The Abbey

Last night D$ and I went to dinner at The Abbey, a new restaurant in town, that is within walking distance of our house!  Dubbed as "distinctive American comfort food in a warm, neighborhood setting", they have it partially right. 

Only open for a few weeks, the place was packed when we walked in for dinner at 6:30 on a Thursday night,  we were told it would be a 20 minute wait and asked to wait at the bar.  The wine list was decent, a nice mix of French and California wines and a few selections of both read and white available by the glass.  Glass prices ran anywhere for $7 to $12.  However, the white Bordeaux I ordered and the Malbec, Cabernet blend D$ ordered were both unavailable, so we ordered cocktails at $9 a piece.  I had the "Holy Water"- orange vodka, citrus gin and triple juice".  Although refreshing, it was served in a 16oz high ball glass and couldn't have contained more than a shot of alcohol total.  If I'm paying $9 for a cocktail, I'd like it to actually be a cocktail.  D$ had the Abbey margarita, which was too sour for my liking, and he agreed he wouldn't order it again either.

Holy Water.  Water is a good description of my drink.

We were seated in the dining room after about 15 minutes.  The small room is a "warm, neighborhood setting", but it was also very tight and too distracting for my liking.  The have a row of the booth-chair hybrids off the kitchen, then a series of 2, 4 or 6 person tables from there.  In the back, a few larger tables, and a little party area rounded out the room.  We were at a 2 top that was along the main thoroughfare from the back of the dining area to the front of the restaurant.  My chair was bumped no less than 5 times during my meal. In my opinion the dining room set up really distracted from the distinctive American cuisine we were hoping to dine upon.

Our server was nice and timely.  She greeted us with some truffle oil popcorn (yes please) and went over the specials for the evening.  We passed on all appetizers, although we will be back for "the board", listed on the menu as "lots of cool stuff" and described to us as a fruit and cheese board.  I selected the crispy salmon, 90%  because of the sides: whipped parsnips, shaved brussels and truffled tomatoes.  D$ picked the Grilled Cheese "whipped brie, heirloom tomatoes and zucchini pesto".

After we ordered, a server, not our own, brought us bread, butter and salt.  The bread was good, and even though I *think* it was pumpernickel, I'll never know because he mumbled so much when he put it down neither of us could understand him.  (and with that sentence, I have taken one step closer to becoming my mother).

Our food arrived,  my super blurry iPhone photo of my meal is below.    My meal was.....okay.  The salmon was unremarkable.  It was only crispy on the skin side, and I don't care for the skin.  The brussels were amazing, but there was no truffle on my tomatoes and the parsnips were whipped, but no seasoning was added to them.  For $18 it was a fine portion, but nothing on the plate grabbed me.  D$'s sandwich was served with greens that were lightly dressed.  Those greens, and perhaps the truffle oil popcorn, were the best things we ate.  The sandwich was good, very rich and flavorful.  D$ said he would order it again, but it was really rich.  For $12 he was pleased with his meal.

See that brown glaze around the edge of the plate?  That's cinnamon, I'm still not sure why it was on my plate.

When our bill arrived we were surprised to see a 15% off coupon from the owners, for their other restaurant, Jax Kitchen, we will be using that.

Overall, we will be back.  The atmosphere was nice and the service was good. Food was good, although not quite balanced: my dish was bland, D$'s was a cacophony of flavors.  We will skip drinks altogether and request a different table if the try to seat us on the outside row again.