AJ L.
Yelp
Pretty good stuff. For the price, that's kind of what you'd expect, or at least hope for, but especially with Bainbridge that's not always the case. That said, by and large the menu definitely manages to live up to expectations - this is really fancy food. Nothing I tried here was *bad*.
The "fresh market fish" was especially impressive - king salmon with Romesco sauce and a variety of bright, delicious greens. Altogether it was just a beautifully complex dish, super tasty, pretty much perfectly cooked. Ordering a $40 plate, this is definitely what I'd hope to get.
Elk burger came with a mountain of fries and felt like definitely the best value on the menu. Burger itself was well cooked, toppings were nice, I would've liked if the smoked cheese was a little more obvious, maybe a thicker slice, but with the garlic aioli (served on the side) it was hard to stop from just devouring the whole thing as fast as I could - tied it together fantastically.
The fries were kind of like McDonalds fries, both visually and in flavor; which isn't inherently a bad thing. With the rosemary salt, they were great, very tasty. That said, I wouldn't want to pay $8 for them - they didn't seem all that fancy, seems like the kind of thing that would be very straightforward and cheap to recreate at home. Great as an (included) side for the burger though.
(Bone-in) Pork tenderloin was good but probably the biggest disappointment of the night. Didn't feel like all that hefty of a serving, (only exacerbated by the pointlessly huge plate they served it on) didn't seem to be cooked in a particularly special way, and the components of the plate just seemed too simple. Sauce didn't have much of a "wild peppercorn flavor", wasn't especially rich, and neither of the side vegetables were especially flavorful either. As a $15-2x something meal it'd be solid, for $40 I was pretty let down.
Cocktails were a little disappointing. Presentation and serving size wasn't nearly as appealing as their fun names. I respect their creativity, but at the end of the day it just didn't feel worth the money.
The maple bourbon bread pudding was great. Apparently they have a person do all the desserts in-house. Felt like a surprisingly good value, decent portion size compared to a lot of other expensive desserts I've shelled out for. Like the fries and pork, not beyond straightforward recreation but the vanilla gelato and candied pecans were about as good as they come, nice way to wrap up the evening.
Price aside, the fresh market fish was the best plate food I've had on the island. If money is no object and you live on Bainbridge, this place is definitely worth a try. On the other hand, if you're like me, I'd maybe only come again for the burger on a special occasion - felt like the most loaded plate in terms of serving size, it was good and not so terribly expensive that it wasn't comparable with most other places on the island.