Busted Birthday Bummer
By A Yahoo! Contributor, 4/2/08
This restaurant has not made a successful transition from 17th Avenue Bistro to chic suburban eatery!
The close, dingy, old, cramped charm is gone, replaced by the rather sterile "ambience" of a box in a strip plaza fronting a condo complex. Some of the decor from the original location could not mask the loss.
The rather noisy gaggle of 'ladies' beside our table did not add to the evening. The endless sniping at absent 'friends', the endless comparison of money and possessions and the endless attempts to let the others know how well they were fixed financially was not helped by their insincere apologies for making so much noise as we were leaving.
We selected a Pouilly Fume as the wine and it was acceptable, if a little too cold.
My meal began well with a rather excellent Calamari dish in a tomato sauce while my companion's salad with pancetta and goat cheese was a bit of a disaster. The ingredients did not combine well and the pancetta was far too 'raw' and salty.
My cassoulet was 'pedestrian' at best. The beans were cooked but the chorizo, the chops and the confit of duck did not meld with the dish but rather stood alone as if they were intruders. The whole thing was luke warm. Mu companion's rack of veal was tough and uninspired!
My standard yardstick, Creme Brule, was mediocre at best and my companion's profiteroles were tough and chewy. The cafe au lait was weak, insipid and tepid.
The tab however, $180 with tip, was right up there with the best of them.
This was a case of the anticipation being far greater than the realization and certainly not befitting a landmark birthday dinner.
We will not be giving this location a second chance and I will be taking my companion out for a make-up dinner somewhere much superior to this disaster.