OffCenter Grill Revisited
It has been some time since I reviewed OffCenter Grill for dinner, so my girlfriend and I decide to pay the restaurant a visit today for lunch. The Yorktowne Hotel is under new ownership; therefore we are sure to find a few changes to things.
We arrive at noon. The first thing I notice is the new plasma television perched upon the wall in the bar. Tuned into a sporting even or national newscast, this is sure to draw a crowd. Next, I realize that the ashtrays are no longer positioned around the lounge area. When I ask the hostess about this, she points out that the Hotel now has a smokers’ lounge; while the restaurant has become smoke-free.
OffCenter Grill has undergone a minor bit of redecoration, with the addition of large ceramic urns to separate the lounge area from the dining room. Also, my eyes are drawn to the local artwork displayed on the walls. These pieces of various genres add a nice color and depth to the room. Many of the artists are using this venue as a means of selling their work, as well.
The soft music playing in the lounge is of a single style. Previously, I had been distracted by both the volume and the opposing styles sharing airtime. Now, the smooth flow of instrumental soft rock gives itself to concentration and conversation. This is a wonderful improvement.
All in all, I would say that the new owners have made some marvelous changes in the restaurant’s atmosphere.
The Lunch Experience
My girlfriend and I arrive at noon this Sunday, without having made reservations. OffCenter Grill has just finished serving its weekend brunch menu, so we will have the chance to sample from the lunch fare. The hostess seats us at a large table with a view and hands us our menus.
Our server appears with two glasses of water, beautifully garnished with lemon, lime, orange, and kiwi, and asks if we would like to have anything to drink. I order mango iced tea that is on special, which our server vanishes to retrieve. Returning with our drinks, our server lets us know that Chef Mark Pawlowski is preparing lunches today. She goes on to point out that Chef has a knack for creating especially memorable entrees when he is in the kitchen on the weekend. Before leaving us, our server explains the entrees on the lunch menu, perhaps to refresh our memories, and offers a suggestion or two.
Armed with this new information, my girlfriend and I have to rework our lunch plans. We had planned on ordering sandwiches; however, having experienced Chef Mark’s magic touch before, we would be remiss if we were to settle for a ham and brie now. I quickly re-examine the menu.
The soup du jour is minestrone. I am a fan of Chef Mark’s soup pot and must taste his take on this Italian favorite. The entrée that catches my eye and tempts my taste buds is the Grilled Flat Iron Steak served with roasted shallot potatoes, Roquefort cream, and petite chef’s choice vegetables. I realize that Chef Mark could go in any direction with this dish (and I hope that he does,) but the blueprint sounds delectable. When I place my order, I ask our server to surprise me with a wine to accompany my entrée.
As my girlfriend and I await the arrival of our soups, our server brings us a plate of artisan bread and roasted red pepper hummus. As usual, the bread is fresh, light, and whole-grained, with a hint of sweetness. The hummus is replete with the layered flavors of the roasted red peppers, but still showing the complexity of the chickpea. Together, these whet the appetite perfectly.
Shortly, the soups are served. Our server asks if the soups have been prepared to the temperatures of our liking before she departs. I am quite impressed by this concern with my satisfaction, and my server’s attention to detail.
The minestrone has been prepared in a rich beef stock. The soup is full of a multitude of large, colorful vegetables and tortellini. I like this twist on pasta in the minestrone since the vegetables are large the tortellini provides a particularly attractive counterpoint both in size and shape. The textures in the soup are interesting, as well, helping to keep the experience from becoming monotonous. Each of the vegetables maintains its own taste while contributing to the broth. The pasta has absorbed the totality of the flavors. And the broth is a wonderful menagerie of flavors, seasonings, and herbs. The only thing that I do not sense on my tongue, quite thankfully I might add, is salt. The minestrone uses enough salt to bring the ingredients together without over-powering any or all of them.
After removing our soup bowls from the table and allowing us some time to rest, our server brings my girlfriend and me our wine. For me, she has Poppy Hill Cabernet Sauvignon, 2003, sent at Chef Mark’s suggestion. Poppy Hill is a second label of Mont St. John Winery in
Chef Mark has chosen a slight variation on the theme described in the menu, for I am served a filet mignon
surrounded by cubed roasted shallot potatoes in Roquefort cream. Atop the filet is pear that has been poached in Chardonnay and cut so that it is fanned out. Chef has chosen to dress the dish with a selection of asparagus spears presented in a ring of yellow squash.
I cut into the filet. The outside of the meat is charbroiled. The inside has been cooked to order. The taste…meaty, flavorful, mouth-filling. The au jus on the plate, combined with the Roquefort cream, makes a fabulous sauce for the filet, intensifying the flavors and helping to embolden the char of the grill.
I taste the wine. The wine brings the meat to life in a whole new way. The wine’s intense cherry flavors and coffee and mint close round out the filet’s full beefy-ness. Similarly, the meat helps to augment the cherry of the wine and magnify the tannins, while lengthening the finish noticeably. These two elements of my meal are a magnificent pairing.
The potatoes are starchy, firm, and flavorful. They have picked up the beef’s flavors quite a bit. When dipped in the Roquefort cream-au jus mixture, they become absolutely delightful. With the wine added to the mix, this is a wonderful match of flavors. The wine works extraordinarily with the cheese-au jus, and the potatoes’ general neutrality of flavors takes on an added dimension of taste. They are lifted on the mid-palate with a higher level of roasted flavor emerging that was not evident on their own. Marvelous!
The asparagus and the asparagus-squash combination are both delicious, fresh, and crisp. Chef has cooked the vegetables perfectly. The earthy, yet delicate taste of the asparagus is a nice accompaniment to the filet and potatoes. The squash plays off of the asparagus with its sweet charm. The wine goes remarkably well with the asparagus. I am always at a loss as to what kind of wine to serve with asparagus; now I know that Poppy Hill Cabernet is the answer.
Finally, I taste the pear by itself and with a piece of the filet. The pear is sweet and soft. It actually melts in my mouth. The Chardonnay is evident as a mere nuance. The pear’s flavor is the dominant sensation on my tongue. With the filet, the pear plays a sweet counterpoint to the beef’s mouth-filling boldness, thus enhancing each other without diminishing either’s taste sensations. This is an ingenious combination of ingredients.
I try the wine against the pear-beef combination. Rather than finding that the pear creates a contrast of flavors, I am surprised to discover that the two augment each other’s overall tastes. The pears sugars bring out the wine’s tannins and lift the closing coffee, drying the finish; while the wine accentuates the pear’s sweet characteristics. The beef has become subtler in effect and more compatible with the wine, if that is possible. This is a wondrous three-way matching.
After our plates have been cleared, our server provides us with dessert menus and informs us that Chef Faucette has added four new desserts to his list of decadent delights. My eyes are immediately drawn to those items. Each sounds more delicious than the next. Realizing that I can return for the others in a trice, I select the Sweet Cornbread Madeleine with Honey Saffron Ice Cream and White Chocolate Fondant Icing. I decide to enjoy a glass of Dow’s Boardroom Tawny with my dessert and place my order.
First, I am brought the glass of Dow’s Boardroom Tawny. This has all the characteristics I hope to find in an aged tawny port from this house—the creamy, caramel flavors, raisiny, luscious, sweet, with a spiced undertone, finishing with a touch of dryness. This port requires no decanting and is ready for immediate drinking.
Our server soon brings me a beautiful dessert. Upon the plate, I see two cornbread madeleines that have been halved
down the middle lengthwise. These halves are arranged on the platter in the form of an X. The madeleines have been drizzled with the white chocolate fondant icing. At the cross point of the X, two 3 ounce scoops of honey saffron ice cream have been placed, one atop the other, and garnished with a lavender spearmint flower. Between the madeleines are pools of raspberry coulis with white chocolate. If this dessert tastes only half as delicious as it looks, I will be in heaven.
The madeleine tastes like a sweet, moist cornbread. The fondant icing adds a flair of chocolate without taking over the magnificent madeleine. This presents a corn pastry more than a dessert bread. When I take a sip of the port, I find that the flavor of the corn is intensified considerably. The caramel in the Dow’s wraps itself around the corn like a Cracker Jack treat. Delicious!
Next, I taste the honey saffron ice cream. WOW!! What a taste sensation! I do not know how Chef Faucette’s creative mind conjured up this combination of flavors, but I am glad that it did. The ice cream is creamy sweet. Neither the honey nor the saffron dominates the palate, nor are they even obvious on the tongue. It is the singular flavor that the two create together that is so tantalizing. I taste nuances of honeysuckle and subtle saffron laced with hints of vanilla and an underlying warmth.
I follow this with a taste of the port. Oh, sweet paradise! The raisiny sweetness and spiced undertones cascade over my tongue and lift the flavors found in the ice cream to coat my palate. The honeysuckle and vanilla in the ice cream play with the caramel while the warmth joins hands with the Dow’s gentle spiced undertones. I tell my girlfriend that we must either convince Chef Robert to allow us to purchase a gallon of the ice cream, or take him home with us so he can prepare this dish for us perpetually.
I dip first the madeleine then the ice cream in the raspberry coulis-white chocolate pool. The chocolate-berry mixture is fantastic. When it is added to the other elements, the flavors layer themselves and become an absolute delight to behold. With the Dow’s
Here is where I get to grade my dining experience. I grade on 5 factors: Atmosphere, Service, Presentation, Taste, and Value. These areas are scored on a 0 to 10 scale with 0 being the lowest and 10 being the highest.
Atmosphere: 10 With the changes that have come under the new ownership, OffCenter Grill presents its diners with a magnificently welcoming place to meet and share a drink or enjoy a meal. The creation of a smoke-free environment is a definite plus, as is the adoption of a single-themed background music. Keeping the restaurant casual/business-casual makes it the ideal place to gather in
Service: 10 Our server was beyond a 10, but my grading scale only goes so high. She was more attentive and detail oriented than almost any other server I have had. Letting my girlfriend and me in on the “secret” that Chef Mark was working the kitchen was a great bit of advice that changed our entire lunch experience. Few other servers would have thought to do that, let alone realized that an Executive Chef does things differently. She knows the menu, told us her favorites, and knew enough to ask Chef Mark for help choosing our wines.
Presentation: I am not even going to play games with a 10. My lunch receives a 25. EVERYTHING looked magnificent!! The food was colorful, arranged just so, made use of white space, and employed various textures well. Chefs Mark and Robert create artistic masterpieces in the kitchen that can be enjoyed at the dinner table, as well.
Taste: A mere 10 would not do this meal justice. I must go with a 30. From the fresh fruit garnished water all the way to the mint flower garnished dessert, I rolled my eyes, licked my lips, and moaned in ecstasy. I have rarely experienced a flavor adventure such as this in only three courses. To think that the relatively small city of
Value: I cannot tell a lie—OffCenter receives a 15 for Value for my lunch. Not only was everything beyond my wildest expectations, prepared by Pennsylvania’s Iron Chef, and of finer quality at a lower price than could be found at any other AAA 4-diamond restaurant (NOT an easy thing to achieve,) the service was over the top. I would go higher on value, but there must be a limit to something, no?
The OffCenter Grill is open 7 days a week for breakfast, lunch, and dinner from 6:30 am to 10:00 pm, serving breakfast from 6:30 am to 11:00 am, lunch from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm, and dinner from 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm. Weekend brunch is served until 12:00 pm. Dinner reservations are recommended, but walk-ins are always welcome.
OffCenter Grill |
Ph: 717.815.2111