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| - Well, right off the get go let me say I'd like to make this a 4.5 star review but since that's not an option I have to go with four stars. There were a couple small but notable things that could have been better and made this slightly less than 'as good as it gets'.
I made reservations for two for Forequarter on Valentine's Day. Given the small size of the restaurant and the holiday we were happy to get any reservations (even if they were for 5pm). We arrived a bit early and were directed to the Caribou bar across the street for a pre-dinner cocktail. When we walked back across the street at 5 several tables were already seated and we were shown to a small table for two. Our coats were taken to be hung and we looked over an impressive bar menu and a dinner menu that was especially exciting. We ordered quite a few things so we could try different options and we ran across some really amazing things, as well as a few that could have been a bit better.
Drinks: Elmer T Lee + house ginger beer. This was the first thing I ordered and it was mildly disappointing. Elmer T is a nice bourbon and it was completely lost in the drink. The ginger beer was quite good but the drink as a whole was unimpressive. My wife enjoyed a glass of Sauvignon Blanc that was solid but somewhat unremarkable.
Charcuterie plate: We got the three meat option with lots of pickled veg on the side. This was a really tasty way to begin the meal. We ordered the lomo, coppa, and sopprasata. Before the board arrived at our table we were informed that the last serving of sopprasata had already been ordered and asked if a replacement of dried goat salami was okay. All the pickled veg was delicious (although the purple cauliflower was very heavy on the anise). The lomo was silky, the coppa perfectly salty, the two together PERFECT! We pretty much cleared the entire board, including the full grain and Dijon style mustards. What a way to start a meal!
Appetizers: Green chorizo and butter beans. Wow, this is an INCREDIBLY tasty dish. The gravy was rich and deep and perfectly complimented the smooth texture of the beans. The chorizo is bursting with amazing flavors; herbal, spicy, meaty, fatty, all at the same time. Every component of the dish perfectly complimented the others. This was exceptional!
Fried mushrooms with black garlic. WHOA! This is ASTOUNDING! I'd read a ton about it elsewhere on Yelp, so I won't belabor the point here, but this is a phenomenally delicious dish! There's umami galore in this dish and I would guess anchovy paste is in there somewhere. Whatever it is and however they make it it's DELICIOUS! This is a must have!
Turnip tart. This one was a slight miss, but could be corrected pretty easily to be quite good. The pastry was excellent; light, flaky, delicious, and both the onions and cheese on top were a plus. The turnips on the other hand seemed to have NO seasoning whatsoever. The texture was nice I can see where the dish was headed, but the execution of the turnips left something to be desired. Even a bit of salt would have made the turnips more 'turnip'y' and the dish as a whole far better.
Entrees: Lamb roulade with root veg pave and pancetta aioli. This was a an excellent lamb dish! By appearance alone I might have guessed the lamb was slightly overdone, but the taste and texture proved otherwise. The lamb was tender and succulent with nary a trace of gaminess. In general I'm not much of a aioli fan, but in this dish it added a TON of flavor and a richness that was hugely desirable. The pave was amazing! On the plate it looked a bit like a brick, but the taste and texture paired perfectly with the lamb. The pave added a crunch that hugely benefited the dish as a whole. the way it was plated allowed a bit of the jus from the lamb to soak into the bottom of the pave and every bite was AMAZING! One piece of my roulade was served with a piece of twine still wrapped around it, which was a very minor detail and easily fixed. This was the only detail less than spectacular about the whole dish.
Black garlic glazed chicken with roasted carrots. This was a good dish that just didn't quite click for me. The black garlic glaze had a great depth of flavor but was a little on the sweet side for me. The chicken is served more rare than many folks will be used to seeing it, but that allows it to be hugely moist. I like the flavor of chicken when it's cooked a little more thoroughly, but that's just me. The carrots were very tasty and added a nice texture contrast to the chicken but for me this entree couldn't hold a candle to the lamb. By no means was it bad, it was just over shadowed.
Dessert: blood orange cake with pink peppercorn ice cream. The cake was great but the ice cream was ASTOUNDING! We both loved the way it tingled in the mouth and put a perfect cap on a really solid meal.
All in all a great meal with a few, minor missteps. I could certainly see returning to Forequarter in the future. Well worth the $!
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