Top of the Point Unveils "Summer Road Trip" Dinners
Categories: First Bites
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Actually, though the vistas from the penthouse restaurant atop West Palm's Phillips Point East Tower are both gorgeous and expansive, they don't quite afford a view of New England, the wine country -- or the Big Easy.
You can, however, "see" them on a plate. How? As part of ToP's "Summer Road Trip" dinners, which began in late July and run until October 1.
My buddy Jan Norris and I checked out the Nantucket menu last
week: three courses, broken down into choice of three apps, four entrees
and two desserts, for $39.50 per person, which is a pretty good deal
given that entrées alone off the à la carte menu regularly top $40.
Not
only was the food true to the region and quite good -- thoughtfully
conceived and well-prepared with quality ingredients -- but it marked an
auspicious beginning for chef Brian Schuyler, who's been running ToP's
kitchen for only a few weeks.
So what did we eat?
Some remarkably sweet Ipswich steamer clams in a buttery scallion-dill broth good enough to wear as perfume, plus a day-boat cod and corn chowder thick enough to stand a spoon up in and hearty enough to eat like a steak. More of that mild, fresh-tasting cod arrived on a bed of wilted spinach with a Meyer lemon meunière. What lifted the dish from nice to wow was a single, plump, peeled smoked tomato whose sweet-smoky essence gave delicate cod, earthy spinach, and tangy butter sauce both oomph and focus.
Fillets of sole-like fluke got an achingly rich tomato beurre blanc studded with lots of big chunks of lobster, while tiny bay scallops were sauced with a lush corn veloute and accompanied by ricotta gnocchi that had spent a little too much time over high heat in the sauté pan.
Desserts: flash-roasted stone fruits with creamy plum gelato and strawberry-rhubarb pavlova with Marcona almond ice cream -- were a light yet homey end to a hearty meal. If you want to see the complete schedule of Road Trip dinners, plus the menu for next week's Hudson Valley dinner, go here.
Who knows? If you look really hard, maybe you will see Russia.
Follow Clean Plate Charlie on Facebook and on Twitter: @CleanPlateBPB.
So what did we eat?
Some remarkably sweet Ipswich steamer clams in a buttery scallion-dill broth good enough to wear as perfume, plus a day-boat cod and corn chowder thick enough to stand a spoon up in and hearty enough to eat like a steak. More of that mild, fresh-tasting cod arrived on a bed of wilted spinach with a Meyer lemon meunière. What lifted the dish from nice to wow was a single, plump, peeled smoked tomato whose sweet-smoky essence gave delicate cod, earthy spinach, and tangy butter sauce both oomph and focus.
Fillets of sole-like fluke got an achingly rich tomato beurre blanc studded with lots of big chunks of lobster, while tiny bay scallops were sauced with a lush corn veloute and accompanied by ricotta gnocchi that had spent a little too much time over high heat in the sauté pan.
Desserts: flash-roasted stone fruits with creamy plum gelato and strawberry-rhubarb pavlova with Marcona almond ice cream -- were a light yet homey end to a hearty meal. If you want to see the complete schedule of Road Trip dinners, plus the menu for next week's Hudson Valley dinner, go here.
Who knows? If you look really hard, maybe you will see Russia.
Follow Clean Plate Charlie on Facebook and on Twitter: @CleanPlateBPB.
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