The Lakehouse, Bellevue

Update Review, 2019 visit

I stayed at the W in Bellevue back in October 2017, right after it opened.  I was blown away by everything about it - the rooms, the staff, and, swoon, the breakfast at The Lakehouse restaurant.

I'll skip the general review this time, but go read my original post first for full details on the space. 

Dessert

Almost a year later, I stayed at the W in Bellevue again, and had nearly the same "emergency" dessert need as I did last time, the first night.  I arrived back at the hotel fairly late, and "needed" something sweet to perk me up.

Dessert Menu.

The only problem?  The dessert menu wasn't really calling out to me.

I avoid caffeine at night, so that ruled out the chocolate ganache and, sadly, the chai spiced panna cotta (even though the rest of the accompaniments sounded great - walnut streusel! poached autumn fruits!).  I dislike goat cheese, so, the cheesecake was out (made with chevre).  I was "freezing", as it was <50 degrees there (brr!), so ice cream was out.  This left me with exactly two options: fruit or butterscotch pudding.

Now, I did really enjoy the fruit and whipped cream at breakfast but I wanted something more substantial.  At this point, you might be saying, "Um, Julie, you love pudding, and butterscotch in particular, so why aren't you excited?"

The answer is simple: the rest of the dish just didn't sound great to me.  When I asked the hostess about it, she said she was skeptical too, but, she likes it.  And then she offered me a sample of the questionable topping.  And when I didn't like it, and said I still wanted the pudding just without it, she offered to sub in anything else I wanted.  And when I did, she said she was inspired, and asked for my report :)

The staff here really are incredible.

Butterscotch Pudding (Modified). Takeout. $11.

"Banana bread, fresh blueberries, walnut brittle."

So, the reason I was not excited about the pudding?  Yes, I love butterscotch pudding.  I love whipped cream.  I like walnut brittle and berries.  But banana bread?  I don't like banana bread in any context, and I really didn't want it on my pudding, even if just little cubes.  When I was offered to add on something else instead, I picked caramel corn, because I adore caramel corn, and I knew they had it (I saw bags of it for sale).

My creation was interesting.

The pudding itself was ok.  I thought it was a bit grainy, and too sweet, and really needed more whipped cream to balance it out.  It was good, don't get me wrong, just, not great.

The whipped cream was good, but far too little of it, as I wanted it with the pudding, and I wanted it with the fruit.

The blueberry layer was not "fresh blueberries" - much like with the breakfast before that said it had fresh fruit and had a compote instead.  This was berries in a sauce.  Another very sweet component. I found the butterscotch and blueberry combo odd, and it really didn't go with caramel corn at all, not flavor-wise, nor texture wise.  But that was my fault, I do see how it would work with the banana bread cubes.  But still, butterscotch, blueberry, and banana bread?  I can't really wrap my head around this one.

Finally, the walnut brittle, a big shard on top, sweet, fun to crunch on, and hey, that did go well with my caramel corn.  The caramel corn too was good, sweet, very well coated in caramel.  Yes, strange on pudding, but salty and sweet and textures all worked. 

Overall, I did end up kinda liking it, but, not exactly as it was created.  The pudding and whip was good.  The blueberry and whip was good.  The brittle I pulled off and had with coffee the next morning.  The caramel corn made a fine snack.

Clearly, I wouldn't do this again, but, it did make me consider ordering a bag of caramel corn!

Original Review, January 2018

I recently stayed at The W in Bellevue (a brand new property, opened in July 2017).  It was absolutely glorious, in every way imaginable (incredible rooms, the best fitness center I've ever seen in a hotel, remarkable staff, etc).  The hotel has a partnership with a brand new restaurant as well, The Lakehouse, located adjacent to it inside the same mall complex (Lincoln Square).

The Lakehouse was an exciting opening for the area, helmed by James Beard Award-winning Chef Jason Wilson.  The cuisine is inspired by the Northwest, and is fairly farm-to-table driven, with local relationships with farmers.  They make their own pasta and larder items too.

My Lakehouse experiences were mostly for breakfast, although I did order a takeout dessert one night when I got back to the hotel late at night and really wanted something sweet.  Lunch and dinner seems to be when it becomes a destination restaurant, and they only recently added weekend brunch (which I also tried).

For breakfast, I used every option available: I ate in the restaurant, I ordered takeout, and I ordered in-room dining.  The prices are a bit high, as you'd expect for the area and level of cuisine, and the food was pretty varied in quality.  I think they are still figuring things out.

The Setting

The space is fairly stunning, very very large though, which felt a bit empty at breakfast.

Entrance.

The restaurant is located inside a mall complex, on the second floor, so the entrance isn't quite a real exterior, although they worked to make it look like one.

There is also an entrance directly through the hotel.

Accent Wall.

The space is very clearly designed, with accent faux wall dividing up the front entry area from the rest of the restaurant.  It was made of dark wooden stained boards, and decorated with pottery and vegetables on the upper levels, and used to store service items (like napkins) down lower.

Entry.

This is the front area where the hostess stand is, again, decorated with some fruit, dark wood, back-lit.  But the large island seemed a bit oddly placed there, I'm not quite sure what they use it for.

Flooring is also wooden, natural planks, very rustic looking, although, brand new obviously.

Seating.

Various seating styles are available, ranging from regular wooden tables to high seats along the walls.

Counter Seating, Open Kitchen.

The kitchen is all very open, in the center of the restaurant, with counter seating around it too.

This area also featured a living wall.

Padded Benches.

I opted for seating along the edge, on a padded white bench, comfortable enough.

In Room Dining

For breakfast my first day, I knew I didn’t have time to visit the full service restaurant, as I had an early morning conference at my office to get to.  But, I had the option of taking breakfast in my room via room service, which I’ve never done before.  Most of the restaurant menu was available through the in-room dining menu on demand, and a reduced menu was available via a little ordering card to hang on my door the night before to pre-order.

Rise & Shine Pre-Order Card.

I opted for the advance ordering so that it would be delivered when I needed, since I was in a rush.  It was kinda fun to fill out the order card, much like flying on an airplane, and specifying my delivery window for morning.  It came right when requested, no problems.

Bowl of Coffee Flour Granola with Fresh Berries ($12), Fresh Fruit & Berries ($10), Honey Vanilla Greek Yogurt ($7), Decaf Coffee Pot ($6.50).

Since I was getting room service, I didn’t want hot items as I didn’t think they’d hold up very well.  Also, um, my conference was having donuts from a famous donut shop during our first morning break, so I didn’t want to go crazy.  Thus, I was inspired to go healthy: granola, yogurt, and fruit.  Not my normal order, at all.

I ordered one entree ("bowl of coffee flour granola with fresh berries"), plus two additional sides (yogurt, fresh fruit & berries).  I knew the granola came with yogurt and fruit, but I still added on the additional sides to boost my breakfast a bit.

It was actually all quite good, and made me realize that sometimes healthy can be good.  Maybe I *don’t* need baked goods every single morning …

"Bowl of Coffee Flour Granola with Fresh Berries: Greek yogurt, cocoa, coconut & honey."

The yogurt side, and the yogurt in the granola bowl were the same, described as "honey vanilla greek yogurt".  It was ... fine?  Creamy, but not very Greek style, not thick and rich like I prefer.  It was very sweet though, with the honey and vanilla addition.  Visible bits of vanilla bean flecks were in it though, a nice touch.

The fruit side dish was also the same as what was perched around the exterior of the granola/yogurt bowl.  I was impressed with the fruit selection.  I expected things like grapes, pineapple, melons, apples ... standard filler type fruit.  Instead, the fruit mix was fresh raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, and figs! 

The raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries were all good, juicy and fresh.  The strawberries were a bit sad, not so ripe.  The figs though?  AMAZING.  I was so thrilled to have them included, both brown and green figs, perfectly ripe.  Overall, a great fruit mix, and I liked how they kept them separate around the edges of the bowl.

The coffee, decaf, was not very good.  Very acidic, not smooth.  I didn't care for it.  I also ordered a pot of regular, but alas, it didn't come.

Coffee Flour Granola Close-Up. 

And now, the granola.  Not actually visible in the bowl, but there was a generous amount of granola under all the fruit and yogurt.

I was a bit skeptical to order this because I read so many reviews where people mention that it was burnt.

I see why reviews all say it is burnt, although, it wasn't.  If you didn't realize it was made with coffee flour and cocoa, it certainly was quite dark, and looked a bit burnt I guess.  It was also very bitter.  But it really wasn't burnt.

The granola was the level of crispness that I like, very toasted, and well formed into some little clusters.  It was a mix of oats, some kind of seeds, coconut flakes, and blanched almonds.  The almonds added even more crunch.

I actually really liked the granola, and realized I would prefer to just have the granola and fruit without yogurt.  And uh, maybe with some whipped cream?  Which I might have done a few days later.

I saved some of this with a bit of yogurt mixed in in the fridge, to kinda make my own "overnight oats" to eat the next morning.  It actually worked well, softened nicely, and was kinda chocolately and satisfying the next morning.

Breakfast: Hot Ancient Grain, Various Baked Goods, Coffee.

Another day, I got a bit more ambitious.  I opted for a hot dish, but a porridge, so I hoped it would hold its heat well (it didn't, and definitely inspired me not to order any other hot items for in-room dining).  I also got the baked goods, but, um, I'm me.

The regular coffee was again pretty awful though.  So harsh and acidic.  The decaf was better, but needed sweetener.

Hot Ancient Grain. $12.

"Hot Ancient Grain: Almond Milk Porridge." - Rise & Shine Menu.

"Ancient grain porridge, chia, & flax bowl: almond milk, berries, and stone fruits." - Restaurant Breakfast menu

I shockingly liked this.  The menu description from the Rise & Shine menu (e.g. the order ahead menu), didn't have many details about what the dish was - not what type of grains, not toppings.  Luckily, I had taken a photo of the restaurant menu when I was there, and thus I knew the grain types (although the toppings didn't match the description).

The flax and chia both added great crunch.  The quinoa gave it body. There was lots of texture and hearty flavor.    The almond milk complimented the grains well, providing additional nuttiness and deeper flavor.

The berries on top (blueberry, raspberry, strawberry) were all ripe and good.

The brown sugar provided on the side did help sweeten it a bit to better suite my tastes.

I think I would have liked it a bit richer and creamier (maybe some steamed milk on top?), but overall, this was good and healthy.  The only complaint?  It wasn't hot.  It was barely lukewarm actually.  Not sure who's fault that was, but, it certainly degraded the eating experience.

Various Baked Goods. $10.

"Grilled Toasts & Pastries, Butter, & Jam."

So, what did we have here?  The menu didn't give much of a hint.

"Grilled toasts" ... there was a slice of coffee flour toast.  Toast, not toasts.  Good hearty toast, I'm digging the coffee flour thing, particularly with the oats and seeds mix-ins.  Nicely toasted, not burnt.

The butter on the side was standard butter (hard), and I still can't quite figure out what kind the jam was.  It looked like strawberry, but, uh, it had peppercorns (!) in it.  A really fascinating sweet (and spicy?) flavor.

"Pastries"? I guess the banana bread, coffee cake, and scone count here?

The scone was savory, I believe cheddar based, with some greens (chives?), and bits of what I think were bacon?  Vegetarians, beware.

I like savory scones, I like cheese, bacon, etc, but this I didn't care for.  It was hard and dense, didn't have a good crumb to it, and was greasy.

The banana bread was pretty classic banana bread, a thick slice, nicely moist.  It had a high sugar content for sure, sweeter than moist, a bit caramelized.  I'm not really a huge fan of banana bread though, unless toasted and served with whipped cream cheese.  Still, for banana bread, this was quite good.

And finally, coffee cake, streusel topped.  The star of the plate.  Again decently moist, cinnamon flavored throughout.  I liked the sweet crumble crumble topping with its of pecan for extra crunch, and ... it had figs in it!  Juicy, moist figs.

Overall though, this wasn't quite what I was looking for.  I wanted, uh, muffins and pastries?  The coffee cake was the only piece I finished.

Breakfast - In Restaurant

I also at at the restaurant a few mornings.

The restaurant is huge and hip, and it does feel a bit deserted in the morning, when I think it is mostly hotel guests dining.  Breakfast isn't really a destination meal.

The staff were very attentive, but still learning.  I heard one server tell people false information (e.g. that coffee flour is highly caffeinated, which lead a guest to not order the coffee flour granola he wanted.  It does have caffeine, but only as much as dark chocolate and she told him it was like espresso).

I asked a couple questions about the menu, like, "What is ice box cheese?"  My server told me she didn't know.  That perhaps it was more salty than other cheese.  She didn't offer to find out.  She did return much later, long after I had picked something else and eaten, to tell me that it was "whatever was in the ice box that day", which on that day, was Beecher's.

I also asked about the preparation of the egg in the "field-hand" breakfast, since it didn't say how it was cooked, and this seemed like a cold platter of food.  I asked if it was hard boiled.  She said that it was less cooked than a hard boiled egg.  It was poached maybe.  So I asked if it was warm or cold.  And she didn't know.

So, definitely still learning, but very friendly.

The food did take a shockingly long time though on all visits, particularly for a mostly empty restaurant.  Again, perhaps, still learning in the kitchen too?  

Breakfast Menu.

The breakfast menu isn't super extensive, but it hits every major category of expected breakfast items: healthy granola or porridge, carby waffles or french toast, classic eggs with breakfast meats and potatoes, and the ever trendy avocado toast.

Most of the baked items are made with "coffee flour", as the chef has a partnership with the coffee flour manufacturer, and it seems that no regular bread is available.

Fonte Coffee. $3.

As I sat, I was immediately offered coffee, which I accepted.

The regular coffee was fine.  Not particularly good nor bad - not harsh nor acidic, but not particularly complex.  It was served piping hot, in a genorous sized mug, which I really appreciated.

For my second cup, I moved on to decaf.  It was not as warm, but was also a fine coffee.

I saw my server ask others if they wanted more coffee to-go as they finished up, which seemed really thoughtful.  She didn't ask me directly, but I asked for more to-go, and was provided a to-go cup full, no problem.  I really appreciated that.

Also appreciated?  I had brought my own sweetener, because I often find that these sorts of fancy restaurants only have regular sugar.  She noticed, and when she brought my second cup, said, "and you take one pink sugar?"  I appreciated this too.

Interestingly, on my next visit, the decaf was piping hot, and they only had Stevia in the raw for sweetener.  It was only three days later!

Complimentary Sparkling Water.

Sparkling water is house sparkled, complimentary.  I was given a full bottle to pour at my leisure.

Since I drink an insane amount of sparkling water, I really appreciated both that it wasn't crazy $$, and that I was able to refill as I needed.  These little touches matter a lot to me.

Brioche French Toast. $16. 

"Whipped cream, fresh fruit, & walnuts."

The french toast was a large serving, 2 very big thick slices of brioche.

The description of this wasn't quite accurate.  "Fresh fruit" was actually a berry compote/sauce.  "Whipped cream" had quite the tang, I think it was whipped creme fraiche?  The "walnuts" were candied.  None of these things mattered to me, but, noted.

The french toast was fine.  Very thick slices, brioche as promised, not too eggy, lightly grilled, dusted with powdered sugar.  Pretty standard.  Nothing really remarkable.

The fruit element was blackberries and blueberries, in a sauce, cooked down.  Soft and sweet, again, fine.  Not remarkable.

The whipped cream, as I said, was more like whipped creme fraiche, it had a bit of a tang, but also had flecks of vanilla bean.  I liked the flavor, but if you look at the photo, you can see it really melted in, and wasn't very attractive.  I also, uh, wanted more?

The walnuts were my favorite part, candied walnuts!  Great with the whipped cream.

Overall, pretty standard execution of french toast, nothing notable.  I liked the fruit, cream, and nuts, but I wouldn't get this again.

Brunch - In Restaurant

On weekends, the restaurant offers brunch, with an expanded menu.  It is served until 4pm, really quite amazing brunch hours.

Brunch Menu.

The brunch menu has most of the regular breakfast menu, plus additional carby breakfast-y items (including pancakes and a savory waffle), additional brunch classics (like a spin on a benedict with crab served in an avocado and shrimp & grits), plus tons of lunch items (like a burger or chicken club), and then items from the dinner menu (like pasta and steak).

We visited at 11am, so opted for more traditional breakfast items, although I was *really* tempted by the grilled octopus that everyone raves about.

Cocoa Coffee Flour Pancakes. $16.

"Blueberries, yogurt, walnuts, sticky toffee."

Since I sampled so much of the breakfast menu during my other visits, I opted for one of the items unique to the brunch menu.  And, I had seen it on Instagram, so I knew it would be quite the looker.

My dining companion laughed when my order arrived, "that looks like dessert!"

Indeed, it did.  And, of course I had asked for whipped cream instead of the yogurt, which certainly didn't help things.

So, what did I have here?

A huge snack of pancakes.  This photo makes it look like there were only 3, but actually, there were 5.  The pancakes were all different sizes, with the lower ones actually larger, which I guess made for a more stable tower.  The pancakes were ... fine?  I expected the coffee flour to add something interesting to them, and alas, it did not.  The flavor was fairly plain, slightly chocolatey.

They were drizzled with a bit more very mild chocolate sauce, and I guess a little "sticky toffee"?  To be honest, I really didn't identify anything I'd consider sticky toffee, just a tiny bit of mild caramel.  Not nearly enough sauce-y toppings to really make this a dessert, looks aside.

The pancakes also came with blueberries, fresh enough, but not the best pairing with cocoa pancakes.  Or maybe that is just me, but cocoa and blueberries wasn't quite a match.

The walnuts were the same slightly candied walnuts I had on the french toast.

This normally comes with the greek yogurt that I had with the granola, but I knew I didn't want that tangy savory yogurt, and asked for whipped cream instead.  Much like with the french toast though, it totally melted in.  I asked for more on the side, and it was brought to me after a while, with the explanation that it was whipped to order, sorry!

When I was able to compose a bite that I dragged through the little bit of caramel and chocolate sauce, and covered in whipped cream, it was good enough, but otherwise, this was all just a bit dry and plain for me.  Maybe the yogurt would have helped.

Restaurant Takeout

Most mornings though, I opted for takeout, so I didn't need to pre-order at a specified time, wait for delivery to my room, or spend time sitting in the restaurant. I wasn't there for leisure, after all.

Drinks

Regular Iced Coffee.  $3.

Since I did not really like the regular coffee, I decided to try iced coffee one morning (also, I was coming from the gym, and I was very warm!)

The iced coffee was just as bad as the hot.  Really acidic and harsh.  I guess this is just the style they go for?

Lemon Ginger Soda. $6.

The next time I wanted a refreshing iced drink, I went for a "House-made Refresher".  They had 4 different interesting sounding options, any of which I would have been happy to try.

I selected the lemon ginger though, the most boring, but the one that sounded the most refreshing.  It came with lemon slices in it.

It was pretty good, sweeter than I expected though.  I guess I thought it would be ... more refreshing, more like sparkling soda water with lemon and ginger, and a touch of subtle sweetness.  This was full-on sweet, like lemonade.

Good, but not quite what I had in mind.

Grapefruit Russian Tarragon Soda. $6. 

The next time, I got more creative, and went for the Grapefruit Russian Tarragon version.  It came with grapefruit peel in it.

This one was excellent.  Nicely tart from the grapefruit.  The herbal element wasn't as strong as I hoped, but, still, this was great.  Still a bit more fruity and sweet than I really wanted, but I'm sure I could ask for it watered down?

Breakfast

I opted for takeout several mornings when I was in a rush, but didn't want to commit to ordering ahead the night before for a set time.  I obviously could have also ordered on demand In-Room Dining, but it seemed easier (and faster) to just get it myself.

Field-Hand Breakfast. $17.

"Lazy b ranch egg, potted ham, icebox cheese, quarter pickles, grilled toasts." 

This isn't what I'd normally ever order obviously, but, I needed something I could munch on later, and the cold "field hand" breakfast seemed like it would fit the bill.

It came packaged up in a box, with the potted ham in a separate container.  The menu description, much like the dishes from the restaurant, was full of inaccuracies.

Potted Ham.

The potted ham was interesting, shredded ham, presumably preserved.  The flavor was ok, and it was creamy, but in a oily preserved way.  Salty too.  I kinda liked it, but it was hard to have more than a bite or two given the greasy nature.

"Grilled Toasts."

The "grilled toasts" was only a single piece of toast, coffee flour toast. 

I liked it, it was crispy but not burnt, and smothered with butter (on the bottom side), which soaked in perfectly.  Quite flavorful and for toast, well, enjoyable.

"Icebox cheese, quarter pickles."

I was told the cheese was Beecher's (a local Seattle cheese), but not what type it was.  It seemed to be cheddar-like?  Flavorful sharp cheese, nice enough to much on.

The pickles were a fascinating mix, baby squashes, baby carrots, celery, zucchini, and some other root veggies I couldn't identify.  All crisp and a bit tart.  Decent to munch on, some better than others.  I really did like the baby squashes, but the celery was too hard and stringy.

And then there was salami and some kind of other pork product, neither which were mentioned on the menu.  The salami was fine but pretty greasy, thin slices of a large diameter log.  I really didn't care for the other one, thinly sliced something that was just way too porky for my taste.

I found it very surprising that they left the later two items off the menu entirely.

Lazy b ranch egg.

And finally, the egg.

At first glance, the egg looked hard boiled, but the moment I touched it, I knew that wasn't the case.  It was very soft.  I found it interesting than they didn't include the preparation method on the menu, and as I mentioned earlier, when I asked my server about it a previous day, she said it was "less cooked than a hard boiled egg" and "maybe poached?"

Lazy b ranch egg: inside.

I think this is known as a coddled egg.

The white was fully cooked, much like a hard boiled egg.

If you like runny egg yolk, egg porn, etc the yolk was a thing of beauty.  The inside was pure liquid.

I'm not really one for eggs, but even I had to appreciate this.  Beautiful.

Side of Bacon. $9.

The next time I ordered takeout, I had something very specific in mind.  I was creating my ideal dream dish, based on components I knew they had.  The restaurant menu doesn't mention sides, but I knew the In-Room Dining menu had a side of bacon on it, and the two eggs breakfast came with bacon, so, I knew bacon was available.

I got it to add something uh, savory and a bit of protein to my creation.

The order was three strips, all fairly crispy, but really greasy.  It smelt like bacon fat really strongly.  It was ... fine, but really far greasier than I wanted.

Coffee Flour Granola with Fresh Berries, Sub Whipped Cream for Yogurt. $12.

To go with my bacon, I opted for the granola bowl again, because I really did like the granola quite a bit.  Crunchy, hearty, savory, sweet ... it was good.  The fruit was good (particularly the figs!)  But I really didn't care for the yogurt.

So what's a girl to do?  Ask for whipped cream instead of yogurt (which I knew they have for the french toast).  Yes, I've done this sort of thing before, at Plum & Spilt Milk at the Great Northern Hotel in London (which I'll review soon).

The friendly staff member taking my order didn't bat an eye, but I did hear her have to repeat the order several times to different people.  "Yes, whipped cream instead of yogurt".  I swear, this is totally reasonable!

My order came packaged up with the granola and fruit in a cup, and three small dressing size containers of whipped cream.  Hard to actually do anything with in this form, but I was heading back to my room anyway ...

My Creation: Fresh Berries with Whipped Cream, Coffee Flour Granola, Bacon.

When I got back to my room, I created the perfect dish I had in mind: fresh berries topped with plenty of whipped cream and sprinkled with granola.  Oh, and, uh, garnished with bacon.  Because bacon dipped in whipped cream is better than plain bacon.  Served in a martini glass.  Because I could!

I loved it.  The fruit was fresh and delicious (and healthy!), the whipped cream light, fluffy, and sweet (vanilla flavored too), and I again adored the bitter nature of the crunchy granola.  I ate a bunch more granola on the side as finger food.

This was indeed exactly what I wanted, an I was quite satisfied.  Certainly my favorite meal from the restaurant.

Dessert

One night I got back to the hotel fairly late, and just wasn't satisfied.  I wanted dessert, but I didn't want to go far.  So I walked down to The Lakehouse to check out the menu.

Dessert Menu.

The dessert menu sounded good, with butterscotch pudding (always a favorite of mine, particularly because it came topped with walnut brittle), cheesecake (with persimmon!), and, sweet potato pie.

Sweet potato pie sounded comforting and perfect, but the ambiance was way too hoping at night for my exhausted mood.  I asked the hostess how it was, and she told me very excitedly that it was new on the menu, and her favorite, adding, "I don't even like sweet potato normally!".  This should have been a warning sign.

Boxed Up To Go.

So I asked if I could get it to go, which was no problem.  It came in a box with a LH seal.

I realized later I probably could have ordered it via room service, but, the room service menu didn't have it listed (I think it just wasn't updated), and, well, I'd pay a service fee.

Sweet Potato Pie. $12.

"Chai spiced marshmallow, sage-salted caramel sauce, puffed farro grains."

I wanted something comforting.  Sweet potato pie sounded like basically pumpkin pie, which seemed perfectly comforting to me.  Plus, marshmallow and salted caramel?  Yes!

It looked really good.  An individual tart, not too big.  Filled with sweet potato filling, drizzled with caramel, sprinkled with puffed farro, and, uh, with a bruleed marshmallow on top.  Even better!

However ... I didn't care for it.  At all.

First, the crust was a tart shell.  I hate tarts.  Hard, dry, boring.  The menu said "pie", and pie this was not.  I would not have ordered it if I had known it was a tart.  Strike one.

The filling was ... just sweet potato mush.  It wasn't much of a custard at all.  And the layer was very thin, so it didn't have any of the comfort element of taking a bite of creamy pumpkin pie.  

The caramel was fine.  The brulee marshmallow was a nice touch, although I didn't taste the chai.  I didn't like the farro puffs.  I think little bits of nut would have worked better.

Overall, well, I just didn't like it.

Read More...

Pasta Moto

When you think of a mall food court, you likely don't think "italian food!".  Sure, there is Sbarro I guess, but besides that, what mall food court chain has Italian food?  

Enter Pasta Moto, a fast food Italian concept, located in the Westfield Mall food court in San Francisco (they used to have a location inside the Metreon too, but it closed several years ago.

"Pasta Moto offers delicious dining, takeout and delivery to San Francisco, CA.  Pasta Moto is a cornerstone in the San Francisco community and has been recognized for its outstanding Italian cuisine, excellent service and friendly staff. Our Italian restaurant is known for its modern interpretation of classic dishes and its insistence on only using high quality fresh ingredients."

As much as their branding wants to imply otherwise, Pasta Moto isn't really upscale in any way.  It is mall food court food, no more, no less.  You can order in person, or they are available on many takeout and delivery platforms.

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes for free money!

• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

I ordered in advance through Delivery.com, and my order was ready right on time, and my special requests honored.

Food Court Location.

The location is a classic mall food court setup, along one side of the food court.  Order at a register, food comes out down the other end.  Menu offerings are posted on a menu board, but are visually provided in display cases.

Salad, Pasta, Entree Display.

The first glass display case housed examples of their salads (4 of their 6 offerings, all shown in small size), pastas (5 of the 8), and, the sole entree, chicken parmesan.

Each dish was clearly labeled, but, uh, not well.  The penne pomodoro was labelled "pene" (and yes, correctly as "penne" on the actual menu), and the caesar salad labelled "ceasar".

The final item was the "Pasta del Giorno", which simply read "Shrimp" under it.

Drinks, Panini, Pizza Display.

The next display was topped with bottled beverage choices (San Pellegrino, juices, bottled water, beer), all of which were also in buckets at the register.

The top shelf housed panini displays, with 4 (of their 6) different sandwiches.  They were listed as "Panino" on the tags here, and "Panini" on the menu board.  They need a copy editor.

The bottom row was pizza, 6 of their 7 offerings.  These looked horrible.  Don't judge a book by its cover!

The crusts seemed cooked, but the toppings were not?  The cheese looked ... quasi melted, but mostly in a "shredded cheese left at room temperature for a long time" way, not, actually melted in an oven.  And the pepperoni, ham, and raw veggies certainly didn't look cooked.  The pizzas looked ... really quite awful in this form.  I don't know what they were trying to show - the fully unbaked item I guess would also look strange with raw dough?  But ... yeah, this did not help sell anything to me.  Again though, luckily they often have samples.

Food

The menu at Pasta Moto is fairly equally split between salads, pasta, pizza, and paninis, plus one entree (chicken parmesan) and two sides (roasted veggies, garlic bread).

The pastas do not get very good reviews, and looked quite generic.  Same with the paninis.  I never tried any myself.

The pizza I have tried a few times, in sample form.  Pasta Moto doesn't push samples nearly as often as the other places in the mall, but, every once in a while they'll have a fresh pizza sliced into small slices, and finally, my curiosity got the better of me.

The first time I tried the pizza I thought it was actually good.  The crust was crispy.  The sauce had a nice flavor, and a slight sweetness.  The cheese was generous and well melted.  I noted that it was "surprisingly not bad".  But the next time, I wasn't as impressed.  The crust I again noted was crisp, but, somehow doughy at the same time.  The sauce seemed a bit too sweet.  The cheese was fine that time though.  Another time I thought it was oily.  Subsequent times though, it returned to its former glory.  The pizza won't blow you away, but, I really did like it.

The salads are actually why I visited Pasta Moto as an actual patron.  I'd been on a strange salad kick, and one hot afternoon I decided that I wanted salad to go along with my dinner, to lighten it up.  Pasta Moto has 7 different salads, ranging from the simple "insalata mista" with just mixed greens, tomatoes, and balsamic vinaigrette, to a classic caesar, to ones with chicken and roasted vegetables.  The selection is actually decent.

Insalata Mono. $5.95.

"Endive, radicchio, goat cheese, pears, walnuts and raspberry vinaigrette."

I went for the Insalata Moto, as I really like endive and radicchio, but I was tempted by the caesar too.

Since I don't like goat cheese, I asked to have the goat cheese on the side (to give to my companion), and it came packaged in its own little container.  I can't evaluate that, since I didn't try it.

I also asked for the dressing on the side, which I'm not sure if they just do normally, or if they normally toss it, but since I wasn't eating it right away, I wanted to be sure it wouldn't get soggy.  I'm glad I asked for the dressing on the side, as I really didn't like it.  It was very, very sweet raspberry vinaigrette, rather thick, and just cloying.

But everything else was decent.  The base was mostly radicchio (and arugula, not on the menu), with some thin bits of endive.  The lettuces were not super fresh, but they weren't wilted.  The pears were thin slices, laid out on top.

The pear wasn't particularly flavorful, and was a bit hard, and one slice was a little brown, but, again, not awful.

The walnuts were a mixed bag.  The sign on the display actually said "candied walnuts", although the menu just said "walnuts".  These were indeed candied walnuts (yay!).  Some were nicely candied, and quite tasty.  I appreciated them for the crunch and the sweetness against the bitter greens.  But others were just strangely bitter and maybe burnt tasting?

This was a half size, and it was large enough for two of us to split as a side dish.  Full size is $9.95.

I brought it home, and split it in two.  I gave my companion the goat cheese, and he was happy enough with the raspberry vinaigrette, so he basically enjoyed it as it was designed.  But for my half, I used the lemon vinaigrette I loved from Pizzeria Delfina, and added parmesan.  Basically ... I just turned it into the Delfina salad, just with some crunchy nuts.  I enjoyed it this way, but would not have liked it in its original form.

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SunRidge Farms Snacks

Sunridge Farms makes a slew of snack foods, ranging from nuts and seeds, to dried fruits, to mixes, to candies.   As you know, I love snacks, so I've tried much of their range.

"Over the years, the SunRidge Farms™ name has become one of the most widely recognized and trusted names for organic and all natural nuts & seeds, dried fruit, candies, and snacks & trail mixes."

I believe SunRidge Farms claim - they really are one of the most widely known brands.  Their goods are available packaged or in bulk bins at pretty much every grocery store I've been to.  Some airlines lounges use their snack mixes.  I've tried tons of their products over the years.  Some of their products are awesome, others, not so much.  I can't really seem to find a pattern to success.  Just gotta keep trying!

Nuts and Seeds

SunRidge carries every type of nut and seed you can imagine, and then some.  From sweet butter toffee pecans and blueberry glazed almonds (its a thing!), to spicy chili lime pistachios, and every simple roasted salted nut in-between, they have you covered.

Hatch Green Chili Almonds.

• Butter Toffee Peanuts: "Creamy, rich butter and evaporated cane sugar create a delightful candy coating over premium peanuts. Satisfying and sweet!":  Nice candied peanuts! But not as thick toffee as I’d want.  I actually just prefer their honey roasted peanuts.
• Coconut Toffee Peanuts: Didn’t taste coconut at all, just seemed like toffee nut ...
• Dry Roasted Salted Peanuts: Love these things, so addicting.  Just simple dry roasted peanuts, but, really really good.
• Honey Roasted Peanuts: Great candied peanuts!  These are really delicious.  Some of the best honey roasted peanuts I’ve ever tasted. Far more candy like than most honey roasted peanuts, very nice. The honey really comes out. 
• Tamari Sunflower Seeds: "Delicious sunflower sweeds roasted with flavorful Tamari." Salty, nutty, not much tamari flavor.
• Peas, Wasabi Roasted: These had a good crunch, but not much wasabi flavor.  I love wasabi peas in general, but these just weren’t a very good version.

Chocolate Covered

For the sweet tooth, SunRidge likes to coat everything in chocolate too, usually dark chocolate, but they do some with milk as well.

Dark Chocolate Blueberries.

"Non GMO dark chocolate coating over blueberries."

These were ... fine?  Mostly just dark chocolate, with a bit of chew inside, not really able to taste blueberry distinctly.

Milk Chocolate Cherries.

"Sweet Bing Cherries coated with Rich, Milk Chocolate."

I really did like these.  Great chew from the cherries inside, plentiful rich creamy chocolate coating, chocolate and cherry were a nice pairing.

Dark Chocolate Malt Balls.

"Non GMO malt centers drenched in rich dark chocolate!"

These were fine malt balls.  Better quality than Whoppers, but not particularly extraordinary in any way.  I'd eat them, but not seek them out.

[ No photos ]

Dark Chocolate Almonds, 61%.  

"Rich, Dark Chocolate coats crunchy, Dry Roasted Almonds for a decadent treat.  Try them and you'll be hooked. 61% Dark Cacao."

These were ... ok.  Decent dark chocolate, but kinda bitter overall.  Would not get again.

Dark Chocolate Covered Ginger Pieces

"Delectable Dark Chocolate smothers Zesty Ginger and makes this snack out of this world."

These, for me, were not "out of this world" as promised, and as I hoped.  For some reason, I found the dark chocolate used here to be fairly low end, or perhaps the problem was just how much it dominated the product.  I wanted to taste ginger, but alas, it did .... well, "smother" it, as promised I guess.

Would not get again.

Candies

Chocolate not candy enough for you?  They make candies too, mostly gummy.  As pretentious as they might sound, these are some really, really good candies.

• Sunny Bears. "The best gummy candy on the planet!"  These are some fancy gummy bears. Organic, gelatin free, gummy bears.  Some of the best gummy bears I've ever had.  Perfect level of chew, incredibly flavorful.  My other tasting notes read: [ ZOMG, amazing! So flavorful.  Love these. ] [ Noms!  Nice texture and flavor ] [ Great flavors and textures ] [ Great flavor, nice a soft yet chewy, love them ] [ Perfect amount of chewiness, tart and sweet and so flavorful! ] [ Perfectly chewy, perfectly tasty! ]
• Jolly Beans. Organic jelly beans.  Like the Sunny Bears, some of the best jelly beans I've ever had, super flavorful.

Dried Fruits

Dried Tropical Fruit Mix.

If you are the healthier type, SunRidge also makes a variety of dried fruits.  Again ranging from simple classics like raisins or dried figs, but also some more rare finds like dried goji berries, and of course, plenty of mixes.

• Mixed Fruit, Tropical, Cane Sweetened.  A mix of mango, papaya, pineapple, and banana.  I thought I'd love these, but they were awful.  Everything tasted like banana, it was incredibly dominating.  And the banana was totally unappealing dark brown chunks.  I like dried banana in this form, not banana chips, but this was just not good.  The pineapple and mango were totally lost in the banana-ness.  And it was all far, far too sweet.  The papaya was almost good, but again, the banana ruined it.  Would not ever get again.
• Greek Yogurt Covered Raisins: "Plump organic raisins dipped in fresh, creamy and delicious organic vanilla Greek yogurt coating". I found these way too sweet, and didn't like them at all.

Trail Mixes

I think SunRidge is most widely known for their trail mixes.  They make far more than I could ever enumerate.  Sweet, salty, spicy, healthy, decadent.  They have them all.

Zesta Fiesta Party Mix.

• All Natural Hit The Trail Mix: “Roasted Tamari Almonds & Sunflower Seeds, Cashews, Raisins, Peanuts, and Pumpkin Seeds”. Decent for what it is, but a fairly plain nut/seed mix.  Roasted peanuts have good flavor.
• Cranberry Jubilee: “Dried Cranberries, Papaya, Raisins, Apples, Almonds, Pumpkin Seeds and Brazil Nuts”: Decent for what it is.  Dried fruit is soft and flavorful.
• Zesta Fiesta Party Mix: “Corn sticks, Jalapeno Peanuts, Garlic Peanuts, Chili Lemon Peanuts, Spicy Pumpkin Seeds”:  Spicy, zesty, kinda good. Corn sticks are tasty, assorted peanuts ok.  Meh overall. 

Other Confectionary

And then ... everything else.  Items generally coated in yogurt, you know, "healthy".  

Yogurt Pretzels.

• Peanut Butter Pretzel: Not very strong peanut butter flavor, kinda disappointing.
• Raspberry Yogurt Pretzel:  Decently crunchy fresh tasting pretzel, really nice raspberry flavor in the yogurt.  Previous tastings: [ I like these, crunchy pretzel, nice rasp flavor. ] [ I really like these.  Raspberry flavor is really nice, pretzel is crunchy, yum. ] [ I love love love these.  Great raspberry flavor, great salty pretzel. ] [ Love the raspberry yogurt flavor, good crunch, yum! ]
• Yogurt Peanut Clusters: Pretty good, nice peanut flavor, good yogurt.  Would be even better if raspberry!
• Yogurt Pretzel: A lot like raspberry ones, except without raspberry flavor. Sweet.  Pretty tasty.  Pretzel tastes fresh and crunchy.

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White Toque Desserts

Time for another review of a wholesale supplier, this one I think doesn't actually make any of the goods themselves, but rather, sources from a variety of manufacturers around the world.

White Toque is a distributor of "a new world of frozen & specialty food", including appetizers, condiments, jams & jellies, breads, pastry supplies, and of course, my favorite category: desserts. The later range from tarts to strip cakes and lots of adorable mini individual creations, which is where I focused my attention. They don't sell to individuals, but are used in many food service settings.

Pudding Cups

"Colorful and tasty mini dessert mousses served in an elegant plastic cup. 4 flavors: Chocolate, Tiramisu, Lemon Crumble, and Raspberry. Spoons included in case with product." -- GourmetXpress, Distrbutor 

I adore creamy desserts. Pudding. Panna Cotta. Creme brulee. Love them. Hence the dedicated labels on my blog. So of course these were the first thing I ordered from White Toque.

Assorted Mini Pudding Cups.

But ... frozen puddings?  I was skeptical.  But hopeful.  If grocery store shelf-stable plastic pudding cups can be decent ... these could too, right? 

All came served in tiny little cups with tiny little spoons.  Kinda adorable.  But quite small, the serving size is even listed as four, which does entirely seem reasonable.

Each pudding is a three layered creation, with a small layer at the base and a small layer on top, in addition to the primary pudding.  They all came with garnishes as well.  I tried all available varieties.

Chocolate.

The chocolate version was the one that most people dove for: three layers of different chocolate, plus white chocolate on top.

This is the only one that didn't have a crumble/cake/carb based base.  The bottom layer was just a darker, thicker pudding it seemed.  It was fine, but ... not really special.  The main pudding was a chocolate pudding, milk chocolate, decent creamy texture but not much flavor.  On top, thick chocolate ganache, again, ok texture, but not much flavor.

I didn't really like this.  All the elements had nothing majorly wrong, but, they just weren't very good.  My second to last favorite, and I didn't finish it.

**+.

Tiramisu.

The tiramisu cup is a fairly classic mini tiramisu parfait.

The base, a thin layer of espresso (ok, coffee extract) soaked cake.  Soft, very well soaked, tons of coffee flavor.  I don't think it was ladyfingers as a real tiramisu, but, it worked.  The mushy quality of it worked ok here.

Next, fluffy mascarpone based mousse.  It was the fluffiest of the four pudding cups, certainly a lighter texture, and you could taste a hint of mascarpone.  On top was just regular sweetened whipped cream and a dusting of cocoa powder.

Nothing earth shattering here, but a decent little pudding cup.  It would be even better if garnished with a dark chocolate covered espresso bean, I wanted a touch of crunch.  My favorite, and I'd have this again, but wouldn't seek it out.

***.

Raspberry Vanilla.

The raspberry one had ... a cake layer at the base, a vanilla pudding for the primary pudding filling, raspberry gelee as the top layer, and a whole raspberry and pistachio bits on top.

The cake was ... a watery, mushy pile of plain cake, that was stained kinda pink.  Similar to the tiramisu, but it didn't work well here.  Not exactly a good texture, clearly not something that worked well frozen and brought to temperature.

The pudding though was decent, vanilla flavored, creamy.  Raspberry gelee on top was fruity and a nice contrast.  The berry was sad though, clearly frozen and then warmed up, mushy.  I liked the crunch from pistachio.

Not what I'd pick as an ideal pudding, but, not bad.  My second favorite.

***.

Lemon Crumble.

And lastly, lemon crumble, a lemon meringue pie inspired parfait, with a crumble base (meh, not watery like the cake, but still mush), a lemon flavored pudding (meh, never my thing), meringue (definitely not my thing), and candied citrus peel on top for garnish.

Everyone's last pick, and went unfinished.

**.

Choux Pastry

Caramel & Chocolate Pic'Pops.

Next up, the Pic'Pops.  While these might look like cake pops, they are not.

They are actually cream puffs, filled with assorted cream fillings, dipped in flavored coatings, and rolled in additional toppings.

This display had two kinds, caramel and chocolate.  These were a unique item, but, not particularly good.

Caramel Pic'Pop.

"Choux lollipop filled with caramel cream and coated with crispy caramelized hazelnut pieces." 

I liked the coating on this, caramel white chocolate I think, sweet, flavorful, and it went nicely with the chopped nuts on the outside.

This shell was my favorite component.

Caramel Pic'Pop: Inside.

Inside, under the shell, was the choux pastry, which wasn't great. Thin, spongy, meh.

It was filled with caramel cream, which was decent.  Sweet, thick, but nothing special.

***.

Churros!

White Toque makes two kinds of churros, either filled with chocolate cream or caramel.

Chocolate Filled Churro.

"Authentic churros filled with chocolate and imported from ES."

This was a fine churro. Not particularly notable in any way.

Our pastry team coated it in powdered sugar for some bonus points.

Chocolate Filled Churro: Inside.

The filling was a thick chocolate pudding.  It too was unremarkable.  Not very deep chocolate flavor, but generously stuffed. 

***+.

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Simon Pearce Restaurant, Vermont

Simon Pearce has been on my "list" for restaurants to visit when I go see my family in New Hampshire.  My mother and I always like to do one special meal out, a mommy daughter date, of some kind.  It has taken us to the only upscale place close by, Pine, in Hanover several times, and to many breakfasts out (like Lou's, Four Aces Diner, and my favorite, the Hartland Diner).  I've suggested Simon Pearce, many times, always drawn in by the menu, but my mother has never been excited for it, stating that she had been before, it was fine, but, eh.  And my father went once, many many years ago, and found the portions too small, it too expensive, yadda yadda.  So somehow Simon Pearce was not a dining destination for me, even though I always wanted to visit.

Finally, during my September 2021 visit, I decided to just pick it.  The menus sounded better than anywhere else around, and I knew the head chef at Pine had left, so, it was time to try something new.  But ... reservations were impossible to come by.  They were only operating at 50% capacity because of covid, and were only open a few days a week.  Every slot, lunch or dinner, was booked, for months.  Yes, months.  Regularly polling Open Table would sometimes show a random 2:30pm on a Thursday slot, or perhaps a 9pm some evening, but nothing during hours we wanted.  I set up alerts for every day, for every time slot that was remotely reasonable.

And finally, I snagged a reservation.  Lunchtime, not dinner which I really wanted, and 11:30am, which was kinda early to be doing a big lunch, but ... I snagged it, immediately.  And thus, 11:30am lunch date it was.  We were also celebrating my slightly-belated birthday, and my mom really wanted to spoil me.

Setting

Simon Pearce Restaurant is located inside a historic mill building, where they also have a retail store, and the actual glass blowing studios, which yes, you can go watch.

The Falls.

One of the biggest reasons people pick Simon Pearce is the ambiance, located right along a falls.  This was, literally, the view from my table.  I'm not one to generally care about this sort of thing, but it really did make for a nice setting.

Bar and Tables.

The seating area is broken up into two sections, one is on a screened in porch that looks over the falls, and the other is traditional indoors space.  We were seated inside.  Decor is very wood forward, with a classic farmhouse feel.

Drinks

Drink Menu.

Simon Pearce has a fairly notable wine list, with a reasonable number of options by the glass (and a separate bottle menu was available).  They also have a good sized beer menu, and a few cocktails.  The cocktails all specify which fancy Simon Pearce glass your drink will come in.

Had our visit been for dinner, I certainly would have opted for a red wine, and I was interested in many of the options.  But at 11:30am ... I just wasn't quite feeling it.  My mom did pick a white wine, which she was offered a sample of first, that she enjoyed.

Sparkling Water.

As always, I opted for sparkling water, Saratoga brand which I knew from college, available in a personal size bottle, or large.  No house sparkling.

The bottle itself really is attractive, lovely blue, and the goblet that I was given to drink it with made me feel quite fancy, with my water.  It also came with a lime garnish, which I should have used later when my dishes needed some acidity ...

Classic Paloma. $13.

"Souza silver tequila, lime juice, Fever Tree grapefruit soda. Bristol Goblet."

I went a bit random, and selected a cocktail, the paloma, more because it felt appropriate, than because I really wanted it.  Grapefruit juice was kinda like brunch right?

It was ... fine.  The tequila not particularly strong, but I appreciated that it didn't drink too sweet.  It too came with lime, that I wish I had taken advantage of ...

Cuisine

We were obviously there for the food though.

Specials.

The first page of our menus was the specials for the day, which included the daily variety of quiche, soup de jour, a special entree, and dessert, along with featured beverages.

Menu.

The regular menu followed, which of course I had studied in advance, and came knowing which dishes I'd likely order ... and which I'd encourage my mother to get.  I appreciated that desserts were listed on the regular menu, so you could plan accordingly ...

3 Course Dine-In Lunch.

Even though our reservation was quite early, we each opted for a 3 course lunch, and drinks to start, because, well, we were celebrating my visit, belated birthday, and chance to eat out in a restaurant (my first time in 9 months!).

Our meals were a mixed bag - generally good cooking, but every dish was massively under-seasoned, and had some components that were extremely unsuccessful, even the desserts were cloyingly sweet.  

Service was good though, our server just the right level of attentive, not invasive,

It was an enjoyable experience, but, I wouldn't go back again anytime soon.

3 Course Togo Lunch ...

Because decisions are hard, we, uh, opted to also order a full 3 course lineup each to go, although, my mom later admitted that she ordered only the entree for herself, she got the appetizer (soup) and dessert (whoopie pie) for my dad.  All three of mine however were intended for me ...  (and in my defense, I as NOT planning to do this, she suggested and encouraged it!).

Complimentary Bread: Brown Bread, Rory's Scones, Cabot Butter.

Once your order is taken, and after drinks arrive, the bread platter is brought over.  People *rave* about the bread, so even though I'm not one to fill up on bread before a meal, I had to try it.  One benefit of a lunch reservation is you get Rory's Scones alongside the brown bread, whereas at dinner, you get more standard dinner bread.

The brown bread was ... fine.  Slightly seedy.  My mother remembered it having more sweetness to it.  

The little bitty "scones" were also fine.  I liked the texture and coating on them.  Both types of bread were served room temp, not warm.  Eh.

The butter, local Cabot butter, looked pretty, but was just simple butter, also served quite hard and difficult to spread.  I can't say I understand why people rave about this bread platter ...

Appetizers

The appetizers lineup featured 2 soups (butternut squash was the soup of the day, alongside their signature cheddar soup), 2 salads, and a few other items, like the well known cheese plate, with local cheeses.  We opted for salads to proceed our meals, each trying a different one, and we also each got an appetizer to go, for later.

House Greens $7.
Add Goat Cheese. $2.

"Herb vinaigrette, with warm VT Creamery goat cheese."

My mother got started with a simple salad, just the house greens, which came with a single sliced cherry tomato, a few slices of cucumber, and basic mixed greens, in a herb vinaigrette.  She said it was not particularly well seasoned.

She could add warm goat cheese, or blue cheese, to her salad for an addition $2, which she did, opting for the goat cheese, which came lightly warmed and crusted, a small portion, but appropriate enough for a salad.

Very simple, nothing special. **+.

Kale & Roasted Strawberry Salad. $12.

"Miso + yogurt dressing, brie "baklava", toasted pecans."

I opted for the far more exciting sounding kale & roasted strawberry salad, drawn in by a slew of ingredients that called out: miso! Brie "baklava"!! Even the roasted strawberries, kale, and toasted pecans were right up my alley.

Unfortunately, the salad left much, much to be desired.  The use of lascinato kale for a raw salad was an interesting one, resulting in a very crisp, bitter base.  I didn't mind it, but, it was quite a hearty base, and certainly hadn't been massaged or marinated in any way.  But this wasn't the real problem.

The dressing, which promised miso, tasted like yogurt and nothing else.  I didn't taste even an essence of miso. It also entirely lacked any other seasoning.  Our table had salt and pepper, which I applied generously, but it was still hard to make this taste like ... anything.  It also desperately needed some acidity.

So so far, not so great.  The little bits of pecan were nice for texture, but there were very few.  The roasted strawberries were actually tasty, soft, juicy, lightly roasted.  

And then, the reason I really ordered the salad: the brie baklava.  I had asked what this was, and it was explained as puff pastry and brie layers, literally, like baklava.  This sounded fabulous to me, like baked brie en croute, made into croutons?  Sign me up!  

And, as you may have guessed, these turned out to be the most disappointing element of the salad.  My salad came with 3 triangles (one hidden under the greens) that were cold, greasy, and tasted nothing like brie.  I took one bite, and another, and really turned up my nose.  "I'm not trying to be a snob mom, but these are not good ... its like raw greasy pastry and doesn't taste like anything."  She wanted to try one, undeterred, no doubt thinking I was just being overly critical.  One bite, and she turned up her nose, literally.  "If there is brie in there, I don't believe it!", she said.  "Why is it cold?  Its so greasy!".  Yeah, she felt exactly the same way.

So this salad?  A huge letdown.  I think the concept was solid.  I love kale salads, literally incorporating kale into my salads most days.  The sweet roasted strawberries should have popped, the nuts should have brought a toasty element and crunch, the miso based dressing some umami, and the brie baklava more texture and depth.  But instead?  Bitter base, sour dressing, greasy pastry.  Concept solid, execution fail.

*+.

Cheddar Soup. $16. (Togo)

To take home for my father, my mom selected the signature cheddar soup, a long time menu item at Simon Pearce.  Of course, I tried it.

It is a heavy soup, as you'd expect.  It tastes like quite strong, sharp cheddar.  It is thick, rich, and to me, way too much, but if you'd like to eat the roux used for a really sharp cheddar based mac and cheese as a soup, well, this is for you.  The chive garnish was nice.

I know they use quality Cabot cheddar in it, but the $16 price for a small bowl of soup seemed excessive.

**+ to me, but my dad really enjoyed it.

Salmon & Whitefish Rillettes. $13. (Togo).

"Shaved radish, dill creme fraiche, caper berries, grilled Red Hen Rye."

For my takeaway appetizer, I went for the rillettes, knowing it would travel well, since it is a cold dish to start with.  It certainly didn't look all that special boxed up, and I'm sure they do a nicer job plating for dine-in.  Since I was getting the rillettes to go, I asked for the bread to not be grilled, which was easily accommodated.

The dish came with 3 lightly fried caper berries, a fun touch, plus a few slices of shaved radish, a light spread of dill creme fraiche, and something that looked like grainy mustard, but didn't taste like it.  I still can't quite figure out what it was.  The bread is from local Red Hen bakery.

The bread was ... fine.  It had a sourdough-eque element to it.  I didn't taste the rye.  Eh.  Decent enough chew and crust, if you like that kind of thing.

The rillettes was ok, nothing particularly special, and I wouldn't have known it wasn't just salmon, the whitefish was not visually nor taste-worthy present.  Good salmon flavor, kinda mushy ... it was rillettes, nothing more.  No envelop pushed in terms of flavor profile.

The best part was the grainy mustard and the fried caperberries.

***.

Entrees

I had really wanted to get a dinner reservation at Simon Pearce, primarily for the entrees.  The dinner menu features their signature horseradish crusted cod topped with crispy leeks, that sounds like something I'd adore, and they also had a miso butter striped bass ... but alas, we were lucky to get a lunch reservation, and thus, we were restricted to lunch entrees.

For lunch, Simon Pearce is known for the quiche, which on our visit was potato/spinach/bacon.  I am very much NOT a quiche person, but, people do rave about this.  Other items include a lunch appropriate sandwich (grilled chicken, meh), a burger (lamb, so NOT my thing), a vegetarian item (stuffed squash), a pasta dish (duck confit ravioli), a seafood (ocean trout), and two entree salads - crispy chicken soba noodle salad or crispy calamari.  They basically tick off every category, although there was literally no entree my father would eat - he doesn't eat any seafood or poultry, doesn't eat lamb, and, uh, doesn't like most vegetables.  I even looked at the kid's menu, hoping it would have something for him, but the kid's burger still used lamb, and he certainly didn't want chicken fingers.  He *could* have ordered a kid's grilled cheese or penne with butter but ... yeah.  We left him behind for a reason.

The lunch menu also included a special of the day, grilled swordfish with a butternut squash puree, that, had it been dinner time, or maybe even a later lunch slot, I certainly would have gotten.  I can't remember the last time I had swordfish, and I really do enjoy it.  Mom and I both opted for seafood dishes, and ... both opted to get our second choices to go.

Ocean Trout. $20.

"Toasted couscous salad, grilled asparagus, citrus aioli, chimichurri."

I was very, very curious about the ocean trout.  I saw photos on Instagram, and it looked fabulous.  But ... I just don't generally liked cooked salmon nor ocean trout, unless really, really rare.  And although I knew this came with large Israeli pearl cous cous (from photos), which I like more than smaller grained cous cous, I wasn't really excited for that.  The asparagus and citrus aioli sounded good though.

So ... I did what any good daughter does, and strongly encouraged my mother to order it.  The thing is, I was not being entirely selfish.  My mother *loves* salmon, and rarely get to enjoy it.  I knew that she'd really like this dish.  The problem?  She thinks "trout" and thinks of freshwater trout, the stuff her dad caught in the lake, skin on, full of bones, and, uh, a white fish.  I knew this was not remotely what she was thinking of, but she didn't understand that ocean trout could be so different.  I assured her, over and over, that it would look like salmon, be like salmon, just, *better*, but I could tell she was not convinced.  And she doesn't like cous cous (the small kind).

Eventually, she ordered it, after asking if had bones, and skin, and I could tell she was doing it for me, not because she wanted it.

Long story short, she loved it, and admitted that it was nothing like she was expecting.  And yes, of course I tried it.

The fish was actually really, really well prepared. Nice sear on in, glistening inside.  Fully cooked though, so not what I go for, but it wasn't dried out in any way.  I would prefer skin on crispy, but the sear was good, although, a bit ruined by the plating with chimichurri right on top.  She loved the trout.

The cous cous salad was ... eh.  Certainly didn't seem toasted, and had huge sprigs of parsley in it.  Like, massive.  Garnish station didn't really come through here.  It also tasted like nothing, much like our salads, massively under-seasoned.

The chimichurri and citrus aioli were a nice combo that added plenty of flavor to the dish though.  I didn't try the asparagus since there were only 4 spears, but it looked nicely grilled.

Overall, mom was very pleased, and I give it **** for the cook on the fish, *** overall.  My second pick of the entrees, not something I'd get again, but I was glad to try it.

Judith Point Crispy Calamari. $18,

"Pickled peppers, grana padano, green onion remoulade, house green salad, maple vinaigrette."

For my entree, I went for the crispy calamari.  This is a regular menu item at Simon Pearce, sometimes as a lunch entree, sometimes as a starter, always served over a mixed green salad.  I picked it for several reasons.  First, it felt lunch appropriate (unlike the swordfish special, that I really, really wanted, but was not in the mood for at 11:30am), second, is something that is best consumed hot and fresh, since fried, and I go to restaurants so rarely these days, this was a unique opportunity for me, and third, if they keep it on the menu so often, it must be good, right?  I'll admit I wasn't thrilled by the idea of the grana padano on it though ....

The dish was, like most of what we had, a bit mixed in execution.  The salad, mostly underneath the calamari, was just mixed greens in a flavorful maple vinaigrette, but was way overdressed, and lacked seasoning besides the flavor from the vinaigrette.  I felt simple salt and pepper, at a minimum, were really lacking, but the dressing was good.

The calamari was nicely cooked, not rubbery.  Lots of it, but rings only, alas.  I had hoped for some assorted pieces.  The coating was well applied, it didn't fall off nor pull away from the calamari, but, it, like everything, lacked seasoning.  No real flavor to it.  Since most of it was perched atop the very overdressed greens, it quickly got soft and soggy itself.

The pickled peppers didn't seem very pickled, just a few slices of a green mild pepper.  The acidity from pickling would have been helpful, as would as lemon perhaps to squeeze over it.  The dish had flavor from the sweet over dressed greens, but needed the acid to compliment it.  And yes, the shaved cheese, all over it?  I just don't get it.  Cheese and seafood is always an interesting pairing, that can work, but here it was just ... weird.

The green onion remoulade was quite flavorful and great to dunk into, and tastefully plated.

So overall, good cooking, unfortunate plating decisions, and again lacking seasoning.  I wouldn't get again.  My third pick of the entrees.

***.

Stuffed & Roasted Squash. $16. (to go)

"Sweet corn, squash blossoms, chipotle in adobo, red cabbage, fresh cotija cheese, lime + coriander cream."

My mother decided to order an entree to bring home, because she couldn't pick, and was clearly having FOMO at my strong encouragement that she order the trout (I could tell she didn't believe me).  She picked the vegetarian dish, the stuffed squash.  It sounded slightly interesting I guess, but I not like something I'd ever get there, and certainly not to take home.  But hey, she wanted it.

It wasn't quite as described.  Squash blossoms?  Yeah, there were none.  Stuffed squash?  Eh ... not really.  The serving was two large halves of a summer squash, roasted and topped with filling, but I wouldn't really call it stuffed.  The "lime + coriander cream" seemed to be more of a vinaigrette than a cream.

I of course did try the filling, the sweet corn calling out.  It was too spicy for my mom, but she should have anticipated that given the chipotle ...  I liked the slightly charred corn.

The red cabbage added a pop of color to the otherwise very yellow dish.  It was just ... red cabbage, slightly pickled?  I know it was plated to go, but, I think this dish would look just as banal plated to dine in.

All of our least favorite entree, but not something I would have ordered anyway.

*+.

Confit Duck Open Ravioli. $18. (to go).
No pine nuts.

"Caramelized red onion, watercress, pine nuts, tomato garlic jam, duck skin crisps."

Ok, I make fun of my mom for getting an entree to go, but, I also had FOMO, not only with the swordfish, but also with the duck confit ravioli.  I had seen a photo of it, and I loved the idea of it ... well, mostly.  It had been ages since I had duck confit, and tomato garlic jam, caramelized red onion, watercress, and duck skin crisps all are fantastic sounding.  The problem?  PINE NUTS.  As someone who once suffered from Pine Nut Syndrome (look it up, it is a horrible, horrible, horrible thing, that strikes without any known cause, and makes anything the person eats taste rancid for days.  Shutter.  I can't bring myself to eat pine nuts since).

I nearly ordered it for my entree - after checking of course that the pine nuts weren't incorporated into it, and verifying that they were indeed just sprinkled on top.  I didn't think it was a dish that would really travel that well, fresh pasta and all, and I knew I wouldn't be eating it for hours but ... #fomo.  So, I got it to go, sans pine nuts.

The takeout plating of this as actually pretty good, the same as I had seen for eating in the restaurant.  The portion was quite large too, under that layer of fresh pasta was a very very generous amount of duck confit, plenty of the tomato jam and caramelized red onions, and a few more duck skin crisps were strewn throughout.

The pasta was a highlight, it actually had a nice flavor, and was not too soft nor overcooked.  Just a simple sheet draped over it, but, it was fresh and nicely done.  Kudos to the "open" ravioli concept.

The tomato garlic jam didn't seem to bring any garlic to the party, but the stewed down tomatoes were quite flavorful, although a bit of an odd pairing with the duck.  A fig jam may have worked better?  Red onions were fine, and I appreciated the peppery quality to the watercress.

And the duck?  It was ... fine.  Ducky. Dark meat poultry.  The drizzle of balsamic (?) added some nice flavor.  The duck skin crisps definitely suffered from takeout, so I cannot really evaluate them.

Overall, an interesting unique dish, and I was glad to try it.  I wouldn't get it again, but it was fun, and my favorite, mostly due to originality.

***.

Dessert

And then, even though we were pretty full, from our early multi-course lunch, it was time for dessert.  I cannot pass up dessert. 

Options were the ever crowd pleasing flourless chocolate cake with local ice cream, their menu regular maple creme brûlée, and two seasonal items, a pavlova and lemon curd dish, along with just simple ice cream or sorbet.  A dessert special was also on offer: whoopie pies.

We each ordered one dessert to have then, and, yup, one to go.  They ... were only ok.

Decaf Coffee.

When we ordered dessert, our server asked if we wanted coffee or anything to go with, and I said no, but after trying a few bites of dessert, I changed my mind.  I, the girl who loves sweets, just couldn't handle how cloyingly, over the top, sweet our desserts were.  I had to order a decaf coffee just to combat the sweetness.

My coffee arrived quickly, and I appreciated that the server made sure to say 'decaf' every time she referenced it.  It was fine, a smooth coffee, no decaf funk. I'll admit, I also really did like the mug, it felt nice in the hand ...

Lemon Curd with Peaches. $9.

"White wine poached peaches, graham crackers crumbs, raspberries."

My mother, who loves lemon desserts went for the lemon curd.  Even as a non-lemon dessert person, I'll admit it sounded good.  It came presented in a large cup, only half full.

The lemon curd had some tang, but was also fairly sweet.  The curd only made up some of the filling to the cup though, there was a lot of what we think was a raspberry coulis?  Very, very, very sweet.  There were a few fresh raspberries too, and a tiny dusting of graham cracker crumbs, not enough to add texture, nor to cut the sweet.  And finally, the peaches, just some small cubes, not a dominant element in any way.

This just didn't come together all that well.  Lots of sweet, and really lacking something for texture/crunch.  Some nuts?  A brittle?  Or even just something more with the graham cracker?  It could use something to cut the sweet, certainly less of the raspberry coulis, maybe some cream?  My mom didn't really care for it either.

**.

Pavlova. $9.

"Walnuts, balsamic macerated strawberries, chantilly cream."

For my dine-in dessert, I went for the pavlova, since I knew that wouldn't travel well.  A bit of an amusing order for me, since I long didn't care for pavlova, but, I finally had a fantastic version in Sydney once (yes, in the Qantas first class lounge no less), and now I'm open to the idea of pavlova possibly being good.  I also wanted my mom to get to try it, as she was unfamiliar with pavlova.

It was a fairly expected structure for a pavlova, nothing deconstructed.  A large meringue, topped with the chantilly cream and some macerated berries, all on top of a berry coulis, with a garnish of walnuts.

It was fine.  The meringue was nicely done, perfect crisp exterior, yet slightly gooey inside.  It was however, quite sweet.  The chantilly cream was thick, rich, good cream, but also sweetened a touch too much.  The berry coulis on the plate?  Yup, super sweet.  The macerated berries were tasty, although I didn't taste much balsamic to them.  I liked the crunch from the walnuts.

So, overall, a bite of meringue, some chantilly cream, some fruity bits, and a nut was a nice complete bite, but, as I mentioned, it ate very, very, very sweet.  I think the real issue was how sweet the base meringue was, it just wasn't possible to escape too much sweet.  The ratio of cream to other items also felt a bit off, I wanted more cream, mostly to cut the sweetness.

So, a fine pavlova, but not something I'd get again.  ***.

Maple Creme Brûlée. $9. (togo).

Given that my blog as a label devoted to it, I obviously had to get the creme brûlée.  It is also a Simon Pearce signature dish, always on the menu, always maple because, Vermont.

For takeout, it came in a aluminum ramekin, I assume when you get it to dine in they use regular porcelain ones?

It ... was fine.  The top did have a good caramelized flavor to it.  The custard wasn't particularly well set though, a runnier style than it really should be.  Not liquid, but not very firm.  The maple was very, very, very negligible.  I had my mother try a bite, and she took one bite, and said, "Wasn't that supposed to be maple?"  I could taste it, slightly, on the finish, but it certainly wasn't very maple dominant.

So, a slightly below average creme brûlée.  I liked my classic vanilla one from Lui Lui just a few days prior considerably more, still, my favorite of the desserts.

***.

Special: Chocolate Cake Whoopie Pie. $9. (togo)

"Cream cheese frosting, caramel, toasted hazelnut."

For my dad, my mother got the dessert special, the whoopie pie, as he LOVES whoppie pies.  I may have tried it before handing it over.

The cake was good, moist chocolate cake. It was comically small for a whoopie pie though, usually a much larger item ...

Inside was fluffy enough cream cheese frosting, decent enough cream cheese flavor, but quite sweet.  I have no idea where the "toasted hazelnut" was, I didn't taste it anywhere, and certainly didn't see it.

Alongside the whoopie pie was a container of caramel, very sweet, generic tasting caramel.  I think this is what they have to drizzle on ice cream if you order ice cream with "sauce"?  Not sure what you were supposed to do with it with the whoopie pie.  I'm curious how they plate it in the restaurant.  The other container was not more cream cheese frosting as I first thought it might but, but was just whipped cream, very sweetened.  Noticing a theme?  Again, not quite sure what you were supposed to do with very sweet whipped cream, alongside very sweet caramel, and the whoopie pie?

Anyway, the whoopie pie itself was fine.  ***.

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