Restaurant Nicholas

[=Mark]

We have reservations for dinner at Restaurant Nicholas in Middletown next week (yay!). I've been wanting to go there for some time now. I've been looking at the online menu, and so much looks good. I was wondering if folks that had been there would have any advice on favorite dishes...

[Shmily]

Hi..We have eaten there twice and both times whoever had the beef dish found the quality of the beef dreadful...all other dishes were excellent...we had the price fixed meal both times...think it is a great buy...so go, enjoy, but avoid the beef (both times it was full of gristle and fat)...Have fun...

[Cartman0310]

Hi..We have eaten there twice and both times whoever had the beef dish found the quality of the beef dreadful...all other dishes were excellent...we had the price fixed meal both times...think it is a great buy...so go, enjoy, but avoid the beef (both times it was full of gristle and fat)...Have fun...  

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Thank god that some one can speak the truth about the "great" Nicholas.

I also had the steak & found it to be a very poor cut of meat. Also, mine was over cooked, I'm not sure how it happened because the steak is pre-sliced in the back.

When the server brought it out he tried to sauce it very quickly. I told him that I'd like to do that myself, this way I could actually see how far over mid-rare it was cooked.

[Shmily]

I "calls 'em how I sees 'em." Sadly, I find so many of my N.J. posts are not positive but my standards have something to do with price...I have far more tolerance for inexpensive meals than expensive ones..."good of its kind" is what I look for...and if you charge me a lot, then my standards are simply higher. I think eGullet is just wonderful because it lets all of us express an opinion. Thank you Cartman for your comments...

[Shmily]

So Mark...how did it go?? details, please....

[=Mark]

So Mark...how did it go??  details, please....  

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Dinner was excellent! As advised beef was avoided. Of course it isb't something I'd normally order out anyway.

They started us out with expresso cups of a sweet carrot soup spiced with cardamom. Then I had the Crispy Braised Pork Belly, Gingered Plums, Napa Cabbage & Peanut Salad. The pork was a mixture of crispy and moist with tons of flavor, sort of like uncured bacon on steroids. The cabbage & peanut salad added almost an Asian touch. Other folks at the table had the Seared Day Boat Scallops, Citrus Braised Endive, Orange Butter Sauce, as well as the Seared Foie Gras, Pickled Bing Cherries, Pain Perdu, Almond Foam. The Foie Gras was almost too rich, but hey you have to go for it while it's still legal!

Another diner had the Parisienne Gnocchi, Sugar Snap Peas, Braised Artichokes.

The Gnocchi were smaller than I'm used to and slightly crispy as if they had been pan seared.

For the second course, two of us had the Seared Long Island Duck Breast,

Crispy Polenta, Port Plum Puree and the other two had Elysian Fields Rack of

Lamb, Moroccan Cous Cous, Zucchini Mint Puree. It was all great. I'm not

usually a grit guy, but the crispy polenta with the duck was really tasty.

For dessert, folks shared Hazelnut Semifreddo Chocolate Sauce, Hazelnut Brittle,

Crème Brûlée Trio:

Vanilla, Maple, Cinnamon

And,

Warm Valrhona Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream.

As I don't do sweets I opted for a course of "Stinky" cheese, (Stilton, Gorgonzola, Cabrales, etc).

All in all it was a memorable event. The only minor downside is that after

about 2 1/2 hours it started to become evident that thwy wanted us to "Go

Away." This was somewhat of a surprise as one of the marketing strategies

they used when they opened was that you had the table for the evening, and

they wouldn' try to turn it over. Oh well, I guess that fell to economic reality....

[Joon]

Glad to hear you enjoyed the food. You had almost exactly what I had t last time I went to Nicholas but I much prefer to eat in the bar, since you don't have to deal with silly table formalities and can pick and choose only what you want.

I've been meaning to try the crispy pork belly - had the duck last time and thought the polenta was the best part of the package. They used to have a "Bananas Foster" version of the Foie Gras that I thought was far superior to the cherry one but that one's not bad either.

If you go again, try the lobster. It's IMO their best dish.

[Batard]

Nicholas is currently offering a 6-course Black Truffle Tasting Menu. Now I can't seem to get it out of my mind - that little voice of truffle love is calling out to me. But before I make the reservation, I wondered if anyone had tried this or heard from someone who had. Should I have reservations about making reservations?