, my congestion had gotten worse. By the time I got my steak, I think I had about a 20% breathing ability. I thought a skirt steak was usually a thinner cut of meat, but this cut was actually pretty thick (although not as thick as a real filet or chop). Luckily the meat was cooked medium rare, which was great and it was served on a bed of polenta, beef and tomato raguot and cremini mushrooms. Now I have a huge fan of polenta and this wasn't super creamy but mixed together with the ragout and mushrooms, it was a good compliment to the steak. Even though I couldn't taste much, I must have liked it, because I ate the entire dish! Nima got the red snapper and she said it was light and delicious and Dave had also gotten the skirt steak. For dessert, we got the chocolate cremeux ($9) which came with olive oil ice cream. Again, I had zero taste buds for this so I can't say much, but nothing about it wow'd me too much.
All in all, this was a very pleasant and "adult" restaurant and I did enjoy the food. I just wish that the menu had a bit more variety, atmosphere was bit less serious, and a better cocktail list. Total bill: $67/pp with tip and tax.
Photo credit: Bakingmehungry.com
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