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| - Fern is the kind of restaurant, where after finishing your meal, will say "that was great"-- but may not necessarily crave an item enough to put the restaurant on regular lunch/dinner rotation.
I've been here a few times, and each time, service was good, and the ambiance is nice with super rustic slab wood tables, custom-made fern-filled felt wall art, and artichoke salt and pepper shakers.
For appetizers, the squash blossoms *are* as good as everyone says. Creamy insides, crisp outsides. Very flavorful, despite the perception vegan cheese is bland. But since they're out of season, they'll have an alternative appetizer. Today it was potato croquettes (sweet potato and purple potato) dipped in pesto. These were nice, though something slightly amiss. Perhaps, too creamy inside? Nonetheless they were piping hot and fresh from the fryer.
We also had the soup starter featuring yellow peas (I believe...) and butternut squash. Nice, not overly salty, had sweet flavor from onions and squash. Only served with a piece of toasted bread the size of a postage stamp. Because the soup isn't a hearty, creamy soup, it would have been nice to have a larger piece of crusty bread to dip.
This Indian fry bread appetizer is of the Native American kind of fry bread, not Indian from India. Topped with a bean chili-type mixture, tomato and cheese, it's like an all-natural puffy taco. My only criticism, which was shared by another woman I sat across the room from, the fry bread is a bit tough. It's hard to cut and very chewy. Flavors are good.
The popular Om Burger was indeed good. It was mostly because the bun was nicely toasted, the burger itself was meaty in texture, and the goat cheese a nice add-on. Quinoa salad is a nice accompanying side. I still like the veggie burger over at 131 Main better (I've had it about 6 times...beet and brown rice based with teriyaki glaze and havarti cheese.)
The Buddah Bowl changes, and I've had it two different times. Both times, the veggie selection is nice, the vegan sauce/veggie sauce to accompany is good too, but could use a kick. I mean, like Nicole W. mentioned, it needs spice of some kind.
Pot Pie: Mushroom cream sauce and large chunks of summer squash, a few pieces of carrot, and chickpeas. I really liked the flavor of this dish hot. Thick, creamy, and again, super hot. But the veggies really varied in doneness. The carrots were kind of hard...some yellow squash was medium hard...some zucchini was well cooked, as were the mushrooms. When I think pot pie, I also would like a real puff pastry or any kind of "top". Instead, it comes with a croissant. Not the buttery, flaky make-a-mess-on-your-lap kind, but a hybrid 30% real croissant, and 70% Pilsbury Crescent Roll. It's more bread than a croissant. (Look at how in-depth I'm going into the scientifics of this carbohydrate product.) It was good at sopping up the sauce, and got the job done. Just not what I expected.
I also wondered why the vegetables in the pot pie weren't in season, and why they were so ununiform in size. I had giant chunks of carrots...but small chickpeas, slivers of SUMMER squash.
I think that does it for now. Overall, it was good. I felt good after I ate here, and would take my friends, veggie or not. I did head a couple diners complain to their server about waiting 40 minutes for their main entrees to arrive...and I did overhead some other diners being just so-so satisfied with their meals. If Fern amped up the flavor just a bit, and made some minor improvements, this restaurant would be a knock out.
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