8/21/2010 Staple & Fancy Mercantile

sadly we were in TX when the grand opening of Ethan Stowell's new place Staple and Fancy Mercantile opened. but we went the 1st saturday after we returned. if you were expecting another Union, guess again. SandF is more along the lines of wolf in decor and eating options. in the fact that the decor is a little minimal but all the more to draw the diner's attention to the food.  if you are looking for a sign on a building you won't find it, either. pictured right is their building, it's the set of doors on the left, under the MFG sign.

their door









we started with wine. hopefully i will be reminded via a comment on what this single glass was. i really love that pic. :-)

and if you can't read the bottle here's a slightly better pic. but i thought the color of the wine was just amazing. velvet maroon.

dinner selections looked fantastic. from chantrelles and zucchini and a mussel brodo to tagliarini lamb ragu and halibut with controne beans, olives, radish and purslane. what did we order..?

did you expect anything less? we had 3 of these plus an extra dish for 'the little guy'.

sweet cream ricotta with heirloom tomatoes, grilled bread. as this was the little guy's main dinner i didn't try any, but it sure looks good!

veal rillette on bread - yum! it was really tasty. definitely gave matt a run for it with his pork rillette trio he made in june.

sockeye salmon crostini.

the guys said this was good. it was ok but i'm not a huge salmon fan so i didn't care for it as much.

crab cakes with aioli and purslane

these were quite yummy and i've had quite a few crab cakes. usually the sauce is too much for me but the aioli with these (basically glue so they wouldn't slide around on the plate) was just the right amount.

greenbeans with reggiano parmagiano

veal belly, tuna aioli and watercress.

i took the end pieces with the smallest amount of aioli. the guys said they didn't really get the tuna - it's the lumpy looking stuff in the aioli sauce. i got it just fine. i enjoyed this which surprised me, i'm not a huge tuna fan. but the little bit of aioli i had with the veal worked.

gnocchi, lobster mushrooms, sweet corn and fried egg

man the sweet corn this year has been fantastic! here, and at cafe juantia it's been wonderful. and of course ethan's gnocchi is always top-notch.

chilled heirloom tomato soup with basil olive oil.

this was a nice surprise. sweet, creamy, smooth...give me more

grilled durad with pearl onions and a puree

i didn't care for this. it was too 'fishy' for me. the guys thought it was just fine.

grilled striploin with broccoli rabe.

the flavor of the beef was fantastic. the slice i had was a wee bit on the tough side, but the flavor made up for it.

chocolate avalanche with walnut ice cream

this was pretty darn terrific. you can see the ice cream's literally melting off of the cake.

ricotta cheesecake with blueberries

this was my favorite. it was so light and fluffy.

and of course there was coffee to go wtih.










way to go ethan, i think you hit it out of the park for dinner, thank you!

yup, the jury is back; this one's a keeper.