Guest Blogger: Sister #3-Fitzroy
I was treating a friend to lunch and needed a place that was close to my office that could feed us within my one hour time limit. As my friend is a bit of a foodie and we were doing some brainstorming about food related things I thought I should find a place where the food was the star. Fitzroy seemed like a logical choice to fit that bill and we were not disappointed.
Our waiter was attentive and displayed an obvious passion for the food he was serving. The menu is not extensive, which suits me fine. I would rather see a menu with twelve items done well that with fifty items that are so-so. Even with limited choices we had a hard time deciding as it was all tempting. We knew we wanted pork and shrimp as those are favorites of both of us.
We started by sharing the warm pretzel with soft brown butter.
We loved the sticky pork with corn and crackling. I’m still not sure why it is called sticky as nothing about it was sticky but it was no less delicious. The pork is prepared sous-vide, meaning it is vacuum packed in plastic then cooked in a water bath at a very precise temperature. This process allows the meat to quickly absorb flavors and break down connective tissue making the final product melt-in-your-mouth tasty. The pork was served with corn that was creamed as well as crunchy corn nuts and crispy chicken skin. I thought they might have selected pork crackling instead of chicken but this was good too. This dish reminded both of us of our Mom’s pork roast dinners with cream corn and scallop potatoes, a classic in both our households growing up.
Next we tried the buttery shrimp on parsley sauce with horseradish. I was expecting much more heat from this dish but it was none the less, scrumptious. The shrimp were nicely seasoned and perfectly cooked and the creamy puree complemented the lovely texture of the shrimp.
On our waiters recommendation, we added the chopped salad, a smart idea as there were no vegetables with our other three dishes. The salad was very pretty, crunchy and I really enjoyed the zingy dressing. At $11.00 for a small bowl however I’m not sure the value was there.
Overall I really enjoyed our lunch. I personally found the prices a bit steep for the neighborhood but the atmosphere is sleek and hip, the service efficient and friendly and the bites yummy.
Kath’s quote: “It is not elegant to gnaw Indian corn. The kernels should be scored with a knife, scraped off into the plate, and then eaten with a fork. Ladies should be particularly careful how they manage so ticklish a dainty, lest the exhibition rub off a little desirable romance.”-Charles Day, 1844
Love-that is all.
Thanks for the reminder to head back to Fitzroy (I have been there one time since our amazing lunch.) Oh man….this makes me very hungry.