Oh, COVID, dining restrictions, etc. How it all caused some restaurants to pivot, and try unique concepts, some of which I fully support.
I was thrilled to discover Ariana Restaurant late in my stay in New Hampshire (staying with family while working remotely during some of the worst COVID times). It is a lovely, higher end, full service restaurant in the Lyme Inn. You can read all about my incredible visit here.
But when the pandemic got worse in December 2020, Ariana Restaurant owner/staff/etc made the very hard call to pivot to a takeout only menu, and decided to have some fun (?) with it, introducing themes every week. So brand new menu, every week, totally different theme, served Thurs-Sun.
The week before Christmas, the theme was Chinese (yes, very random for a restaurant that was fairly classically French ...).
Now, you haven't read many Chinese food reviews on this blog. It *isn't* a cuisine I gravitate towards most of the time, yet I do enjoy it. And yes, I had in my head the thought that what business did a classically french trained chef have doing Chinese? And yet ... I was really, really excited for this lineup. I had been craving Chinese food, after having frozen Trader Joe's dumplings, and mediocre lo mein and egg rolls randomly picked up somewhere a few weeks before. I knew my mother would be up for this, as she *never* gets any Asian food since my father doesn't eat it.
Luckily, during theme week, Ariana also offers 2 dishes in each category (small plates and large plates) from their "Classics", and that week, the Classics included bolognese, which would make my dad happy. So the whole family could order and feast. I had a plan.
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| A Totally Reasonable Meal for 2. |
So, takeout day it was. Dad had just the single item, a dish of pasta, but mom and I, um, ordered ... everything else. We couldn't decide on just a few things, and hey, this way, we'd have food for, quite literally, at least 4 days for both of us, basically taking care of feeding us until Christmas.
I'll be honest - it was a mixed bag. The sauce work was standout in general. Some dishes were good,and some were just ok. There was nothing I'd go back for though, and, critically, our dessert was missing :(
Small Plates
Even though theme night, the menu still followed Ariana's format: small plates and large plates, not traditional appetizers and mains. The Small Plates offering was 7 Chinese dishes, ranging from dim sum style items to fun things like Chinese-style ribs, along with two of their Classic dishes.
The lineup, in full:
- Hot and Sour Soup with tofu, bamboo shoots, snow peas, seasoning V GF $7Pork Shao Mai with steamed seasoned Millbrook Farm Pork with a dipping sauce $9
- Pork Shao Mai with steamed seasoned Millbrook Farm Pork with a dipping sauce $9
- Crab Rangoon, baked with a seasoned crab mixture, sweet sour sauce $13
- Chicken Egg Rolls with seasoned chicken, Asian vegetables, pineapple dipping sauce $13
- Baked Vegetarian Spring Rolls with fresh vegetables, light soy, scallion, cilantro sauce $10
- Romaine Salad w/ cucumber, radish, bean sprouts, snow peas, ginger dressing V GF $8
- 4 Chinese-style Pork Ribs, soy, citrus chili glaze, scallions, cucumber slaw GF $10
- Our classic Blackened Scallops, orange chili butter sauce, scallion ginger rice cake GF $15
- Our Classic Mushroom Crêpes with spinach, goat cheese, arugula lemon cream GF $12
From the small plates, I ... literally wanted all the Chinese ones but the soup (and I wanted one of the Classics). So, uh, yes, we got them all, ruling out only the soup and both Classics (mom still wanted the Blackened Scallops, but I convinced her that they wouldn't be great for takeout, wouldn't go with our meal, and were always available), and skipped the veggie spring rolls in favor of the egg roles. So yes, 5 small plates, two people. I think you can see where this is going. I was too excited by them all, particularly as they all had fantastic sounding dipping sauces (you know me and sauces!), and I knew the chef was an excellent sauce master.
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| Pork Shao Mai. $9. |
"With steamed seasoned Millbrook Farm Pork with dipping sauce."
Starting with something nice and light, steamed dumplings, using quality local pork. The only dish that didn't say what exactly the "dipping sauce" was.
These were good. The wrappers were soft and pliable, they were delicately assembled and didn't burst open. Inside of each was a very generous ball of pork, very lightly seasoned.
The dipping sauce was really unique, I have no idea what it was, but it had some real tang and sourness to it. I think I liked it, particularly just as it was unlike anything I've had before.
I liked these, one of my top 4 dishes, but not something I'd get again as the pork itself was just a bit boring. Serving size of 5 for $9 was good value, particularly given the amount of pork inside.
***+.
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| Crab Rangoon. $13. Half Portion. |
"Baked with a seasoned crab mixture, sweet sour sauce."
So low-brow I know, but I couldn't resist the crab rangoon. I was so curious to see a higher end chef take this on. Would it be cream cheese dominant? Use real crab or krab?
I love crab, but my mother does not, so I asked if we could get a half order of this one, knowing that the full order of 4 pieces was just too much for me given how much other stuff we had. The chef nicely accommodated this.
It was ... eh. Ok I guess. Seemed like a generic egg roll wrapper, folded over what was mostly cream cheese, and yes, a bit of real crab. Not really much to say, a mouth full of warm cream cheese is what I got, inside a nondescript wrapper.
The sweet sour sauce though was good, although I may have mixed it up with the eggroll sauce (stay tuned), I really am not sure which was which, but both were good, yes, sweet and sour.
***, just, standard I guess, nothing wrong with it, decent sauce.
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| Chicken Egg Rolls. $13. |
"With seasoned chicken, Asian vegetables, pineapple dipping sauce."
I opted for the chicken egg rolls, rather than baked vegetarian spring rolls, even though I don't care for chicken. I ... just didn't want baked spring rolls, and really truly love egg rolls. I had been craving good egg rolls since the ones I had as random leftovers from somewhere a few weeks prior. Plus, pineapple dipping sauce sounded *much* better than cilantro sauce, which came with the baked ones.
These were good enough. Yes, likely a premade egg roll wrapper, probably even the same as the rangoon, but they were crispy, reheated well. This sauce was also good, pineapple dipping sauce, but both this and the rangoon sauce were fairy sweet and sour, and I think I might have confused them, I'm still not sure. They were both different, don't get me wrong, but I didn't taste one that was clearly pineapple.
This serving really was just two rolls.
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| Chicken Egg Roll: Inside. |
Inside was juicy asian veggies that I liked, and really a large portion of strips of white meat chicken, which I didn't care for because chicken, but appreciated for those who do.
Like the sui mai, very solid execution, good sauce, not really remarkable though, ***+.
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| Chinese Style Pork Ribs. $10. |
"Soy, citrus chili glaze, scallions, cucumber slaw."
Oh, did I mention that I was also craving BBQ, and thus, um, ribs also called out. Glazed ribs. Slaw. Yes.
These were good. The pork was moist, juicy, fall-off-the-bone. Nice citrus chili glaze.
I really liked the cucumber slaw, tart, and refreshing, which with our meal that otherwise had very little vegetable, was appreciated. I also appreciated the mix of pieces.
$10 price for portion was great.
In my top 4 dishes, again though, just, ***+.
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| Ribs: Sauce. |
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| Romaine Salad. $8. |
"With cucumber, radish, bean sprouts, snow peas, ginger dressing."
I know we had too much food, so why get a salad ... but, well, I did want something light to pair with leftovers in subsequent days, and figured some vegetables would do me good, as nearly everything we ordered was carbs and protein and sauces, but not much vegetable. Plus, this sounded good!
The salad was nice to have the next day with a pile of leftovers. Fresh, torn chunks of romaine, a few bites of chopped snow peas, a small handful of bean sprouts, a few sliced radishes, and a bunch of sliced cucumber. Everything was fresh, juicy enough, asian-themed enough. The dressing was more sweet or gingery or soy-y or something than I really cared for, but it wasn't bad, very asian style, just not really my thing in general. I liked just throwing some of the other sauces, or even cold general tao's chicken on top, and using the sauce from it.
Fresh, but not special. ***.
Large Plates
Next up, the larger plates, bigger than traditional mains. Here there were even more options - 9 Chinese and two classics, spanning all types of proteins and vegetarian/vegan items:
- General Tao’s Chicken: fried seasoned Chicken Thigh Meat tossed in a rich sauce with chilis, broccolini, orange peel, scallions, snow peas, rice GF $19
- Shrimp Cantonese: marinated Gulf Shrimp sautéed with bok choy, ginger, garlic, scallions in a light sauce with egg and scallions, rice GF $24
- Vegetable Lo Mein: sautéed cabbage, peppers, onions, peas, light sesame chili sauce $16
- Pork Lo Mein: the above with seared seasoned local pork $21
- Vegan Fried Rice: sautéed cabbage, peas, broccolini, sprouts in soy glazed rice $15
- Pork Fried Rice: the above with seared seasoned local pork $19
- Moo Shu Beef: pulled beef with shiitake mushrooms, cabbage, onions, peas, classic Chinese pancakes (4) with a rich soy glaze $24
- Stir Fry Scallops with mix of Asian vegetables, orange ginger glaze, noodles $27
- Teriyaki-style Salmon, with sesame noodles and vegetables, teriyaki glaze $25
- Our classic Bolognaise $25
- Our classic Vegan Curry Rice $17 add Shrimp $25
Again, I wanted nearly everything, yes, even chicken dishes, because I wanted the sauces! We settled on just 4, which, um, again, these are bigger than traditional mains and we had 5 small plates already, again knowing this would make great leftovers. We left out the veggie version of the lo mein, both fried rice since we were getting lo mein and two dishes came with regular rice, and, at my insisting that we had too much, the scallops and salmon, even though we both love seafood, these seemed like the ones that would travel and reheat the least well. Dad got his bolognaise, which, as you may recall from my original review, I had always wanted to try.
This area of the menu was rather hit or miss. I was surprised by some of the smaller portion sizes, and the lack of vegetables in dishes I thought would have them, but, again, the sauce work did impress.
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| General Tao's Chicken. $19. |
"Fried seasoned Chicken Thigh Meat tossed in a rich sauce with chilis, broccolini, orange peel, scallions, snow peas, rice."
Yeah, yeah. Julie hates chicken. And broccolini. And Rice. But do you know what Julie loves? DELICIOUS SAUCES. Who can resist General {whoever}'s chicken anyway?
When I called to order, I did ask about this dish, was it their play on general tso's? And was told it was a mix between general tso and orange chicken, which sounded pretty fabulous to me. Spicy and sweet, and likely with quite interesting balance. I was in.
This dish was good. Yes, it was chicken thigh, and yes, fried takeout bits of chicken do get kinda soggy, but, the sweet and spicy sauce was complex (it really was both sweet - lots of orange flavor, and spicy - particularly if you went for one of the three whole chilies in it!). The broccolini was actually good (I know, I know), just the very tops, and only 4 pieces (!), but it soaked up the sauce well. Snow beans were paltry portion at only 3 in the dish, and kinda soggy and overcooked.
Overall, a decent dish - I liked the flavors, appreciated the sweet and spicy balance, and the juicy broccolini doused in sauce was nice to have with my ridiculous pile of carbs and protein. Portion size was a little small. In my top 4 dishes.
I wouldn't get again, and it wasn't extraordinary, but, ***.
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| Rice (with General Tao's Chicken and Cantonese Shrimp). |
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| Shrimp Cantonese. $24. |
"Marinated Gulf Shrimp sautéed with bok choy, ginger, garlic, scallions in a light sauce with egg and scallions, rice."
Probably the dish I was least excited for, as I don't care for bok choy, and shrimp in general is ... ok, but it was one of my mom's top picks, and I knew that having a lighter seafood dish would be welcome, particularly a few days into our leftover fest.
I expected large hunks of bok choy, so I was surprised to see it all chopped up. In this form, much like the broccolini, I found it didn't bother me, and appreciated, again, like the broccolini, having a bit of something juicy, particularly when it soaked up the sauce. The peas I really didn't care for though, and wasn't sure what they were doing in there, not listed on the menu, and really didn't seem to fit in.
But that sauce. Definitely a highlight of the meal. Totally not what I was expecting, not that I really knew what to expect. There was so much going on here with the ginger and soy (?) based sauce. I loved the depth the ginger brought to it. The egg was integrated to add richness. I couldn't get enough of the sauce.
The shrimp themselves were a decent portion, I think 7 pieces, all big, juicy, larger wild gulf shrimp. Well cooked, well cleaned, not rubbery, quite succulent actually. I really liked the shrimp too.
Overall, a shocker for me, and my favorite dish overall.
**** - great sauce, nicely prepared shrimp, juicy bok choy, slight ding for all those random peas.
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| Pork Lo Mein. $21. |
"Sautéed cabbage, peppers, onions, peas, light sesame chili sauce with seared seasoned local pork."
Rarely a noodle girl, yet the lo mein was way at the top of my list. I had some mediocre random leftover lo mein a few weeks prior, and it hit the spot tremendously. I couldn't wait to try this. Even cold, leftover lo mein is one of my most favorite indulgences randomly.
Both a vegan and pork version of lo mein were available, we opted for pork.
Well ... um ... it really, really, really let me down.
The noodles were as boring as can be, definitely not house made. The veg, also very boring. The sauce, fairly non-existant. And the "seared seasoned local pork"? I found it chewy and unremarkable, and flavorless. My mom thought it was tender though.
A real letdown for me, I had a few bites, and moved on. Seemed a bit pricey too for mostly noodles. *+.
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| Moo Shu Beef. $24. |
"Pulled beef with shiitake mushrooms, cabbage, onions, peas, classic Chinese pancakes (4) with a rich soy glaze."
I may have never ordered moo shu beef before. From anywhere. I am certainly familiar with the dish, but I think perhaps I've never ordered. This called out however, the great ingredients, and I think I had been craving beef as well, having really just had a lot of seafood.
It was decent, a huge portion of shredded beef, tender, well, shredded beef. I liked the hunks of shiitake. Cabbage, scallions, peas were all kinda eh for me. Decently flavorful sauce, dark soy based. Not remarkable, but not bad.
Really just "fine" in my box, wouldn't get again, but nothing wrong with it. **+.
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| Classic Chinese Pancakes (with Moo Shu Beef). |
The Moo Shu came with Chinese pancakes, they were good, soft, supple. I used them to soak up all sorts of sauces.
Standard. I doubt they made them in house, but I appreciated with my meal.
***+.
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| Classic Penne Bolognese. $25. |
And of course, Dad's bolognese, which I stole a bite of.
This *was* a good bolognese. Very tender, flavorful beef, sausage, and veal. Deep rich sauce, cream based. Dad however didn't like it, sigh. "It tastes funny" or "there is something strange in there" is what he said to my mom. Sigh. I gladly would have taken it if he didn't like it!
The penne was not too mushy. Not much else to say, besides, yes, clearly a refined recipe, and about as good as a penne bolognese takeout is going to be, using standard generic penne.
The $25 price for the portion did seem a touch high though.
***+.
Dessert
The dessert menu was also tailored to the Chinese Menu, 3 equally sounding tempting offerings:
- Green Tea Cake Roll with honey buttercream $9
- Rice Pudding with coconut milk, ginger, cinnamon and star anise $8
- Mango Mousse with sesame coconut shortbread cookies $9
I had a really hard time narrowing down to just one dessert, which I finally did, picking the rice pudding, but ... IT WAS MISSING FROM OUR ORDER. My mother is the one who went to pick up the food, and I did give her the full list, but, alas, she didn't check the order for correctness, and since we live a full 35 minutes away, and it had started snowing, going back was out of the question.
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