Salmon River

[Pan]

Hi, everyone. I'm going to a party at Salmon River Saturday night at 8 P.M. Should I have dinner there or eat somewhere else first and just have drinks? What do you recommend I order?

[Pan]

I take it, none of you have ever been there?

[Nathan]

that seems likely

[larrylee]

Sorry...

[Pan]

I found the food uniformly good and also enjoyed a Pinot Noir from the coast of Chile. I'll post in more detail later.

[Pan]

Because no prices were listed on it and because it was printed on an ordinary sheet of white paper, I believe we were given a special prix fixe menu that had been worked out by the organizer of the party. It was a 4-course menu:

Appetizers:

Crab cakes with mustard sauce

Salmon River Chowder

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Green Salad

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Mains:

Salmon with roasted red pepper sauce

Roast chicken breast with risotto

Filet mignon with mashed potatoes and asparagus

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Dessert:

New York Cheesecake

Cappuccino cake

Berries

I ordered the chowder, which was creamy. Otherwise, there was nothing notable about it, other than that it was good. I had a bite of a crab cake, which tasted good.

The salad was simply an ordinary, good mixed salad with vinaigrette.

For the main, I avoided the salmon because bell peppers are no good for my stomach, but I was told it was good. The filet mignon was good, and they cooked mine medium-rare, as I requested. The mashed potatoes were tasty and the asparagus was good steamed asparagus. I tried the risotto that came with the chicken breast, and it was a tasty pea risotto with parmigiano.

I'm sometimes reluctant to order cheesecake, because so often, gummy cream cheese ruins the texture. But I needn't have worried. This was classic New York cheesecake, totally ungummy. I didn't try the other desserts, but the cappuccino cake was actually tiramisu', and friends said it was very good.

I don't know what the actual cost of the prix fixe would have been. We paid $55/person including tax and tip plus $6/person for the wine, but that included subsidizing the cost of the meals of the two birthday people. (There were 19 of us, so someone who feels like doing the math can.) The restaurant is perhaps a bit pricey, but not as bad as I thought it would be, and while there was nothing unusual about the conceptions of the dishes we were offered, the execution was good, everything was tasty, and everyone was happy. I think that Salmon River would be a good choice for any similar kind of party, where there's a mix of "foodies" and unadventurous eaters, and everyone could come away satisfied. It might be a good place for business meetings, too.

Salmon River

3 E. 40 St. (just east of 5th Av., north side of the street)

Phone: 212-481-7887

Fax: 212-481-4510

Edited April 1, 2007 by Pan (log)