LowCountry Jon

I ate there this weekend. Here's what I think: I'd like to note that this is an excerpt from a food blog I have that focuses on Charleston. Whenever I post a link, my post gets removed, even though one can apparently link to the charleston city paper. I don't get it. Anyway, here are my impressions, excerpted. I haven't eaten at fulton five, so I can't compare. I'd also like to note that this impression is in the context of what the chef, Jacques Larson, did at his former restaurant, Cintra, so i'm holding the place to fairly high standards

"The food is well prepared on the whole, but the menu is just really boring. I had the Osso bucco, marinara pizza, eggplant appetizer, fried ricotta balls, gnocchi, orrechiette with sausage and broccoli, gnocco, flourless chocolate cake and peach sorbet. The pizza was terrible. Though thin crust, good Italian or new york style pizza crust is not supposed to taste like a cracker. It’s supposed to be thin, crisp on the outside, and doughy at the same time (I’m resisting the urge to go on a pizza diatribe here...just google ‘new haven pizza’). Mercato’s pizza was thin but white on the bottom, without the charred spots that mark a good wood or coal oven pizza, and lacked that doughy flavor (Al Di La’s pizza is way better. Also more interesting). Found the eggplant appetizer to be great: crisp, thin slices of grilled eggplant wrapped around ricotta (if I remember correctly) with balsamic vinegar and tomatoes. Simple, fresh, not trying to do more than it should. The fried ricotta balls, who’s bullshit Italian name I forget right now, were too much like pizza bites for me (anyone who’s ever had the joy of having to subsist on college cafeteria fare will know what I’m talking about) The gnocchi was good—tender, creamy, rich and light at the same time, like good gnocchi should be—but I guess I really just don’t like gnocchi that much. The combination of gnocchi with a cream or cheese sauce is overkill to me. The similarity of both, the richness of gnocchi and cheese or cream, doesn’t provide a counterpoint, taking away from each. (This is why fresh pepper is so important in Carbonara..Also, what is this trend of ravioli in broth, and why do people enjoy this. I’ve yet to be satisfied by an in brodo pasta preparation, though I will concede that this is one of the few creative, inspired options on the menu). The orecchiette was good, not oversauced, but $16 is a lot for what’s basically a smallish bowl of pasta. I liked the osso bucco. The fregula (on the side with the osso bucco) was interesting, though I think I liked it more in theory than in practice. As for the osso bucco, the meat wasn’t fall off the bone tender as advertised. Definitely good, but I did use my knife."

AbuDakhm in General South Archive