Fleet Street Kitchen

We chose to celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary at a restaurant we hadn't tried before--Fleet Street Kitchen. To clarify, we had eaten in the Tavern Room part of the restaurant at the front, but had never dined in the more formal dining room at back.

The place is gorgeous, all wood and crystal chandeliers, but the unadorned row of windows on the west wall and horse-blanket upholstery on the long booth on the east wall give the place a more casual feel.

We started our feast by squinting at the cocktail menu. Honestly, with dim lights, serif font, and bad eyes, reading it was no easy task. Eventually we settled on our bevvies and proceeded to the food menu, which I had checked out earlier in the day. I settled on the scallops and halibut, with a side of broccoli rabe. Mr Minx ordered the short ribs, the rockfish, and a side of brussels sprouts. Everything was outstanding.

The scallops were aggressively seasoned, with a nice crust on the outside and properly translucent middles. The radish and radicchio salad offered both tart and bitter notes, and the broccoli puree was just plain pretty. (And tasty. And it didn't particularly taste like broccoli, which for some might be a plus.)

Mr Minx's tender short ribs came atop a mound of kale cooked with currants. A lot of currants. (From across the table, I thought it was a bed of lentils.) Leafy greens + raisins are a classic Mediterranean combo, and the deep, lightly sweet, flavors worked well with the beef.

I love halibut and wasn't disappointed by the perfectly cooked hunk of seared king halibut atop a veritable mountain of glazed baby carrots with lemon and hazelnuts. This carrot lover was quite pleased.

Mr Minx's rockfish dish paired the fish with elements of clam chowder, including baby white potatoes, bacon, clams, and a chowder emulsion. Turnips found their way into the mix as well.  The fish had a nice sear, and the elements worked well together.

We had gone for the four course prix fixe dinner, which included a vegetable course. The spicy broccoli rabe with garlic confit and brussels sprouts with marcona almonds and creme fraiche seemed more like side dishes than a course unto themselves, so we asked them to be brought at the same time as the entrees. Both were terrific, and I particularly enjoyed finding the nuggets of almond in the sprouts.

Those three courses provided a lot of food, but we had dessert coming, too. I had the frozen cappuccino, made with a frozen coffee-flavored cream (not sure it was technically ice cream, as it didn't melt) atop a thin slice of chocolate cake, topped with crunchy candied cocoa nibs and milk froth. It wasn't exactly like a frozen coffee drink, but the textures and mild cappuccino flavors were appealing.

I think I preferred Mr Minx's tender peach almond upside down cake with creamy mascarpone sorbet and candied almonds. Again, a lot of really pleasing textures and flavors there.

As expected, everything we ate was delicious and well-executed and service was friendly yet professional. The atmosphere was nice, too, that is until a large group of people who didn't have inside voices took over the dining room with their inappropriate shrieks of laughter. A shame there's no way to turn the volume down on other people.





Posted on Minxeats.com.

Liv2Eat

We tried Liv2Eat last month during the Dining Out for Life event. It was our first time there, despite including the restaurant in Baltimore Chef's Table. (Hey, if we ate at every place it was suggested we *had* to eat, we'd never eat at home.)

The restaurant space is bright and light, with both high and low tables that somehow make the rooms seem less crowded. The menu is short, full of seasonal goodies with no differentiation between appetizers and entrees except for the prices. It was also happy hour, which meant we scored less-expensive booze, but we passed on the $8 mussels and $10 burger. (The latter, made with Roseda beef, sounded like a pretty good bargain. Next time.)

I started off with the Sungold tomato gazpacho. While I normally like the grainy texture of an unstrained gazpacho, the smoothness of Chef Kevin Perry's version elevated the summertime soup. The flavor was bright and sunny, like its color; a refreshing way to start a meal on a warm-ish evening.

Mr Minx chose the jamon salad, a huge pile of mixed greens and herbs, Granny Smith apples, and toasted hazelnuts, tossed in a light tangy vinaigrette on a bed of thinly sliced cured ham. I couldn't decide if the salad needed the ham, or if the ham needed the salad; nevertheless, all of it was tasty and I was happy to help eat it.

Because this event was raising money for Moveable Feast, I ordered an expensive entree, two crab cakes, with potato puree and cabbage slaw (one cake was available at half the price). The crab cakes were excellent, pan-crisped and dressed with a wee bit of a creamy mustard sauce. The crab itself tasted like it had been freshly picked, and I could detect neither binder nor filler. The lightly vinegary slaw tasted like it was made by someone's grandma, and in combination with the potato puree reminded me of a summertime picnic.

My handsome dining companion went for the sirloin steak, served medium rare, with more of that excellent potato puree. The menu listed arugula as a side, and our thoughtful server suggested that Mr Minx request something else, since he had just finished a large salad. The chef provided sauteed spinach and a mix of mushrooms, both of which were appropriate accompaniments to the meat. And Mr Minx enjoyed every morsel, including the slightly sweet yet meaty-flavored sauce.

The desserts that evening included cookies and milk and flourless chocolate cake, but we passed in order to pig out on ice cream at The Charmery, another Dining Out for Life participant.

We enjoyed our meal at Liv2Eat, and the service was friendly and thoughtful. What more can one ask?

Parking is a bit of a challenge in that neighborhood, because it's largely residential, so you may have to park around the corner or a couple of blocks down the street and walk a bit. It's well worth it, and burns off a couple dozen calories in the process.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Grille 620

Mr Minx and I were invited to dinner at Grille 620, a new restaurant in the Ellicott City (Marriottsville) area. Located in the new Turf Valley Towne Square complex, a couple left turns off I-70 W exit 83, the restaurant was hopping on a Wednesday night, a sign that the area not only needed a nice restaurant, but that the residents have already embraced it.

Grille 620 is owned by Ali Sadeghi and Gaby Haddad--both veterans of Ruth's Chris--and former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Adalius Thomas. Running the kitchen is Sardinian chef Fabio Mura, whose menu is Modern American with some fusion-y bits. But not too many--mostly Asian touches here and there on familiar meat and seafood dishes.

Because we were a relatively large party that wanted to taste a bit of everything, we were presented with an appetizer sampler that included tuna tartare on wonton chips, grilled octopus with bean salad and lemon caper vinaigrette, and a pile of lump crabmeat with a little remoulade. We also received the chef's sampler of the day, a trio of Mediterranean dips including roasted garlic hummus, a finely diced Caprese salad, and Kalamata olive tapenade. Among the appetizers, the most flavorful were the tender octopus (that I couldn't stop eating) and the supremely fresh tuna tartare. We also sampled and enjoyed a selection of fresh oysters, including Blue Points, Malpeques, and some from the Chesapeake, served on the half shell with a tangy mignonette.

We each ordered an entree and did our best to sample both meat and seafood items. We ended up with a Creekstone Farms strip steak, stuffed chicken, lamb chops, diver scallops, crab cakes, and Thai bouillabaisse, plus side dishes of roasted asparagus, truffled mac and cheese, and three kinds of potato: Lyonnaise, steak fries, and baked. Mr Minx and I had the lamb chops and crab cakes and can attest that both were quite good.

The chops were cooked to medium, and came with a little pile of roasted brussels sprouts and a mint pesto-infused sauce. The broiled crab cakes were served with a tangy jicama and carrot slaw and a bit of creamy remoulade. While I like my crab cakes a little darker/crustier on the outside, the innards were the perfect ratio of meat to binder to breading: mostly meat, very slightly saucy, no detectable breading.

We also sampled seafood from the bouillabaisse that was ordered by a tablemate. The dish didn't really have anything Thai about it, nor was it particularly a bouillabaisse, since there wasn't nearly enough broth. What it was, however, was a pile of very fresh seafood including a chunk of mahi mahi and a humongous scallop, all cooked perfectly and most likely individually.

"Fresh" is the word at Grille 620. They have no freezer on premises, so all of their food is procured not all that long before being cooked; that freshness really showed with the seafood dishes.

Another diner seemed very  happy with his stuffed chicken.

The sides, particularly the potato dishes, were all successes. I'm not a huge potato eater, but I did enjoy the Lyonnaise-style new potatoes. The steak fries (below) were garnished with bacon, and also quite good.

We finished the meal with a trio of desserts, including a special strawberry shortcake, a dense bread pudding, and s'mores made with a rich chocolate ganache. My favorite was the bread pudding, which would make a fine dessert to share.

Overall, we were quite impressed with the food at Grille 620. The restaurant's atmosphere was somewhere between casual and upscale, and the food straddled the same line. One can get a Creekstone Farms burger at the bar, or something more elegant in the dining room. I definitely recommend trying the octopus, the oysters, and perhaps the enormous well-cooked scallops or the lamb chops. But the burgers sound pretty darn good, which means my next meal there is likely to be at the bar....

Grille 620
11099 Resort Road, Ellicott City
410-203-0620
http://grille620.com





Posted on Minxeats.com.