Domesticated

A first look at JG Domestic

We paid the Iron Chef’s newest venture a visit only a few weeks after its opening. We started with a few drinks at the bar which has a limited but decent beer list and a fitting variety of wines by the glass.

With cocktails in hand, we ordered the Salt and Vinegar Kettle Chips with Malt Vinegar Aioli for snack. The delicate, almost translucent chips came in a small bowl with the aioli on the bottom. The chips were small and so was the size of the order. They were delicious except I expected them to be at least warm and not looking like they had been sitting around for a while. The aioli was very tasty and befitting to the texture of the chips. This is a perfect bar food but for $4.00 an order, I expected a) a bit more chips than a small child’s handful; and b) fresh off the fryer hot.

We were seated in the “outside” portion of the restaurant by the wall of herbs and plants since we wanted to have dinner at a table. The restaurant is “interesting”. The entrance is via a not too wide opening on either side of the hostess station with an immediate left or right turn to reach the “outside” dining room. For some strange reason, I had the urge to reach into the pocket for my SEPTA token approaching the narrow passageways into the restaurant until I realized that the turnstile was missing and hostesses behind the counter were a lot more attractive than the stern face emotionless SEPTA employees.

The restaurant is spread out with “outside” and “inside” sections with tables, booths, communal tables spread out in both areas and the open kitchen straddling the middle. Sitting in the “outside” of the restaurant is sitting in the open atrium lobby of the Cira Centre, except with a few decorative pergola and lattice work overhead. “You are outside…but you are not…”(cue the Rod Sterling music)

We felt a bit discarded to the Siberia wilderness when we were seated at a table along the outside edge of the “outside”. We were closer to the revolving door that leads to the street than the bar. Fortunately, that feeling melted away when our waiter, Nathan, showed up at the table. His warmth and friendliness made us feel welcome and we appreciated his efforts in making sure the kitchen could understand and accommodate Tourist Tree’s food allergies.
 
The remoteness further faded away when the bread arrived in a warm cast iron skillet with a light coat of melted butter and sea salt sprinkled on top. The accompanying whipped butter was an excellent match for the light-as-a-cloud soft moist bread. I particularly enjoyed the apple thyme jelly that was made with apple cider and fresh thyme.

Market Crudité

With Tourist Tree’s allergies in mind, Nathan brought over a mason jar of farm fresh vegetable for her while I was busy stuffing my face with the warm soft bread. From my perspective across the table, this concoction looked like a V8 Bloody Mary minus the liquid. I have never tasted a goddess before and have to say that the Green Goddess Dressing was… interesting. Tourist Tree was thoroughly enjoying her daily USDA vegetable requirement while I wondered if that’s $10.00 that Aiiyah would pay for rabbit food.

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hudson Valley Potted Duck

A three layer construction of shredded confit on the bottom, foie gras mousse in the middle and orange geleé on top. I found the vertical arrangement of the ingredients intriguing despite that I didn’t like the fact that I had to dig my food out of a jar. Each layer was delicious. The combination of the layers was fascinating. Spreading the mixture on the crostini was a highlight in flavor and texture. For $9.00, I would eat this cholesterol bomb everyday over the colon cleansing $10.00 veggies in a jar market crudité.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Smoked Chestnut Soufflé

Eating this $9.00 soufflé was like snuggling in a warm blanket in a comfy soft bed in cold winter. This perfectly executed dish was made with smoked chestnuts and roasted spaghetti squash with braised golden raisins sprinkled within the creation. It was sweet; it was moist; it was the perfect comfort food; and it was delicious. We were glad that we stopped the server from pouring the maple butter sauce into the soufflé when it arrived at the table. The sauce had a nice rich taste of maple syrup without being overwhelmingly rich or heavy, but the soufflé was fine just without it. We enjoyed it without the sauce masking its true flavor and turning it into a semi-dessert.

 
 

Elk

Game meat is a delicate issue. Cooking it wrong results in tough, gamey, dried out protein. Fortunately, this kitchen turned this $24.00 elk tenderloin into a soft, juicy, medium-rare, nicely seasoned tasty treat without much of a trace of the wilderness. The accompanying huckleberry sauce and celery puree were a good compliment to the meat, however the flavor and texture would have been more apparent if the meat were warmer. This elk had lost its heat roaming from the kitchen to the outerbanks of the dining room.

Kabocha Squash, Black Kale, Candied Squash Seeds

A decent vegetable dish with the squash being the highlight that balanced out the bitterness of the kale. It would had been a more interesting dish if the sheep milk cheese from Otterbein Acres were present but it was left out to accommodate Tourist Tree’s preference. At $10.00, it was a pretty expensive vegetable dish in a tiny side dish portion.

Green Village Suckling Pig, Garlic, Rosemary, Natural Jus.


This was the dish under the Whole Animal category on the menu ($26.00). The suckling pig was first braised in Yuengling Lager and then its different parts were done with different preparations.

The ribs were glazed with a sweet sauce with the meat tender, moist and falling right off the bone. The meat from the roasted front leg was delicious and succulent. The sautéed rear hind leg came with an addictive sauce that matched the characteristics of the meat nicely. The tenderloin was cooked perfectly with the meat soft and supple. The belly was uncharacteristically like a tenderloin with not much fat in it. The interestingly done headcheese had a heavier seasoning that could have been less aggressive to show the delicate flavor of the meat.

Pear

A Tourist Tree safe dessert with a poached pear, cranberry pear sorbet, marjoram sabayon. Unlike poached pears at some places that were boiled to a sugary mush, these little pieces were firm with only a light touch of sweetness. The cranberry pear sorbet was also done in a subtle note of flavor that was not overpowering with sweetness.

Tourist Tree devoured this $9.00 dessert happily with a glass of 2007 Pac Rim “Vin De Glaciére” late harvest Riesling ($16.00) from Columbia Valley, Washington.

Pumpkin

This was a play on the traditional PB&J sandwich. Pumpkin cake layered with pumpkin peanut butter with swirled pumpkin and sour cream ice cream on top. It did look and taste just like a PB&J when dipping the bread in the grape jelly sauce on the plate. The pumpkin confit pieces on the side were also wonderfully done. A very righteous dessert ($8.00).

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Concord Grape Square and Chocolate Almond Truffle

We were very impressed that the staff and the kitchen were quite up to speed already since the restaurant had only been open for a few weeks. Our server Nathan was enthusiastic, positive, very polite, and went out of his way to make us feel welcome and to tackle Tourist Tree’s food allergies. When we inquired about the wines, he brought us several different tasting glasses to sample until we decided on the Sean Minor Four Bears cabernet that would go well with our dinner selections. The kitchen did not skip a beat in getting the food out and making the special request dishes correctly. There were a few dishes that, although very good, were a bit over priced. However, on the other end, there are dishes that were just spectacular, regardless of price.