eat make read

We ventured down the street to Alchemy for dinner this weekend. We’d been there for drinks before, but we’d never tried to food. One of the reasons we’d never gone for dinner is that the restaurant feels like a bar with seating, but the prices feel like a nice restaurant, if that makes sense. But we decided what the heck and tried it out.

The restaurant was very busy when we walked in. We were hoping to meet up with some friends who’d come a little earlier. When we told the hostess she was really nice and helped us finagle a seat next to our friends.

Once we were settled in, I decided to go for the Alchemy Burger with havarti cheese ($13). The burger is served on an onion brioche with shallot confit and french fries. Aaron chose the Grilled Smoked Pork Loin ($18) with sweet potato gratin, brussel sprouts and apple cider reduction. We both ordered beer to go with our entrees. They have a pretty good beer list, with about 5 on tap and a larger selection of bottled beer. While you’re waiting for your food, they serve a nice little bowl of fried chickpeas for you to nibble on.

Our food arrived in a timely manner. My burger was hearty and the fries were nice and crispy and delicious. As far as I could tell, the shallot confit was missing, oh well, everything was still tasty without it. Aaron’s pork was very smoky, a little too smoky for my taste, but he liked it. The potatoes were the real star of his plate. Not only was the gratin made with sweet potatoes (yum!) but they used bleu cheese too. On a side note, our friend ordered the special, Tilapia with mashed potatoes and when it came out the potatoes were green! When she tasted them she figured out they were pesto mashed potatoes. Genius! I tried a bite and they were heavenly.

So dinner was tasty and the service was really friendly, but I’m still not totally sold on the place because I think a $13 burger should be magical. Everything was good, I just think there are other places that I’d rather go to.