Day two of City Restaurant Week coverage takes us to The Exchange on Market Street. (Pix to the left is by News Journal photographer Robert Craig.)
While I've always liked the hip atmosphere of The Exchange, the food, during past visits, has left me lukewarm.
No more. Today's lunch was, actually, quite wonderful. (And, dare I say, even better than the one I experienced yesterday at the Hotel du Pont's Green Room?)
No one's more surprised than me.
First course was a choice of one of the three: Potato leek soup with chive oil, Waldorf salad with celery, walnuts, apples and dijon dressing or beef carpaccio, shaved parmesan, arugula and truffle oil.
My pal Joanne and I selected waldorf salad and the beef carpaccio. Waldorf could be a ho-hum dish, but this was beautifully plated - the waldorf was packed into a mold for a "tall" food presentation with dottings of tangy dijon dressing surrounding the very tasty salad. Same goes for the arugula salad, a tangle of lightly dressed greens serve next to the ruby red slices of raw beef
But better still was Joanne's choice of lasagna Bolognese with short rib, ricotta & fresh mozzarella. It was creamy, meaty and luscious without stuffed pasta's usual heaviness.
I almost selected the gravlax platter of house cured North Atlantic salmon but since I had salmon yesterday at the Green Room - I went with the Moules Frittes or Mussels in white wine and garlic sauce served with French fries and herb garlic mayonnaise.
The mussels came to the table in large cast-iron pot and were plump and sweet. (Though it would have been nice to have a little fork to pick the meat from the shells and perhaps a napkin or cloth to remove the warm, and heavy, lid from the cast-iron pot .) French fries had the perfect crispiness and who could resist dunking them in the creamy garlicky mayonnaise? (Not me.)
I'm so happy to see that The Exchange stepped up to the plate for City Restaurant Week and offered some imaginative, thoughtful and delicious food that didn't seem skimpy or an after-thought. (Make a reservation - there were seats available today at lunch.)
My lunch today makes me want to return soon for dinner and see what the kitchen can do at night.
And isn't that what this week's promotion is all about?
Bravo.
- Patricia Talorico
While I've always liked the hip atmosphere of The Exchange, the food, during past visits, has left me lukewarm.
No more. Today's lunch was, actually, quite wonderful. (And, dare I say, even better than the one I experienced yesterday at the Hotel du Pont's Green Room?)
No one's more surprised than me.
First course was a choice of one of the three: Potato leek soup with chive oil, Waldorf salad with celery, walnuts, apples and dijon dressing or beef carpaccio, shaved parmesan, arugula and truffle oil.
My pal Joanne and I selected waldorf salad and the beef carpaccio. Waldorf could be a ho-hum dish, but this was beautifully plated - the waldorf was packed into a mold for a "tall" food presentation with dottings of tangy dijon dressing surrounding the very tasty salad. Same goes for the arugula salad, a tangle of lightly dressed greens serve next to the ruby red slices of raw beef
But better still was Joanne's choice of lasagna Bolognese with short rib, ricotta & fresh mozzarella. It was creamy, meaty and luscious without stuffed pasta's usual heaviness.
I almost selected the gravlax platter of house cured North Atlantic salmon but since I had salmon yesterday at the Green Room - I went with the Moules Frittes or Mussels in white wine and garlic sauce served with French fries and herb garlic mayonnaise.
The mussels came to the table in large cast-iron pot and were plump and sweet. (Though it would have been nice to have a little fork to pick the meat from the shells and perhaps a napkin or cloth to remove the warm, and heavy, lid from the cast-iron pot .) French fries had the perfect crispiness and who could resist dunking them in the creamy garlicky mayonnaise? (Not me.)
I'm so happy to see that The Exchange stepped up to the plate for City Restaurant Week and offered some imaginative, thoughtful and delicious food that didn't seem skimpy or an after-thought. (Make a reservation - there were seats available today at lunch.)
My lunch today makes me want to return soon for dinner and see what the kitchen can do at night.
And isn't that what this week's promotion is all about?
Bravo.
- Patricia Talorico
1 comment:
On behalf of all the people that worked at The Exchnge (and there were only a few of us because of spring break) we are thrilled that you enjoyed lunch so much.
We are starting our summer menu next week and are very excitied.
We hope that you'll come and try it!
Post a Comment