The Taste of Hartford has been underway for a week now, with a second week still to go, and at $20.10 for a three-course, prix-fixe dinner, it may be the best Restaurant Week deal in Connecticut. However, while we may highlight select establishments, we at RestaurantsCT.com won’t be doing wall-to-wall coverage or giving out awards at any more Restaurant Weeks, as we have famously done in the past. We are moving to a different method of determining restaurant awards, and it will be based on year-round performance, not Restaurant Weeks.
There are three reasons for the change in our format. The first is doctor’s orders! I couldn’t physically keep this kind of pace up indefinitely without risking notoriety as “the man who ate himself to death.” The second is that, while my opinions are well-grounded and I strive for impartiality, our awards are really too important to put on one man’s shoulders. And the third, and most important, is that we want to move to a readers’ votes’ model for awarding honors to restaurants. After all, what’s the point of having the most traffic of any restaurant website in Connecticut if we don’t give our readers a chance to weigh in?
However, this blog is still a record of my food adventures, and the Taste of Hartford was too tempting to ignore. So on a Friday night, I found myself back at J Restaurant/Bar, our top winner during the Winter 2010 edition of the Taste of Hartford.
Owner Jordan Dikegoros is someone who always seems to “get it,” and his restaurant was clearly in the spirit of the event.
The bar area had a nice vibe,
as did the handsome patio space.
This time Dikegoros, charting a path similar to that taken by Ibiza in New Haven during prior Restaurant Weeks, completely put aside his regular offerings and served only the special menu. And this time, his innovative chef, Jennifer Krascella, had something new up her crisp white sleeve. For the main course, diners got to choose three exquisitely dressed crostini from a list of fourteen. More on that later…
But for the first course, diners got to choose from one of four salads. Most popular was a Greek salad with iceberg and Bibb lettuce, grape tomatoes, kalamata olives, cucumber, red onion, scallion, dill, Feta cheese and sesame seeds. An arugula salad with Bibb lettuce, red onion and shaved Parmesan also sounded interesting. But our choices were a crunchy iceberg wedge with bacon, scallion, red onion and Blue cheese,
as well as a salad featuring cubes of watermelon dressed with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic and basil. The basil turned out to be a brilliant touch.
The main course, as I mentioned earlier, allowed each diner to choose three crostini from a list of fourteen. Thus, my friend and I combined to try six. It may be uninspired writing, but before I show you the crostini we tried, I’m going to list the ones we didn’t get to try. Restaurant Week isn’t over yet, and some readers may find the selection irresistible.
There was a meat section, a fish section, and a vegetable and fruit section. From the meat crostini section, we didn’t get to try the chicken, crisp potato and creamy cucumber, nor the filet with arugula, shaved Parmesan and balsamic, nor the crisp prosciutto with melon and spicy olive oil. From the fish crostini section, we didn’t get to try the scallops with watermelon, basil and extra virgin olive oil, nor the calamari with pesto and potato crisps, nor the clams with white wine, extra virgin olive oil and pepperoncini. And from the vegetable and fruit crostini section, we didn’t get to try the shaved asparagus with lemon, extra virgin olive oil and Parmesan nor the mushrooms with a tomato marmellata.
But don’t cry for me, Argentina! Here is what our two crostini platters looked like.
From the meat crostini, we did get to try the filet guacamole
and the lamb chop with lemon, pink peppercorns and minted yogurt.
From the fish crostini, we tried the shrimp with lemon zest, extra virgin olive oil and arugula
as well as the crab with lime, pepperoncino and shaved radish.
And from the vegetable and fruit crostini, we did try the spinach with balsamic onions and ricotta
as well as the grilled peaches with Mozzarella and balsamic.
And while this is a blog piece, not a review, and thus I normally let my photographs do most of the talking, let me just say that every one of these creations was highly imaginative, beautifully balanced and absolutely scrumptious. Kudos to Krascella!
But, of course, we weren’t finished. There were four dessert choices,
and we got to try every one of them. Each was more delicious than the last. There was a beautifully restrained mocha fudge cake,
a Hungarian raspberry shortbread that was reminiscent of a Linzertorte,
a delightful peach and blueberry crunch crostata,
and fittingly, an irresistible Nutella and caramelized banana crostino.
Given it was a Friday during Taste of Hartford, Krascella was of course cranking, but I managed to snap a quick shot of her. Way to go, Jennifer!
J Restaurant/Bar, 297 Washington Street, Hartford, 860-527-7764
jrestaurantbar.com