eat make read

This weekend we finally made it to the restaurant James. It got a lot of good press when it first opened about a month or two ago and it immediately went on our list of new restaurants to visit. After eating there, both Aaron and I agreed that the good press was well deserved.

There was a small wait when we arrived around nine on a Saturday, so we took a seat at the bar and perused the drink list. The cocktail list was quite lovely, with about 10 cocktails and they also had a selection of beer and wine. I went with the Ginger Fizz and Aaron chose the James Revenge (which is kind of like a Brooklyn). Both were good stuff.

Our table opened up in about five minutes, so we took our seat beneath their beautiful modern chandelier. The waiter took a while to visit us, but when he did we liked what he had to say. All the specials sounded delicious, but one stood out and I had to have it for dinner. Roast pork served with bacon and pear with a pork jous, I mean come on, how could I not get it. Aaron also picked a pretty dreamy sounding choice, pine nut and rosemary crusted loin of lamb with a summer bean stew. The thing is, just about everything on their menu sounded really, really good. That just doesn’t always happen at a restaurant, especially because, as much as I hate to admit it, I still have a little bit of a picky streak that runs through me.

Our entrees arrived and we were both more than ready to taste them. My pork was super tender and juicy, with tons of flavor. The bacon and pear weren’t quite what I expected because they were cut into small pieces and scarcely scattered around the plate. That being said, when I did get a piece of bacon or pear on my fork, it was so good. I actually couldn’t believe how much flavor a little piece of bacon could have. We switched meals half way through (this is something we almost always do at dinner… super nerdy and a little uncooth, but it adds excitement to every meal) and I couldn’t wait to taste his choice. Oh boy… I was not prepared for the goodness that entered my mouth with that first bite. I guess I hadn’t had that much experience with eating lamb, and it’s not that it tasted like I was eating something out of the ordinary, but it was just so flavorful. It was kind of like flavor squared, it took the normal flavor senses to a new level. Really, the meat had such good, rich flavor and then since it was topped off with rosemary and pine nuts it had a great textural thing going on. Yummmm.

Before we started the meal we decided to skip the small plate and save some room for dessert instead, so once our plates were cleared we were eager to try something sweet. We opted to go for one of the specials, a lemon curd tart topped with fresh blueberries from the market (bonus points) and a berry compote. When it arrived we both had to stop our drooling for a second to admire the beauty of the dish. But then we got over that and stuck our forks in. It was just as good as it looked. The crust was super buttery and delicous and gave a nice contrast to the tart lemon curd. The blueberries and compote brought in a lovely sweetness that topped everything off.

I was expecting good things when we went to James and it really exceeded our expectations. Everything is really fresh and flavorful with a few surprises lurking around to keep things interesting. I highly recommend a trip if you haven’t already been.