rev:text
| - I am probably biased to like this restaurant, as I'm a big fan of City of Asylum and I want any War Streets business to do well. That being said, I was delighted by my first visit here last week and I expect to come back routinely.
Lets start with the space: it's beautiful. The former masonic hall has been lovingly restored into a space shared by this restaurant, a performance space, and the City of Asylum bookstore. Tall ceilings, big windows, and beautiful finishes make this space peaceful and gorgeous.
The food is excellent as well. The cheese focus that other reviewers have mentioned is clear from the big cheese case that greets you when you walk in. The cheese selection was varied, and included my favorites from Jasper Hill in Vermont. The rest of the menu is small plates, all of which were balanced and well-executed. My group of three shared a cheese plate, polenta (amazing beef cheek melts in your mouth), cod fritters, and the eggplant meatballs (such good texture that it fooled my husband into thinking they were made of meat!). Their beer selection was good, the wine list was fairly conventional and overpriced for the offerings. This is my reasoning for docking them one star: if you're going to be a wine bar, you can't just give me a $14 glass of the same wine I can buy at any store for $16 a bottle. Either lower your wine prices or up the caliber of bottles that you are stocking.
Service hasn't quite hit its stride yet, with our waiter overly attentive at first and then nowhere to be found towards the end of the meal. I'll forgive them this as they are still a fairly new restaurant and were fairly busy on the Friday night that I dined with them. We will definitely return!
|