We’d circled the area twice and were considering just going somewhere else for dinner when I spotted to the VALET sign. Granted, it was for the neighboring restaurant but maybe the guy manning the booth wouldn’t be too picky about where his $6 was coming from. Well, it was either give it a shot, use the public lot and make the trek back to thre restaurant umbrella-less in the pouring rain, or hit our favorite noodle shop in Broadway. Fortunately, our valet didn’t discriminate and we happily shelled out the six bucks before making a mad dash for the restaurant.
Ocean 6 Seventeen can be found, appropriately enough, at 617 Stamps Landing, a remote location that has proven the burial ground for many an upstart eatery. The interior is intimate. Very relaxed, very loungey, it is the type of place my Aunt Grace would run if she ever decided to transform her living room into a restaurant. As we settled into our comfy chairs and perused the menus, I eavesdropped on the two women at the neighboring who were bitterly complaining about the overtoasted bread one had received. Eventually, the victim waved down her waitress and requested a replacement – and the waitress was more than happy to oblige. As she moved off, the women resumed their conversation. “I had to do it,”the complainant reasoned. “If you don’t, these people get away with murder.” Murder? Really? I wondered what kind of restaurants these ladies frequented.
Both Fondy and I ordered from the three course menus. She started with the squash soup, a sweet, meaty, caramelized version garnished with spruce tip syrup, a grilled scallop ensconced in its center. I had a delectable foie gras parfait, served with honeyed endives and the added bonus of a little something the kitchen was experimenting with: a spectacular pork and wild mushroom pate. For her main course, she went with the pan-seared trout filet on crab risotto with lemon brown butter. The fish was tender and crispy-skinned; the risotto a hearty accompaniment that she liked but didn‘t love. I enjoyed a nicely grilled ling cod topped with thyme butter, served on a bed of diced potatoes, carrots, onions, and what I believe was crumbled bacon. To end the meal, Fondy had the espresso pot de crème with filbert biscotti, a dessert she enjoyed so thoroughly that I was only able to steal a lone spoonful. I had the molten chocolate cake with home made vanilla ice cream – also very good.
Well, we survived to enjoy a terrific meal. Granted, the place is a little out of the way but, in my humble opinion, worth the trip.
On the book front, I finished Vernor Vinge’s A Fire Upon the Deep the other day and am now a third of the way through The Eyre Affair. What’s up next? Choices include P.D. James’s Children of Men, Charles Stross’s Accelerando, Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and Gene Wolfe’s The Fifth Head of Cerberus. Any opinions?
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