We dropped in for dinner at Samuel J Moore Thursday night. I think they have been open a couple of weeks? Perhaps less - I don't think there was even a sign with their name on it. But it was snowing hard, I could have missed it.
We went there over other places because my BF has worked with the Chef, Alex Feswick, previously. We wanted to be supportive and don't get out in the city too often. And they are getting some good press, so why not.
Room is quite nice - bright when it should be, soft when it should be. It was not very busy when we were there, which is how we like it.
He liked the beer/wine selection (or at least liked it enough to go right to ordering rather than dissecting it LOL) and the bartender concocted me a fruity cosmo as I was driving. We were waiting for friends so not in a hurry.
Friends bailed, we ordered a charcuterie plate to share ($18) which had four items on it, all relatively similar. We had to call our server back over to ask what they were. Salami, a liver sausage (which was the best thing on the plate), something which looked like salami/sausage stuffing without the casing but was pretty tasty, and a bresaola (?) I think. Pretty limited flavours we felt, especially having come from the CA Legends wine tasting where the charcuterie plates were overflowing with multiple fantastic selections. His biggest complaint was actually the toasted baguette thins, which were uber crispy. Grainy mustard accompanied.
He had read a good review about the kale salad, so we ordered one to share. Well, I have never had a kale salad before, but I guess I was not expecting a huge heaping plate of raw kale. It was dressed with oil, not much else by the taste of it - for sure could have used some lemon or orange or something to lighten it up. Had walnuts and some kind of apples which I should have asked about - they were very interesting (little cubes, perhaps poached, not sure.) Sliced prosciutto on top. Would have very much preferred had the kale had something done to it - in that setting a warm / lightly sautéed / SOMETHING would have been more enjoyable than the original state which I found tough, bitter and almost difficult to eat. I think I'm making it sound worse than it was, but you get the point.
He ordered the curry chicken dish, I ordered the hand-chopped sirloin/bone-marrow burger with stilton on brioche.
This would be a good time to mention they are doing a "Blacktree" menu thing - so nothing descriptive, just words. I'm a little over it.
Having previously mentioned we don't get out much in the "city" this is where the service could have used a bit more communication training as I'm sure regular city diners are used to ordering everything separately.
At the beginning of the night, I asked the server what the "casserole" was (at the bottom of the menu, it lists vegetables $7, casserole $7 etc.) it didn't DAWN on me that meant you have to order your vegetables and starch separately. She explained to me what the casserole was (sounded good, but just like my dinner from the night before LOL) but didn't ask if he would like anything with his curry chicken dish. So imagine our surprise to see a cut-up piece of chicken thigh/wing/some breast with a little ramekin of curry sauce for dipping (which was very tasty) come out on the plate. That was it. Nothing else. Ok, lesson learned.
Between salad and mains the server dropped off a "scotch egg" because the chicken was "taking too long to cook" - it was quite nice, a hard-cooked egg stuffed with blue cheese, crusted and deep-fried. A tasty little bite.
My burger was good, the brioche bun was exceptional. Fries above average. (Didn't have to order them separately but I don't recall if the menu had them on it. Probably did.) The bone marrow obviously made it ridiculously juicy, but other than the stilton it didn't have stacks of flavour. But very tasty. I asked for mayo because the fennel catsup didn't appeal, they brought an unfortunately flavourless mustard-mayo. The real kicker though was whatever went "crunch" near the end of my burger - I do realize it was hand-chopped. I am just very happy I got the crunchy bit near the end, as anything crunchy for me where it does not belong is the end of it for me. So I'm glad it was not the second bite.
Not sure what else to add - I do like the bathrooms but they are not accessible as they are up a couple of steps. But nice and bright and large.
Service obviously needs a little polishing, but generally pleasant and efficient.
I will try to attach a few photos below.
Dinner for two just over $100.
mcd
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