Tom B.
Yelp
We came here for a belated birthday dinner last night and really enjoyed the vast majority of our experience. It's in an older building a couple blocks off Route 2, and has been both a bistro and a brewery in the last 15 years. The brewery hit some real high notes from time to time, but they were kinda out of the way--and it was before the days when every area had a brewery of its own, like now.
The bistro claimed ambitions of brewing some things on their own, as does L&M. That bistro was great, but rarely poured its own beers. L&M does not have beers of its own pouring at the moment, either, but they DO put "brewery" right there in the name of the business, so we'll see. It's probably still the same brewhouse that's been there since at least the 00s, just waiting to ferment something.
Five of us sat toward the back, near both the bar and the display kitchen. The front room is kinda chopped up, with a bit of seating, a few wines on display, and a long counter that seems to function simply as the host station (even though it probably has room to seat 10+ if it were a bar).
In back, there's a display kitchen to the left, and an inviting big bar across the back wall. Plenty of table seating for eating and drinking, and on this spring Saturday night, they had just about every seat taken. Nice! Mixed crowd of families, groups of friends, everybody's casual.
The menu is short, kinda old-school, and super interesting. We had calamari (excellent!), foie gras (full lobes, served with buttery toast, sweet-ish savory sauce, and dried cherries...amazing!) and braised beef toast (tender beef on just a little bread with lots of warm green vegetables, also amazing). There were other apps that sounded spectacular, and you can order half servings of them if you opt for the tasting menu. Nice option.
The entrees looked very appealing, but 4 of us had 100% talked ourselves into steaks before arriving. The smells of grilling steak go everywhere in the back room--the kitchen is busy, and it's a display kitchen, so it's right in the room with you. If you're omnivorous, you quickly get hungry for steak.
Here's where things get uneven. The seafood pasta came out for the non-steak craver, and it was quite soupy. You know how you finish a serving of clams and mussels, and there's all that broth you sop up with bread? This was that soupy, except with no bread. And it's a pasta dish, not just a stack of shellfish, so you want the sauce clinging to the noodles, not puddling way up under them. Flavor was good...but the sauce broke by the time she finished eating. This dish needs a rethink.
One of us ordered the filet, and he was thrilled with his choice. In fact, he ate as fast as I've seen him eat anything in the 10+ years I've known him. Tender steak, flavorful potatoes (their mashers are truly fantastic), and another lobe of foie just to make the dish rich enough to buy a small nation.
The wagyu New Yorks were another story. $55 a pop, which seems like an unexpectedly good price for wagyu these days. Food cost on that dish would be 40+% if they just did it with prime New Yorks from Costco, let alone with wagyu, so how are they pulling this off? I'd be very curious to see what their supplier is up to, and also to see how the steak might change if they switched to another wagyu supplier. In fact, this was probably a less-tender steak than the choice New Yorks Costco sells...which, at that price, makes me raise an eyebrow.
One of us ordered his rare, and it came out cooked 85% of the way through. The kitchen fixed it quickly, and the server promised to box up the wrong steak if he was interested--he said yes, but the box never appeared at any point. I gotta say, though, that truly-rare second plate was the steak of the night, so order it rare if you get the steak.
I had a wagyu New York cooked medium well (ordered medium rare). It tasted great, but wasn't wagyu-tender. I ate it all, though--the flavor really was there, and it was still an okay steak. I helped finish another one on the table, too. So it's not like it was a complete disappointment. But it seems like they either need to rename the steak (e.g., not wagyu) or change the supplier.
The bar program here is just great--we had a margarita, 3 beers, and a couple bottles of good red wine between us. Fair prices, clean lines pouring the draft beers. They brought out a Belgian ale in a shaker pint glass, without bringing the rest of the bottle. I'd rethink pouring imports: get appropriate glasses, and pour at the table as with wine.
Overall, I'd happily come back for appetizers and to explore the entrée section of the menu. Avoiding a couple things on any menu is not a huge deal, and this place is still somewhat new. They're likely still ironing out kinks, and for all I know the steaks could change. This is a great addition to Monroe's dining scene. Good drinks and a good hearty meal with real ambition to the recipes.
