The Vineyard Gets Four Stars (Business Lunch Review)
by June 20, 2003 12:00 am 111 views
We’ve dined at the Vineyard on several occassions but are long overdue in making this two-year-old “American bistro” the subject of a lunch review.
The decoré is understated elegance, and we challenge other upscale restaurateurs to visit The Vineyard for a lesson in service.
Our iced teas arrived in goblets. One diner’s fuschia rasberry-flavored tea seemed almost tropical against the white table cloth: the lime-garnished drink looked more like a mai tai than tea. Males were a minority in the dining room as the lunching ladies around us chattered and nibbled on healthy portions of salads and pastas.
We started with an order of the Tuscan spinach dip ($9). Served with a generous portion of blue tortilla chips and large white crackers, the blend of spinach, artichokes and garlic was topped wtih a hefty amount of cheese that strung itself around the crackers and stuck to our chins and ribs.The dish challenged our duo to leave room for the main course.
One diner had the shrimp ziti ($12), jumbo gulf shrimp served in ziti pasta with tomatoes, pesto and a white wine, garlic and cream sauce. He said the shrimp were big, tender and tasty enough “to make Forrest Gump slap his momma.”
A basket of homemade wheat bread came with the meals. The fresh whipped butter was a classy touch compared to the bricklike butter pats we’ve fumbled with at other eateries.
Another diner orderd a crab cake sandwich ($12), which was served wtih guacamole and a mound of house gaufrettes (a dollar word for homemade waffle potato chips). The size of the crab cake overshadowed the need for a bun, and the seafood tasted great topped with provolone cheese, lettuce and bright red tomatoes. The guacamole added the flavor icing on this already rich cake.
“I scraped the last bite off the bun, it was so good,” she said.
The lunch menu features a spread as diverse as our nation’s population, living up to it’s “American bistro” tagline. We resisted the tempting lobster pot pie( $19) and reluctantly passed on the torte caprese ($9 tomato salad with fresh mozzerella). The Saigon cigarettes ($9 shrimp, bacon and cabbage-filled wontons) piqued our imaginations, too.
The Vineyard’s Jack-of-all-tastes approach might not work at other places, but it’s definitely working here.