Hudson Valley Restaurant Week: River City Grill in Irvington
Guest blogger Matt Richter, the executive producer of our two daily live news webcasts, Afternoon Update and In the Newsroom, visited River City Grill last night. Take it away Matt…
Started off great with the bread basket. I loved the whole head of roasted garlic. It was sweet and spreadable and came with a trio of breads, a pumpernickle, a multi-grain and an Italian bread.
For starters we had the asian noodle stir-fry it was simple and tasty. It came with squid, scallion and red chile pepper. In the first bite I got a piece of the chile pepper that was really hot but the heat dissipated quickly. The squid was tender.
We also had the chick pea fries. They were made with chick pea flour. The fries were very soft inside and had a slight cronch outside, they were served with a ginger remoulade.
For entrees, I had the meatloaf and my wife had the salmon. The meatloaf was tender and moist it was served with buttery baby carrots and a delicious, savory smoked ham and tomato mac and cheese.
My Wife had the salmon, glazed with Tamarind and served on a layered presentation of Thai black rice and snow peas in a pool of a delicate but rich Madras coconut curry sauce. The black rice was great, very firm and toothsome without being undercooked. The Salmon itself was very moist and the tamarind offered a nice tangy sweetness to the fish.
We finished up with a strawberry crème brulee and a bread pudding in a bourbon caramel sauce. The crème brulee was nice with a terrific crunchy sugar shell that was studded with slices of strawberry. The strawberries were tart but it kind of worked with the rich custard. The bread pudding was nice. The caramel bourbon sauce really tasted of bourbon, like the alcohol wasn’t cooked off. I like bourbon so I didn’t mind but it definitely had a raw alcohol taste.
Bobby Manzi, the owner was very cool. The service was excellent. Besides the restaurant week menu, River City Grill has some other nice offers, like, 15% off your first bottle of wine and 20% your second bottle of the same wine. Bobby also had a couple special glasses of wine for $7.50 a pour. I had a Trebiano D’Abrozzo that was dry and crisp. Suprisingly, for a white wine it was more earthy than fruity.
I’d never been to River City Grill and I will definitely be back. If the people at Bobby’s other Restaurant, “One” are as nice as his staff at River City, I’ll be trying that one as well.
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We have been to River City Grill many times and never had a bad meal. The dishes described above are excellent as described—every time. The tuna is also fabulous, as is the chicken, and the red wine braised lamb will make your mouth explode with happiness. The appetizers are also consistently good. Even a staple like the caesar salad is pretty much perfect—not too much, not too little, well balanced dressing. And, as noted above, the service is consistently good and friendly, with Bobby always on top of everything to make sure that it stays that way. All of this at quite reasonable prices compared to many other places; a great value for an evening out.