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| - Me and my companion went to Bodega for their Winterlicious 2014 Prix Fixe Dinner. Having a relatively forgettable experience at another restaurant for Winterlicious 2012, we skipped out on 2013 and hoped to turn things around for this year. Bodega ended up providing a fine experience overall with mostly good food, but a few problems here and there.
The decor of the restaurant was elegant - dim lights, white linens and all. The staff was courteous and did not make us feel the least bit out of place inside. The noise level was moderate, not intimate - as a large party was in the other room.
I ordered the Warm Goat Cheese Salad as an appetizer, Slow Roasted Beef Short Ribs for the main and the Almond Pear Tart for dessert. My partner had the French Onion Soup for an appetizer, the Grilled Fillet of Atlantic Salmon for a main and the Bread Pudding for dessert.
As a whole, one of the biggest issues I had during my experience with Winterlicious 2012 was the portion sizes being much too small - an app the size of an amuse, the main the size of an app, et cetera. At Bodega, I found the portion sizes much more appropriate for a dinner, leaving me full but not bloated.
The complimentary bread was warm, hearty and had a nice crusty exterior. I ate it without the butter provided and was quite happy with how it was made - likely baked the same day (though I'm not sure if it was baked in-house or bought from a local bakery).
I love cheese. Just having the warm goat cheese salad in the menu was a slam dunk in pleasing me. The salad came with a few raspberries which visually popped and provided a nice sweetness and freshness to counterbalance the richness of the cheese and tartness of the vinaigrette. There were mixed microgreens, sprouts and a large slice of just-to-the-point-of-almost-melting goat cheese on top of it all. The salad was delicious but was just slightly imbalanced for my taste.
There were maybe three or four berries for the whole salad, causing me to portion them to ensure I had some of it in every bite. On the other side of the equation was the slice of goat cheese: it was quite large - I had a full quarter of the cheese leftover after I finished all the greens.There were also bacon bits, but they tasted quite ordinary and felt as though they were added to make the dish more familiar to people who don't eat fine dining. I finished it all, and it was ultimately a delicious plate of food that could've been a bit more polished.
I tried a bit of the french onion soup and it probably just wasn't my cup of tea. The onion was strong and the melted cheese was strong, but the soup itself was very thin which felt strange to my palette. Perhaps with a slice of baguette to sponge up the soup or additional textural components and my opinion of it would be better.
My main was absolutely delicious - the jus was flavorful and plentiful. The meat was completely tender and well portioned - not to the point of belonging to a steakhouse or smokehouse but large enough for a proper meal. It came with some great vegetables with a nice balanced mix of tartness and sweetness and varying textures. The garlic mashed potatoes were nothing special, but nothing bad - loads of butter and a great creaminess and acted as a fine canvas to the other ingredients. Texturally engaging, flavorfully complex and well portioned, this main was divine.There were a few tiny bones throughout the meat, due to the nature of the cut of meat, but wasn't a particularly troubling issue for me.
The Almond Pear tart was served with a sabayon. The crust was thin but had a good snap to it. The portions of the tart with a bit of pear, almond and sabayon were a truly euphoric experience - something I would look forward to from the start of any meal. Unfortunately, those great bites were matched with equally dry and uninteresting bites of just almond and crust - with just a few slices of pear baked in and a paltry amount of sabayon served. If they were a bit more heavy handed with the sauce, things would have been perfect in my opinion, but the bites that chewed dry took away from the dessert as a whole.
Overall, it was a memorable night with an experience that I don't get to have very often with my price range and personal preferences. Some moments of the night really were spectacular whilst others were slightly disappointing. The food was delicious but lacked a bit of balance - especially in the salad and dessert. I may be a bit nit-picky in the review, but as the price of a meal goes up, so does my expectations of it. It's a great experience to have once in a while, but I can't see myself financially or preferentially doing this too often.
3.5 / 5, closer to a 4 than a 3.
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