Hubby and I celebrated our anniversary recently with a trip
to Cincinnati—well, we were celebrating our anniversary and visiting with some
friends. The first night (on our own) we
went to Orchids at Palm Court (this was the big anniversary dinner).
First of all, wow, what a cool space—hubby and I have a soft
spot for deco things-- décor, buildings, whatever-- and this place is deco to
the extreme and just overall impressive.
The restaurant and bar is set in a huge two story room that just
transports you. The whole hotel is like
that actually. You can really feel what
it must have felt like to stay in a place like this back in the day. And it
makes you grateful for keeping historic buildings and rooms true to their
original character.
They first brought us out bread service with butter and
olive oil with big chunks of soft, rich roasted garlic and an amuse bouche. All were
outstanding. As soon as I saw the little egg shell the amuse was served in, I
was already pretty sure I was going to like whatever was in there—and I
did. It was a cauliflower and saffron
custard that was baked in the egg shell with a little piece of house made
bacon. That bacon was really good, and the little crunch was awesome. I would have
loved more of it.
I started with the sweet corn soup ($11) with polenta
angnolotti, summer truffles, and roasted corn.
It was a very nice soup, with a nice flavor of truffle (although I think
it was coming from truffle oil)—the dumpling was maybe a little dense for me,
but it was nice to have something in there to give some texture to the soup.
The corn was also interesting—it seemed almost freeze dried and then slowly
rehydrated as it sat in the soup.
Hubby started with the sweetbreads ($12) which were some of
the best I have had. The sweetbreads
(which were thymus) were lightly fried and were nice and tender, but what made
them shine was the sauce and accompaniments.
They were served with chanterelle mushrooms and little fingerling potatoes
and the most amazing sherry vinaigrette.
It wasn’t just a standard vinaigrette either—there was a little bit of
chili in there giving it even more flavor.
I thought I really liked my soup and then I tried this dish—it had so
many layers of flavor, it made my soup seem kind of boring. This may have been the best dish of the
night.
For a second course we shared the blue cheese beignets ($8)
with tart greens, apple, almond tuile and spiced honey gastrique. This was also a great combination of flavors—I
love some sweetness with blue cheese and the tartness of the apples and greens
made for a wonderful mix. The little
beignets were crisp and warm and very blue cheesy. The little bits of almond tuile added a
little crunch factor too. It was a great
salad course (the picture is a half order, because the kitchen split it before
bringing it out).
For my main dish, I had another appetizer, the lobster salad
($13). This one was really good as
well. There was a lightly seasoned
lobster salad at the bottom topped with a fried egg, and served with crème fraiche
and caviar cream. There were also some
little dots of caviar around the plate and some crispy phyllo-type “noodles” on
top. I liked it when the yolk broke into
the lobster salad giving it extra richness—my only complaint here is that the
egg was fried a little too hard and there wasn’t much runny yolk there. I would have preferred a softer egg
overall. I did like the crunch from the
ribbons of phyllo on top—gave it the right variation in texture. Hubby would probably say this was his
favorite.
Hubby had the lamb loin with parsnip puree, maitake
mushrooms, onions and a mustard sauce ($38).
Again, very good. The sauce had a
nice mustardy flavor and the entire dish tasted like fall. The lamb was very tender.
They have an old school dessert tray that they wheel over to
show you all the desserts, we went with a chocolate banana combo that was very,
very good (and you always gotta love when they write things on your plate). It had an intense dark chocolate filling that
was delicious. And the caramel ice cream on top was really good too (if there
is a dessert with chocolate, caramel and bananas, it is almost a sure bet with
hubby and I.)
Top to bottom, it was one of the better fine dining
experiences I have had in awhile. The
food, the atmosphere, the service—all of it was very, very good. Exactly what you want in a fine dining
experience, and exactly what we wanted for our anniversary.
Orchids at
Palm Court
Hilton
Cincinnati
35 West
Fifth Street
Cincinnati,
OH 45202
513/421-9100
Erin, confession here, but this is one of my two (the other is the Palace at the Cincinnatian) "formal" restaurants in Cincinnati.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I love the Lobster Salad, but I've learned to ask for the egg runny, and the Sweetbreads. Their vennison is outstanding and cooked properly as well. Once I ordered my Lobster Salad and Joan didn't want a starter. Nevertheless, they brought her a small soup so she wouldn't feel "left out". That is service!
Concerning the Palace, once a month they offer a two course meal for two including a nice amuse bouche and bottle of wine for two that goes for $70. Desert is $5 extra. It's a steal. October will be Lebanese, I understand. Jose Salazar, the chef, has been in "Food & Wine" and other publications.
Cincinnati is fortunate to have these two outstanding chefs and two places where I don't feel overdressed in a jacket and tie. Something I've yet to find in Indianapolis outside of possibly Capital Grille at night. Glad you enjoyed you weekend with us and come back. There's a lot more.