Thinking to start this blog off on a high note with some praise for the Fresh Food Café, we decided to wait until Tuesday to start writing. Unfortunately, the cuisine served tonight, while edible, decent, and even appetizing (at least compared to the usual fare) was still far from "gourmet" by a long shot.
Two pro's outside the realm of food to start: the service and presentation was lovely. Walking into the transformed FFC, it was hard not to stand in awe of the black drapes, dimly lit ambiance, and row of cranberry sparkling cider down each table. The little lamps at each table were a soft-spoken touch of elegance. And one just had to breathe a sigh of relief to see that the wait staff were not, thank god, FFC employees. (Not to criticize the ladies of the FFC too much! Some are delightful, while others yell at you to "bring your plate closer to your food" or refuse to serve you ice cream in anything but the ice cream dish.) ...those are stories for another time.
Though the room didn't seem at all like Hogwarts, Oxford, or any blend of the two, it was magical for the company in the room, the various professors we have come to know as well as the friends we arrived with.
The appetizer was a salad. Leaves only (watercress, mint, romaine, raddicchio, frisée), understated, and altogether enjoyable. The taste of raddicchio and mint accentuated the otherwise commonplace romaine. The dressing was delightful: a playful mix of honey Dijon mustard and rice wine vinaigrette. With cranberry juice and bread rolls one the side, the first course started well. I would have preferred toasted, warm bread to cold, but that's a personal taste. Though the salad alone was not so special, the dressing was exquisite. Far superior to the sham "Italian" dressing the FFC concocts. --AH
The next course, for the people who eat meat, mind you, was game hen, a bread pudding of sorts and vegetables (carrots and beans). The hen was well cooked and put in a savory orange madiera wine sauce. The vegetables were soft and the lack of seasoning in comparison to the FFC's oversalted/seasoned fare was a welcome part of the meal. The bread pudding however did not win me over. While my compatriot who wrote the section before would happily disagree with me in part due to the degree of seasoning of the food, I felt it was overly bland and the mushrooms were not incorporated well into the dish. --SS
Ah, well. That said, I am a fan of mushrooms and found the bread pudding to be interesting if not delicious. At the very least, as I looked over to what my vegetarian friends had to suffer through, I kept my comments in check. At this point in the meal, it was obvious that the meal was rather unspectacular compared to what one might expect at even the most basic restaurants. Honestly. Ruby Tuesday could whip up a better side dish. Vegetables? Sure, SS. If we're comparing it against the FFC, they are well done. In the grand scheme of things, however, the actual food was the least impressive part of the evening.
Dessert was a honey crisp apple tart, that was a bit too tart for my taste. It's consistency seemed to say "I've been sitting out all day" and the "honey crème fraiche" sitting off to the side looked like a dollop of miracle whip with a wilted mint leaf jutting out. It was tasty, sure, but what wouldn't be after such a one note entree? I found it amusing to see the same tarts, minus mint leaves and cream, sitting out on the FFC dessert stand the following day.
The evening ended with a cup of regular ol' coffee, served on lovely china and cute silverware. At the very least, they succeeded on the cup o'joe. Oh, and the chairs for the actual "high table." I'm quite jealous, actually. Up until the point I saw the DC rental truck outside the FFC, waiting to recollect all the finery that was on loan. --AH
