Review of Elixir in VT

[Dante]

This past Friday (December 7th), I had the pleasure of dining at Elixir, a fairly new small-plates restaurant in White River Junction with my wife, our housemates and a friend of ours for my Housemate Claudia’s birthday dinner.

I do believe we’ve found a new preferred restaurant.

The atmosphere maintains a casual, fun-loving-but-still-serious air about it. A converted warehouse building remade in to a restaurant while still leaving enough to make it obvious what the building started out as. Enough neon to give it what my wife refers to as “swank” but not so much that it becomes overdone (difficult to do with neon), a wooden pillar behind the bar with home drilled in to it to hold wine bottles- touches like these give it a special character not normally found in this area but which, to judge by the business they’re doing, has found acceptance by the local populace.

The service staff were quite professional and helpful, starting when my wife and I arrived much earlier than we’d intended to (before the time our reservations were for) – they had available table space and set it up right for us even after we said it was OK for us to wait at the bar until everyone else arrived.

We started the evening with a couple of drinks and a serving of their “Nuts Over You” spiced nuts- very tasty- spicy enough to be enjoyable but not so much that the spice overwhelmed the natural flavour of the nuts themselves. I had the “Coolidge” martini (Stoli raspberry, blackberry liqueur, sour mix, cranberry juice, whimsically garnished with a Swedish fish candy) while my wife had the “494”- Absolut, cointreau, lime juice, cranberry juice, garnished with a lime wedge)- both quite lovely – well-made and tasty.

We’d started on a couple of the local beers they serve when the rest of our party arrived. Pouring over the menus we all had difficulty deciding what to pick- everything looked so inviting. I decided on the “Fish’n’ Chips”(Barramundi with hand-made chips and spicy sauce) and the “Say Cheese” cheese plate -this time including Blue Ledge Farm’s “Lake’s Edge” {a sort of local Humboldt Fog}, another Blue Ledge Farms chevre, Abbe de Belloc and Fourme d'Ambert, accompanied by fig paste, olive tapenade a tomato-basil relish and toasted bread.

My wife ordered the “Autumn Biiss Soup” (carrot puree with star anise foam) “Easy sliders” (mini kobe beef burgers with carmelized onions, tomato and local cheddar) with a side of their sweet potato fries with spicy aioli.

Our housemate Rick ordered the “Buck Stops Here” (Seared venison with swiss chard and black pepper gastrique) and the “Down East Divers (scallops with black truffle and celeriac puree)

Claudia had the Olive Miso, the Easy Sliders and the “Jack-o-Sotto” (roasted pumpkin risotto with wild mushrooms served in a small pumpkin). She also had the “Tip Top Tini” martini (Grey Goose vodka, Chambord, Pineapple Juice and twist of lemon garnish)

Our friend Angelica had the “Mary’s Little Lamb” satay (with basmati rice and spinach) the “Down East Divers” and the “Say Cheese” plate.

For an accompanying wine we selected a very nice Tempranillo Rioja which proved versatile enough to work for all of us.

Naturally, we shared everything we got, and I made a point to taste everything…

The fish and chips was positively divine- both my wife and I , completely independently of each other, commented that it “tasted of the sea”. Tender to the point of almost falling apart, light, flakey batter crust, nice, slightly spicy sauce on the side. One of the best pieces of fish I’ve ever had anywhere.

The cheese plate, as one would expect from the quality of cheese involved, was exquisite. I’ll admit that I confined the accompaniments to the bread, not wanting to mix the flavours of the cheeses themselves with anything else, so good were they.

The Autumn Bliss Soup was quite good, subtle yet flavourful, the anise foam on top (v. nice presentation) accompanying yet not intruding. The Easy Sliders were amazing- nicely tender, the flavour of the beef standing out amongst the accompaniments, each ingredient’s flavour palpably present without impinging on any of the others. As much as I enjoyed my Fish and Chips, I almost regretted not getting the burgers. The fries were a very nice accompaniment- I had to stop myself from snitching too many from my wife’s serving.

The venison was tender, and juicy, the gastrique going well with it- strong enough to stand up to the meat without overwhelming or being overwhelmed. The scallops, like the fish, were fresh and tender, just seared enough to qualify as cooked while still retaining their natural texture- the puree going quite well with them.

The olive plate was delightful- I noticed less of a citrus flavour in the marinade than there was when we had come there last month- not a complaint against either experience, mind you- just a noticeable difference. The Jack-o-Sotto was delicious- properly sticky, nicely flavoured and I loved the idea of serving it inside a miniature pumpkin.

The lamb was good- again- fresh local ingredients prepared in a way as to taste of what they are while still having proper accompaniments. Simple yet elegant.

Desserts came next, with my wife ordering the Chocolate soufflé, which she shared with Claudia, Rick had the Espresso custard and Angelica had the cheese plate and me ordering the “Inverted Martini”..

The Inverted Martini seemed a nod towards the area of Molecular Gastronomy pioneered by Ferran Adria and his adherents- cutting-edge cookery not to be found elsewhere in this region, to my knowledge. Dry vermouth with small vodka gelee cubes and a sprinkle of chives, topped with a scoop of house-made banana ice cream surrounded by banana chips. Unique and utterly enjoyable.

The soufflé was quite good- chocolatey flavour, good light-but-firm consistency. It was accompanied with a small scoop of ice cream in a lemony-flavoured shell.

The espresso custard was tasty, and had a good texture, with an interesting hint of sour cream in the taste and finish.

After dessert I got a pleasant surprise the manager came out to say hello and shared with me a bit about the restaurant- it’s philosophy, what they’re doing and what they’re planning to do. A very interesting moment made perfect when we got a scoop of Buddha’s Hand ice cream to sample (he even brought out a Buddha’s Hand to show my dining companions as I was the only one at the table who had seen one before).

The service was excellent- our waiter was very attentive and efficient and also displayed a very thorough knowledge of the menu and the ingredients, answering all of our questions in detail,

Throughout the meal we had the pleasure of listening to a very good fiddle-and-hammered-dulcimer duet. My wife almost teared up when they started playing “Ashokan Farewell”- an unexpected pleasure dining to one of her favourite songs.

So there we have it, Elixir, a focus on fresh, local ingredients, allowed to speak for themselves and a surprising touch of the cutting edge, yet still keeping an eye towards making the food accessible and towards providing a unique, enjoyable dining experience. I can’t recommend it highly enough for the food, the experience and the overall fun factor.