AndreaCogliati/Reviews/The Grill at Strathallan
The Grill at Strathallan Hotel Chef de Cuisine: Ethan Drake Souf Chef: Jeff Yaniak 550 East Avenue Rochester, NY 14607 (585) 454-1880 (800) 678-7284 http://www.strathallan.com/dining.php RocWiki main page Visited on January 26, 2008 at 8:00 pm The restaurant, AAA's Four Diamonds and Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence, provides standard American fare in a nice ambiance. Live music, performed in the bar but easily heard in the dining room, is a plus if you don't want to talk too much to table guests.
Ambiance The hotel was undergoing some renovations at the time of our visit so we expect some improvements in the future. At the moment, you enter the bar through a temporary, narrow passage behind some wood panels, not really a nice welcome! The bar was full of patrons waiting for the music band performing live music and we had a hard time slaloming through the tables and chairs. The dining room is ample and there is enough space between the tables, so you are not bothered by other clients' conversations.
The illumination is provided by some bright spotlights that give a low and suffused light with some excessive glares. We've seen patrons asking to be reseated because of direct light beam in the face. The tables are covered by white table cloths; glassware and silverware are of average quality for the class of the restaurant. Menu The cuisine is standard North American fare.
The menu offers a good selection of both seafood and meat dishes. There is also a small selection of vegetarian fares. Flatbreads are also offered, which is not quite in line with the class of the restaurant. Entrees ranges from $21 to $32, while appetizers are in $12-$16 range.
Wine List The wine list, sporting over 1,100 wines, is the largest in Rochester. It focuses on Californian, French and Italian wines with both big names and small wine makers. There's a good selection of Champagnes. There are a few wines from the rest of the US (just a couple of entries from NY state though) and from other world regions (Chile, Australia and South Africa).
Prices are excellent, even for older vintages. The list is ordered by varietal and divided by broad world regions, which leads to some difficulties if you look for specific regions or wineries. Wines by the glass are also offered, but there is no list for them. Meal We started with a glass of Champagne (unnamed but good) to accompany our appetizers.
Calamari Tuscan style calamari in sautéed garlic, shallots, capers, tomatoes and white wine. $12 Having lived in Tuscany for almost 7 years I have to confess I've never eaten this recipe or something similar (and I traveled and ate a lot!), so it's probably an apocrypha, or what the chef thinks they eat in Tuscany. The result what very good anyway, with just too many capers which covered the rest of the flavors.
Score: 13/20 Brie Wellington Soft brie, duxelle and spinach wrapped in puff pastry topped with honeycomb and petit baby green salad. $12 Very good but probably too much for an appetizer: I would have been satisfied by a third of it or so. Cheese and honey is nothing really new and so is grilling the cheese. But the idea of putting together the grilled cheese with vegetables and honey in a small cake is a small jewel.
Score: 14.5/20 1998 Clos de Vougeot, Chateau de la Tour (Bourgogne, France) We opted for a wonderful 1998 Clos de Vougeot, Chateau de la Tour to continue or meal. Still young but definitely wonderful, with lots of red berries and flowers and no foul scents, typical of red burgundy (even expensive ones). A bargain at $95 Cranberry Tenderloin Tournedos of beef tenderloin finished with port wine, cranberries, crumbled blue cheese and seasonal sautéed vegetables.
$32 The meat is provided by Wolfe's Neck Farm, which produces naturally raised choice beef with no antibiotics, growth hormones and no animal by-products, and was excellent indeed and cooked to perfection. The dish is nothing very creative and the crumbled blue cheese was not very well integrated into the rest: I would have preferred a blue cheese sauce or a blue cheese flan, for instance. Score: 12.5/20 Slow Roasted Elk Medallions Potato pudding, chanterelle sauté and hunter sauce.
$27 Nothing really innovative but absolutely marvelous, easily the best dish of the night. Score: 15/20 Chocolate Pate Layered chocolate marble with strawberries, whipped cream and fudge. $9 It tasted good but it was a little bit too hard and the result texture not pleasant to eat.
Score: 10.5/20 Service Excellent service, although not very formal: some minor flaws, like putting down the bottle on the table while I was tasting the wine and serving the food from the wrong side; although the class of the restaurant doesn't really require such attention to these details. We also asked for some little favors like the permission to take pictures of the dishes and a copy of the menu to keep and we've been always gladly obliged.
Just as a small low point, the waitress assigned to clear the tables was chewing a gum: definitely incompatible with the restaurant. Price The bill totaled to $205, before taxes, including $18 for 2 cups of Champagne. Not too much, considering the quality of the products. Pros Very good raw products and solid cooking techniques with some creativity.
Ample wine list, especially for California lovers. Live music, if you like it. Cons Bad illumination. Live music can be bothersome if you want to talk to your peers.
Credits Many thanks to RichChiavaroli for digitally retouching the pictures. Review by AndreaCogliati