Small Bites

i was there tuesday afternoon by myself. ichecked out the lunch menu, looked very good but i decided on the lobster dumpling’s. they wer’e out of this world. i wanted to lick my plate but of course i could not do that. i was by myself and the service was wonderful. looking forward to going back there

We ate at John Michael’s in Purdys tonight. I had high hopes because of the menu posted on the HVRW website and I am happy to say that we were not disappointed. This was definitely fine dining – and most of the dishes were from the standard menu, they were not dumbed down food for HVRW. To start, my son and I had the seared tuna/tartare plate that was pictured on the cover of Line last Friday. It came with cherry “paint” and pea shoots (and also a bit of parsley oil). This was just an amazing dish – there were 4 nice sized pieces of tuna and a decent size portion of tartare. The cherry paint was a nice contrast to dip the tuna slices in (and I don’t generally like cherries). The plate also came with a few small bunches of pea shoots. My only complaint would be that two of my tuna pieces were the ends. I would have expected that to be trimmed. The tuna was also a bit colder than it should have been. This dish is on their normal menu (for $16!) and I’d definitely order it on a return visit. My wife had the parsnip soup with crab fritter (also on the regular menu, at $12) and loved it. I tasted the soup and it definitely did not taste like parsnip (which is a good thing) Rolls were a bit heavy but they were served warm with herb butter. The other appetizer is a “hot and sour salad” of cabbage and arugula, and while it sounded good I knew I had to have the tuna after seeing the picture last week.

For entrees, my son and I both had the salmon with Israeli cous cous and Olive muffins. I had asked for them to be prepared medium and they were served moist and slightly pink inside. The salmon portion was a bit small but ample. The dish also had spinach puree and some crunchy things that neither I nor the nice folks next to me (who had the same dish) could figure out (and I forgot to ask). My wife had the chicken which came with crisp sun-dried tomato gnocchi. She thought it was great (I’ll let you know after I have the rest for lunch tomorrow but I can vouch for the gnocchi). The salmon is not on the regular menu but the chicken is ($25). The other entrée is a red beet risotto.

As good as that sounds, dessert was even better. My wife and son had white chocolate mousse with poached strawberries and a Grand Marnier truffle. This was just amazing, two scoops of wonderful mousse and the strawberries were served warm and almost melted in your mouth. The truffle was excellent as well. I figured I had to be different so I ordered the vanilla bean & basil panna cotta. Unlike the reports on the panna cotta at Equus, this one was excellent, definitely not a mousse, it was light and smooth. It was a bit strange to look at, as it was green and jiggled, but the taste was amazing. It was topped with an orange confit and a passion fruit sauce (with seeds). They also had an espresso pot du crème which the folks next to us seemed to enjoy.

Service was excellent – friendly and attentive (although the person who packed up my leftover salmon did not include the cous cous that I had left on the plate, but I mentioned it to someone and they brought me a fresh container). Parking was difficult – the place was full due to restaurant week and a large party and we had to park in a side lot which was not lit. The place itself is interesting, old and creaky with uneven floors (they tell you to watch your step as you are led to the table) but the fireplaces are nice.

It’s going to be tough for my other restaurant week meals to beat this one. I highly recommend that you check this out while you can eat here at these bargain prices. I’d actually consider going back a second time myself, although my experiences in cases like this is that the second time is never as good because you have such high expectations.

I had the pleasure, and I do mean PLEASURE of eating at X2O last night. The imposing glass structure that houses the dining room looms so high above the Hudson River I uttered a gasp at the spectacular views. My first thought was, if only the food could match this view we would be in for a very special evening indeed. I was not disappointed! What a nice touch to offer a red and a white wine from the Hudson Valley Region (Millbrook Vineyards and White Cliff) to accompany the Hudson Valley Restaurant Week menu. I enjoyed both, by the way. I chose the special appetizer, Spicy Shrimp Roll, with its surprise twist of Granny Smith Apples and a sweet soy glaze. Absolutely fantastic! My husband raved about the creamy, earthy flavor of his appetizer, the Mushroom Soup. I chose the Pan Roasted Organic Chicken with the risotto and local squash for my entrée. The crispy and succulent chicken paired perfectly with the melting delicious risotto to make this dish a real winner. My husbands’ Cornbread Crusted Trout, served with a buttery sauce was moist and delicious. He remarked that he didn’t know he liked Red Chard, until he tasted Chef Kelly’s version which came as a side to the trout. At this point I wondered could the desert possibly be as outstanding as the food we had tasted thus far……I soon learned it could! We both chose the Milk Chocolate Timbale with a “light as air” crispy wafer stuck artfully in the top. Let me just raise my glass (of the Millbrook Wine) to Chef Kelly and say Salut!

We went to Restaurant Week dinner at X20 last night. I’d have to say it was mediocre at best. I had been there previously at full price and had a very different experience. We were seated upstairs and could not even benefit from the outstanding Hudson River views. The menu was limited to 3 items, which I suppose is standard for RW. I was terribly sick when I got back home, which I cannot say was the result of the meal, but also cannot be sure otherwise. A disappointing evening.

Susie – your post seems to confirm my suspicison that if you’ve been to X2O and had the normal food you won’t be happy with the RW menu, but if you’ve never been there before you’ll be ok. I found that in my meal at X during RW1, I kept wishing I were eating something more interesting that I normally would have ordered from the regular menu, instead of the uninteresting stuff on the RW menu. That’s why I enjoyed my meal at John Michael’s so much. The dishes on the RW menu are things I actually would have enjoyed ordering on the regular menu.

I dined with 3 friends at a less than half-full Global Gatherings this week on Tuesday evening, very excited to finally be there after a few years of wishing! It certainly was quiet for a restaurant week night, as I couldn’t even get a reservation at X2O, or one at a decent hour at Harvest on Hudson. But after my experience (and extreme disappointment)I could understand why. The service (or amazing lack thereof!) was disappointing. While the bottle of red wine ordered by my three friends arrived quickly, it took 15 minutes before I finally flagged down the waiter for another table to inquire where my glass of white wine was. Our waitress had no personality or enthusiasm for the menu and it seemed that she was doing us a favor by taking our order and certainly had no interest in answering questions. Let me say that the Thai curry mussels were spectacular, and I only wished that it had been offered as an entree instead of an appetizer! The short ribs were equally delicious and the Baked Alaska for dessert was as pretty to look at as it was delectable to eat! But, once again the experience was marred by service issues. When my friend asked for a knife the response was “No”, a joke that felt like a slap in the face. We were never offered cracked pepper for the soup or salad, nor did anyone check in to see if everything was okay. Only because the food was so spectacular might I even consider going there again, hoping to catch an entirely different staff.

I drove by the other day and looks like it has closed. Sad to see it go.