City Restaurant Week: Domaine Hudson

By PETER BOTHUM

As a kid I was the pickiest eater on the planet. As an adult it's almost impossible to disappoint me as a diner.

In fact, these days it's pretty easy to please both my wife - my lunch date Wednesday - and myself.

Our time is crunched like a used coffee creamer by two jobs and two little girls. Suffice it to say, we don't often go to classy joints like Domaine Hudson Wine Bar and Eatery, so the only thing that could happen was Dining Nirvana.

And it did.

Even on Hump Day, smack in the middle of City Restaurant Week, Domaine Hudson was on its A-game, serving up the culinary equivalent of a Michael Jordan crossover or a Prince guitar solo at this $15, two-course prix fixe lunch.

The baked brie and arugula starter salad was like therapy for this indecisive diner. It didn't matter how you paired its ingredients - any mixture of the pears, walnuts, baked brie (slightly crusty on the outside, warm and pliable on the inside) or the roasted shallot vinaigrette got the taste buds in shape for the edible brilliance about to unfold. I wanted to go with something classy, like the sauteed rainbow trout over puy lentils, but I followed my stomach's hunger for meat over to the 3-ounce spice rubbed flat iron steak and romaine hearts.

The spice rub smacked with all the flavor you needed, but gently brushing some of the melt-in-your-mouth, rare-cooked meat into into the Roquefort vinaigrette or red onion provided a powerful, unexpected kick.

My wife reported that her seared scallop tagliatelle boasted just the right amount of doneness, and the accompanying shallot cream over semolina pasta was muscular without coming off too heavy.

The dessert, however, was heavenly. At our waiter's recommendation we went with the Polenta Poundcake, which was topped with fresh pineapple, whipped cream and coconut.

But wait just a second. Back to that polenta, whose cornmeal-batter goodness - dense, but still airy - could have stood on its own. By adding a little warmth on the inside, and allowing a little of that pineapple juice to get soaked up in the cake, and coating it with that rich cream and a hint of coconut taste for good measure, and Domaine Hudson made the dessert soar.

Mission accomplished. We have reached Dining Nirvana.

City Restaurant Week: Washington Street Ale House

By VICTOR GRETO

The Washington Street Ale House is all about booze.

It's an ale house, after all, with lots of beer on tap and an interior ambience enriched by a fine brick and duct-work interior that reminds one of early 20th-century Drunk.

But during Restaurant Week, it offered $15 flat-fee lunches that were both small and problematic tasting. The choices for appetizers varied, from "pale ale cured salmon sliders" -- rubbery and tasteless salmon liberally slathered with sour cream, between two small pancakes (?) -- and an andouille (spelled "andoiulle") sausage corndog, three of which were presented on a lettuce bed of grilled mango.

The fine deep-fried dogs were speared by - the only term for the length of these is "javelin-size" - skewers and rested on a tasty sauce.The entrees included one that a friend unfortunately had to return. This was a "smoked sea salt seared tuna with wasabi lobster tater tots," a great name for a painfully salty, dried out tuna lump, with tots that were all tater and no lobster.

When I bit the tuna, I had a flashback to my former life as an ancient Roman slave working the salt mines. However, my dish, the grilled tequila chicken with Caribbean salsa, was very good. The salsa tasted spicy and fresh, and the chicken was moist and tender. It sat on a bed of great-tasting yellow rice.Alas, the portion was as large as palm of my hand. Although I have a decent-sized guy's hand, I also have a decent-sized hunger, and it wasn't enough.

So, when I asked for a dessert menu, the bartender (we sat near the bar because I'm a guy and didn't make reservations) making the rounds actually looked annoyed with me, holding tight to the check she seemed anxious to present.

In a couple of minutes, she came back around with a small, leather notebook, which she left on the table, and which I quickly opened to find nothing inside. That was it. If I was alone, I would have ordered a Blue Moon draft -- hold the orange slice, please -- and stared at the brick wall and duct work, getting into how both these features metaphorically represented my place in the universe.

Contact Victor Greto at 324-2832 or vgreto@delawareonline.com.

City Restaurant Week: Deep Blue

By BETSY PRICE

The City Restaurant Week lunches are generous and yummy at Deep Blue.

Glance around the slammed dining room, and you could see lots of people happy with their two-course lunches for $15 each.

The majority seemed to order the crab cake sandwich or lemon glazed Scottish salmon, and you could hear, "Oh, it's good," repeated over and over.
Appetizers included Downtown Seafood Chowder, Crispy Fried Calamari, Mixed Field Greens and the Deep Blue BLT Salad, an updated version of the Ladies-who-lunch Lettuce Wedge.

Diners could also choose the crab cake sandwich, salmon, Ricotta Gnocchi, California Chicken Salad or a Grilled Reuben.

The soups and salads were huge, practically a meal in themselves. the BLT Salad was surrounded by red and yellow pear small tomatoes.

The salmon, served over toasted orzo, roasted vegetables with a lemon butter sauce, was a nice mix of flavors and textures. The fat crabcake was loaded with lump crab meat and served on a potato bread roll with tomato, red onion, avocado and cole slaw with a spicy tartar sauce on the side. It came with fries.

Only a mild quibble -- service was a bit slow for a working lunch, but then again we were there at the height of the lunch hour and there were a lot of tables with six, eight and more diners.

City Restaurant Week: CW Harborside (Conley Ward)

By RYAN CORMIER

After hearing that Conley Ward's Steakhouse would change its name to C.W. Harborside next month, I wasn't sure what to expect when I walked in Tuesday night, dutifully arriving on time for my 7 p.m. reservation.

The changeover isn't set to take place until mid-May, but with promises of a new menu and lower prices, would I be walking into a restaurant in the middle of a messy transition?

My friend and I were quickly handed menus and the waitress announced it was "City Restaurant Week," guiding us to the special $35 prix-fixe menu in the back. We soon had a basket of fresh, hot crusty rolls and our drinks on the table.

All was well.

I started with a tasty mixed green salad - a small pile of baby lettuces, tomatoes, cucumber, croutons and onion. My friend went with the heartier iceberg wedge: a thick chunk of iceberg with a homemade blue cheese dressing and smoked bacon bits. (There was barely a drop of dressing left on his plate when he was done, so there were clearly no problems with the salad.)

For my entree, I decided on a non-steak dish. I was served a large portion of crab and gnocchi drenched in asiago blush sauce and topped with cheese shavings.It was rich. It was filling. And it had plenty of crab -- no skimping here. Sure, there were a few pieces of crab shell here and there, which can be shocking while eating a soft dish like gnocchi, but a few stray shell bits are expected.

About three-quarters through, I seriously thought about having the rest wrapped up to take home. And for a big guy, that doesn't happen very often. But I soldiered on and polished it off, making for a long evening of feeling too-full.

My friend went for what should be Conley Ward's strong suit: filet medallions and shrimp topped with an orange teriyaki glaze and a side of potatoes au gratin. The potatoes were soon topped with a big spoonful of butter thanks to my friend who I had thought was on a diet. (I guess not!)

His two medium rare medallions were cooked to perfection -- a bright red middle -- and the pair of healthy-sized shrimp were a perfect compliment. It was exactly the quality of meat and shrimp you would expect from good steakhouse. Towards the end of the meal, a second Bacardi and diet Coke showed up next to my plate. I had ordered the first one when we arrived, but this drink came out of nowhere.

The waitress must have read the confusion on my face."Didn't you order this?" she asked.

"No," I told her.

"Well, it's yours now," she said, realizing her mistake.

She even gave me a pity laugh when I asked her if she was trying to get me drunk. (When our tab came, neither of the mixed drinks were on the check, which came to $95 after tip.)

I rarely eat dessert, so I had little room left for my Kentucky butter cake that was soon staring back at me. It was a tower of hot, buttery cake beside a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a dollop of whipped cream. It sat in a puddle of strawberry syrup, next to a few sliced strawberries and topped with a vanilla wafer.

It was too much to pass up. Needless to say, it was possibly the best part of the entire meal and I paid for it the rest of the night, even though left about a quarter of it on the table when I left. My friend went with the Bailey's Cheesecake and once again, nary a crumb was left. (He later sent me a text message on the way to his work noting that he was driving with his pants unbuttoned thanks to the three-course monster meal he had just socked away.)

Earlier in the evening as we began to eat our entrees, a manager stopped by to making sure everything was to our liking. And considering the sweeping upcoming changes at the restaurant, my concerns about possible problems with the food or service turned out to be unfounded.

From the looks of things, all is well at Conley Ward's as they prepare for a new era as C.W. Harborside, which officially begins May 15.

Contact Ryan Cormier at 324-2863 or rcormier@delawareonline.com. Read his pop culture blog at www.delawareonline.com/pulpculture.

City Restaurant Week: Hotel du Pont (dinner)

Staff reviews of City Restaurant Week reviews are coming in. In addition to myself and Eric Ruth, we had staffers go out and experience the restaurants just as "regular" diners do.

Check back by lunchtime for Ryan Cormier's take on CW Harborside (formerly Conley Ward), and later today for other reports on Domaine Hudson wine bar & eatery, and Deep Blue Bar & Grill.

Gary Soulsman dined at the Green Room last night. (Yes, I know, Eric and I already offered our opinions on the Hotel duPont's City Restaurant Week lunch - see below - but when the Green Room, a bastion of Wilmington dining, offers discounts, we thought it was important to have someone there to check it out.

I think you'll find Gary's review very eye-opening as well as an interesting read.

By GARY SOULSMAN

It's silly to contemplate dining in the Green Room feeling less then your biggest adult self.

This vast chandeliered expanse represents grandeur from a time - 1913 - when the Du Pont Co. opened a showcase hotel. And the Green Room is thick with old warm charm while radiating empire and power.

It's like stepping into a fastidious men's club from an Edith Wharton novel and, if you're lucky enough to capture one of the high-backed chairs at the edges of the room, you've come home to a quiet refuge of privilege where movie stars and captain of industry have felt at ease.

The bothersome world is so far away, as are the other pristine tables.

On Tuesday night I entered the oak-lined walls with one of my most adult friends hoping for a meal that matched the setting's luster. So it is with sadness that I report feeling letdown by our excursion into Restaurant Week.

The regular menu has choices such pan-seared foie gras and grilled filet of beef. But there was none of that among the $35 prix-fixe offerings.

With three choices for our starter, main course and dessert, I began with beef carpaccio, a paper-thin slice of raw beef that came with capers, small slices of cheese and a lovely white sauce that made the dish. But why did the slices of bread seem tough?

My friend had a trio of greens with a fine vinaigrette (he substituted for the blue cheese dressing thanks to a delightfully helpful server).

But, as we got to talking about meals that had sent us into the stratosphere, we realized we were flying low.

Next came the main course and my friend pronounced the crab-and-shrimp mousse cakes ho-hum. I passed over the oven-roasted chicken breast in favor of the grilled pork loin. The meat was flavorful but tough, the sauce a friendly addition.

I grudingly cleaned my plate.

Dessert was the best dish my friend ordered - almond cheesecake with a cherry sauce. I lit into the vanilla-bean creme brulee. Normally it's one of my favorite desserts and I was eager.

However, I left half of it. I might think my friend and I were having an off night but we enjoyed each other's company and before we left we stopped by another table for a chat.

Seated at a corner power table were two couples. And at least two of the diners had sampled the Green Room last year for Restaurant Week. They'd been very pleased.

This year, there was a general feeling of letdown hovering over their table, though one the diners praised the crab bisque.

Still, the table reminded me of young people who'd helplessly watched a nogoodnik pop their balloons. It also made us wonder: Why would a restaurant take part in Restaurant Week this way?

Granted, a three-course meal for $35 was meant to be a bargain. And we escaped with a check of $110. But who would come back willing to pay more, if you left feeling disappointed?

Could this really be good for business? Is this why the room seemed a third full? Oh well, I can still love the grandeur of the decor....can't I?

Contact Gary Soulsman at 324-2893 or gsoulsman@delawareonline.com.

Say cheese, please.

News Journal photographer Fred Comegys hit the streets today for City Restaurant Week.

He popped into Cafe Mezzanotte and clicked chef/owner Sergio Pellegrino chatting with customers Laura DiSabatino (left) and Donna Pollock.

At Deep Blue Bar & Grill - across the street - Comegys snapped owner Dan Butler (below) as he table hopped with former Attorney General Charlie Oberly (left) and Bill Rhodunda

City Restaurant Week: The Exchange

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

More reviews coming today

Stay tuned readers... we have more reviews coming from City Restaurant Week.

We'll post some this afternoon as well as lunch and dinner reviews the rest of the week.

Anyone have any experiences they like to share??

City Restaurant Week: Hotel du Pont (lunch)

PATRICIA TALORICO'S REVIEW:

They were ready for us - or someone has a good eye.

Eric and I dined today at the Hotel du Pont's Green Room and while I made the reservation under a different name, we weren't exactly incognito. (Read Eric's review below.)

In fact, after the first course, the dining room manager came over and asked if the dish met the critics standard. Chef Patrick D'Amico later poked his head out of the kitchen and came over to our table.

Oh well. So much for anonymity in tiny, little old Delaware Maybe Eric and I should have worn wigs like former New York Times critic Ruth Reichl used to do. (But sorry, that's just, well, bizarre. And don't you think it would have been even weirder for us to don wigs and pretend to be other people when the staff spotted us immediately?)

Last year, we had a disappointing experience at the Green Room: They didn't give us Restaurant Week menus until we asked and the service was slower than Ryan Howard's base running.

But it was a completely different experience this year - the Restaurant Week menu is now opposite the regular menu. And the service was much improved, though it does go at what I like to call a fine-dining "Green Room" snail's pace. (If you're on a one-hour lunch plan, let your server know.) But take your time if you can; this is your chance to enjoy one of the most beautiful dining rooms in the state, if not the country.

Rainy days and Mondays may have kept some of the Restaurant Week dining crowd away. The Green Room was less than half full. I hope it picks up later this week, because this was a nice meal. And anytime you can get a $15 two-course lunch at the Green Room is a bargain.

Eric had the cold champagne and cantaloupe soup and I opted for the greens with candied pecans and an apple-balsamic vinaigrette. Soup was very good - it has touches of mint and infusion of cardamom and tiny confetti of fresh cantaloupe. On a cold, rainy day, I would have preferred something hot, but D'Amico told us he planned the menu when the temps were hitting 70 and above. (Like last week.) Maybe it's me, but chilled fruit soups remind me of smoothies. I usually have my fill after three or four spoonfuls.

On the other hand, the dressing on the salad was delicious. D'Amico roasted apples and blended them along with aged balsamic and olive oil for the sweet dressing that paired beautifully with the candied pecans. It was simple and light.

For main lunch courses, you get a choice of a grilled chicken breast sandwich with melted white sharp cheddar, guacamole and spicy chili relish - along with French fries and coleslaw. The second choice is pan-seared salmon with sweet onion puree, roasted fingerling potatoes, pink grapefruit and cilantro salad.

The chicken is definitely a "guy" kind of meal and the fish is the "girl" meal. (Guess what I ordered?) Yep, salmon. My one quibble - my salmon was slightly overcooked. But again, both are fine meals. Drinks aren't included - coffee was $3 and iced tea was $3. The Hotel also gives you a basket of warm rolls - made in house - and a plate of their famous almond flavored coconut macaroons for dessert.

Total cost: $36 (We added a generous tip on top of that.)


ERIC RUTH'S REVIEW:

Eating at the Green Room during restaurant week is like getting invited to your friend's brother's wedding reception in the Hamptons -- for a moment, even we working-class slugs get to act like royalty.

For the price of admission (a paltry $15), there may be no cheaper ticket to the loftier echelons of Wilmington culture, making it all the more perplexing why more people don't leap at the chance.

On this drizzly and gray Monday, just a few tables were filled, though I'm more inclined to blame typically meager marketing efforts than meteorological conditions.

A shame, considering it's the perfect chance to see why the Green Room continues to astound me, both for its regal nature and its occasional mindless lapse.

Chef Patrick D'Amico's lunchtime offerings for Restaurant Week are thoroughly pleasing, if occasionally shy on the kind of upscale refinement we associate with the GR -- the simple mesclun salad benefitted from a fruity, aptly balanced apple-and-balsamic dressing, but cried out for a few more titillating details.

Chilled fruit soup deftly balanced soft sweetness of cantaloupe against champagne, bracing the fruit softly against a background of cardamom and mint.

Such coolly fruit-forward dishes will suit hotter days far better, and maybe warmer weather will also thaw out the Green Room's glacially slow service a bit. Still, if I have to cool my heals waiting for lunch, there's no better setting for just sitting, especially when patience is rewarded by an elegant (and somewhat overcooked) plate of roasted salmon with a subtly rich beurre blanc.

It's a dish with far more elitist credentials than the chicken breast sandwich D'Amico has crafted, but maybe a little less excitement as well -- chicken's the kind of humble character that benefits from sassy treatment, and here D'Amico gives it his all, offsetting the slow burn of pepper relish against creamy coolness of avocado.

It's messy, it's drippy, it's thoroughly un-Green Room -- and it's completely delicious. Who needs fancy, when $15 buys so much fun?

City Restaurant Week - reviews coming soon

Today is the kick-off to City Restaurant Week - 10 downtown and Riverfront eateries are offering $15 two-course lunches and $35 three course dinners. (Beverages and tips not included.) To see menus and participating restaurants go to www.cityrestaurantweek.com

Eric and I are checking out a restaurant today at lunch.

Look for our reviews here later today.

And we're sending News Journal staffers out to participating eateries to pick up forks and share their experiences.

We also want to hear about where you've been and what the lunch/dinner was like.

Comment, comment, comment.