Hannah & Mason's

[Tom D]

In the culinary waste land down along Rt. 130 in central NJ, there is hope.

In the nice sleepy town of Cranbury is HANNAH & MASON'S restaurant serving very good New American cuisine with a French Twist.

The restaurant is a old historic house, I believe it recently was The Cranbury Sampler, a lunch and gourmet shop. Very new, only open for 3 weeks.

Don't remember all the particular's but Denise had the Thai mesculin salad which had a nice array of citrus fruits and greens topped with spiced pecans and I had the mediteranean salad with shaved parm. cheese. Both were very good.

For dinner wife had the crab cakes with a potato pave and veggies, I had a huge double cut pork chop rubbed with chile spices, seved with a pineapple salsa. Also came with garlic mashed potatoe's and veggies.

My descriptions don't do the quality of food, presentations or accent sauces any justice as we were just enjoying the atmosphere and a couple bottles of wine

For dessert we split a chocolate raspberry torte stuffed with mousse.

Prices are very resonable for the quality of food.

Example are the entree's, most of which are under $20.00.

Hannah & Mason's 39 North Main Street, Cranbury 609-655-3220. Only open for dinner Friday and Saturday, reservations strongly recommended. BYO

We will certainly be back.

Tom

PS the only hiccups were with some of the service, which was good but working out some kinks

[Rosie]

Sounds like a find. Thanks, Tom. Do you know anything about the chef/owners?

[Kim WB]

Hi Tom, hope all is well.

Sounds like its worth a visit..when you say its open for dinner only Fris and Sat..does that mean it is only open thsoe two days, or does it serve lunch only during the week? I like that uses book store on main Street, I'll plan a side trip if it serves lunch.

[Tom D]

Sorry for the late reply, been traveling all week.

Kim

Hannah and Mason's is open for DINNER only Friday and Saturday. They are open for lunch every day during the week.

Rosie

Can't remember the name of the chef (will post later) but he is a 1996 graduate of the CIA.

Tom

[cranrob]

Hannah & Masons is owned by the same people that ran the Corner Cafe down the street, which mainly did catering after several failed attempts to turn it into a restaurant. The owner is John Davidson, who was also the chef at the Corner Cafe. He teamed up with Chris Posner to open the new place.

The "locals" here (Cranburians) are not enamoured with Mr. Davidson after he published a letter to the editor in the local paper basically blaming the townspeople for not patronizing the Corner Cafe. In truth, the place was a mess, which scared alot of people off, the service was surley, and the food sub-par.

I personally haven't had the urge to try his new place yet, but I probably will in the near future.

As for other new area restaurants, we're lucky enough that a couple of winners have opened up nearby.

"Ganges", a Southern Indian Restaurant at 33 Princeton-Hightstown Rd., serves some of the best Indian food I've had outside of India. An interesting thing to note is that it's often filled with Indian Families, which you rarely see in Indian Restaurants since Indian Cooking is considered something to be prepared at home.

"BYOB Asian Restaurant" is almost next door at 44 Princeton-Hightstown Rd., Run by the former owner of the Sushi Consession at the McCaffrey's chain of Supermarkets. The menu is mainly Cantonese, with a separate Japanese Menu (and separate Japanese Cook). There is also a sushi bar. Some non-chinese and non-japanese classics also appear on the menu. There are some truly inspired dishes here. For example, "Scallion Pancake with Aromatic Beef" is like a beef version of Peking Duck. Served with Hoison Sauce and Scallion, it's heaven on on a Pancake.

Edited August 17, 2004 by cranrob (log)

[Rosie]

Welcome to eGullet cranrob and thanks for the information. Keep us informed of places that you like to dine.

[cranrob]

Update: As a result of my posting above, I received the following reply from John Davison, owner of Hannah & Masons... Enjoy.

Subject: Hannah & Mason's

From: <deleted>@aol.com (John Davison)

Date: Sat, 05 Feb 2005 19:54:04 -0500 (EST)

To: cranrob

I recently read a post you wrote on egullet.com about our restaurant.  Let me assist you in clarifying your fabrications.

(1)  We never attempted to open a restaurant at 57 North Main Street, let alone failed several times as you inaccurately stated.  We always ran a deli there and had outdoor tables for the convenience of our customers.  We never billed ourselves as a full-service restaurant.

(2)  My comments to the Cranbury Press have always been consistent and honest with regard to my business operations.  I never blamed anyone in particular for not patronizing our store.  I have always contended that the foot traffic in Cranbury is not sufficient to support most businesses other than point of destination types.  Given the many different businesses that have tried and failed (e.g. - Bread & Life, Udo's, Epicurean, Dandeline Shop - to name a few) this theory seems to be somewhat valid.  I will be the first to admit that when I bought the Cranbury Market and Deli I overestimated the foot traffic myself.  That is why we have gone through several changes in our business over the years.

(3)  I find it interesting that you took a cheap shot at us regarding our dirty store, surley service and sub-par food.  Even though we are in a new location now, we still prescribe to the same standards regarding food, service and cleanliness.  The five reviews we have received since September have been contrary to your views.

I don't mind the criticism, but get your facts straight first.  Obviously, we have not been successful by mistake.  I am unsure of your beef with us, me, the restaurant or all three, but I would appreciate it if you would at least base your comments on the truth, not just your interpretation of the truth.