It's that time of year again - some fine dining establishments in and around Portsmouth, NH are providing sampling menus at prix fixe so patrons can enjoy a special lunch or dinner. This is a great opportunity to try someplace new or enjoy and old favorite. It was once again time to rally the troops and set out for a great meal and great company.
We are fortunate in this area to have many great restaurants. Once I knew the list of participating restaurants for this session of Restaurant Week, it didn't take long to isolate those I was most interested in visting. I think this time of year is a great opportunity to try new places; when restaurants put their best foot (plate) forward in an effort to hook new patrons for more regular dining. Top of the list of restaurants I had yet to visit was Cava.
Cava means "cave" and is used to reference the fact that caves were used in the "preservation or aging of wine" per wikipedia. Specifically, if refers to a sparkling wine produced in the Penedes region of Spain, and is classically a white or rose sparkling wine. One a personal note, I really enjoy Cava and consider it a more palatable alternative to Champagne, much like Prosecco. Mmmmmm....
I've admired Cava from afar for some time. The word on the street is positive; food is good, drinks are great, prices are high. So, I was pleased to get a chance to try out some of their featured plates at the fixed price, for a four course meal. Now, four courses at a wine and tapas bar are not going to be as sizable as at a standard restaurant. Tapas are generally small plates of food with a few bites, meant for sharing, and intended for patrons to order a few different plates so as to get a variety of flavors.
The prix fixe menu had three selections to choose from for each course. Drinks are not included, so it was clear the final tab would be higher then the standard dinner price. A $28 dollar bottle of unoaked French Chardonnay was a very tasty and delicious choice though, and seemingly the perfect accompaniment for more then a few of the little plates.
I started my night with yellow fin tuna with avocado and grapefruit. The plate came with two generous pieces of raw tuna with peppercorns sitting atop an avocado cream spread. Small segments of pink grapefruit on top of the tuna, and a grapefuit gelatin as decoration. The tuna was delicious and the avocado was pretty standard. The gelatin was completely unnecessary and may even have detracted from the success of this appetizer.
My second course was roasted asparagus with some sort of chili hummus. I was underwhelmed. The hummus-like spread was tasty, but the flavor dominated the plate and was a little too difficult to identify to be all that appetizing.
My third course was the steak. It came with a roasted ramp puree and blackberry. Again, what are they doing complicating my food with fruit!? Ugh. But the steak was delicious though slightly overcooked for "medium", in my opinion.
The winning plate of my evening was the dessert - churros with "hot chocolate". The hot chocolate sauce was delicious and served warm for dipping of the freshly fried churros covered in cinnamon and sugar. Possibly even some cayenne pepper. It should not be a surprise that I spent my time relishing the chocolatey goodness.. and chose to share with my friends who, sadly, did 'lose' on the dessert. I think they liked their cream w/ berries and shortbread or cheese with apricot chutney, but I won.. at least with dessert.
I think we all agreed it was a nice dinner. The food was good though on occasion there were elements included as part of decoration that were unnecessary and seemingly incongruous. This didn't detract from the experience as much as the ambiance of the restaurant though. For a place that is a tapas and wine bar, the layout of the entry way and bar were awkward. The bar is very small, and the first dining room only had three tables. In fact, the evening started off on a strange foot, as the host pointed us to our table instead of walking us to the table. I told him the name on our reservation and was told, "yes, your table is that one over in the corner." ok..
Our server was extremely pleasant and helpful, as we did need her assistance understanding the menu. We could not determine if the dishes were described by the name and ingredients, as it appeared to be. However, there were descriptors such as "mono chromatic"; how is that meant to be appealing?
And finally, the dining room didn't fit the restaurant's theme or food and the music was really distracting. Too loud. Decorations were too obscure and inconsistent with being spanish, tapas or wine.
I don't go out nearly as often as I used to. With so many great restaurants, I have trouble sometimes deciding which fine restaurant to revisit. I am pleased I finally got to experience Cava, and it was good, but I would not say it was good enough to warrant approaching the top of the list of places I need to revisit soon. It might be near the middle of that list.. or middle to bottom. Not bad. Not great. It's "asi asi"
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