Murray W.
Yelp
While EDNA wouldn't have been my choice of old lady names for my restaurant, it was one of the many new restaurants I wanted to hit this summer. With some planning I drug my south ender butt up there to meet my girl friend for dinner.
The interior of the restaurant oozes a sort of relaxed, modern cool with lots of blacks and whites that are softened by the plentiful re-purposed looking wood boards which run along part of the ceiling and down one wall in a garage door fashion. A large communal table sits in this spot as well, under some elegant, but not over the top, chandeliers. The bar area dials the fancy back with shelves made from black pipes and boards, with plenty of nick nacks strewn amongst the more useful items (re. booze).
Our friendly and professional waitress saw to us quickly and we soon had drinks in hand while we perused the menu. The menu is compact, with only five or six starters and mains on a given night, although the menu changes constantly so it doesn't get old. When I saw the duck on the menu, I was pretty much set at that point, but I was drawn in further by the quinoa and snow pea salad, seasonal veggies and a rhubarb and orange relish. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner. I also ordered the soup of the day, a beet and peppercorn soup with mango chutney, which sounded great on a hot evening.
The soup turned out to be a bit different than I expected, as it was apparently a golden beet and not your regular purple beet, but this was probably all for the best, given beets' infamous ability to stain everything. It had a smooth texture, and a mild beet flavour with some fruity sweetness from the mango and a nice little pep from the peppercorns.
After a little bit of a wait for our mains, we eagerly dug in when they arrived. There was a good amount of duck, a drum stick and thigh, with thick, crisp skin that must have been finished after being confited, and that great duck flavour that makes it stand above the more common fowl. The snow peas still had a pleasant crunch and buttery flavour, and the seasonal vegetables appeared to be some spring mix and broccoli rabe. The red quinoa didn't add much flavour wise, but it's a "super food" so I'll cut it some slack. The orange and rhubarb relish added a sweet and tangy burst of flavour to nicely round out the dish.
While not normally a dessert person, it was hard to turn down the tasty offerings that they had, especially the butterscotch that our waitress raved about. We settled on that and the strawberry shortcake. The butterscotch definitely lived up to the hype and was far better than your run of the mill Jello butterscotch cup that only the really young or really old eat. Smooth and rich with a caramel-ish finish, this is what butterscotch should be known as. The strawberry shortcake had great local strawberries and real whipped cream, but the biscuit was noticeably on the dry side.
I really hope EDNA isn't leading the wave in a trend of restaurants with old woman names, because eventually it's going to be a turn off. Do you see yourself dining regularly at GERTRUDE or AGNES? Are they all in capitals because they're hard of hearing and yelling at us? Luckily, EDNA is a one of a kind, and has the atmosphere, quality food and service to keep you coming back.