We decided to each go the appetizer and entree route, so that we could sample a little bit of everything. The Sister and Mom both ordered the beet carpaccio salad. It was adorned with apples, walnuts, and a delightful sheep's cheese. The dressing was a mixture of mustard and Creme Fraiche and was the just the right balance of tangy and creamy. A bite of everything together provided a fantastic combination of textures and flavors...crunchy, salty walnuts with tart apples and cool, fresh beets and tangy cheese and creamy spicy mustard. This was a delightful starter and I am very happy that they chose to share with me.
Matt got the pumpkin gnocchi to start. They were served over a bed of parsnips and leeks and it was a downright delight. It actually TASTED LIKE AUTUMN! How cool is that? A few simple ingredients doused with a helping of sage butter sauce, and it actually tasted like a season feels. I LOVE that food has the ability to do that! It's so amazing to me. Anyway, the gnocchi were pure perfection... soft but not smooshy, and pumpkiny without being overbearing. This dish was great. I think I liked it more than Matt did (he admitted later that he was less enthused because he was experiencing buyer's remorse.... he regretted not ordering the short rib appetizer!) His loss was my gain though. I thought this was a hit.
Dad went with the spiced flatbread, a vegetarian dish. It didn't look very pretty... in fact it looked kind of like a big sloppy mess, but it tasted delicious. There was an herb paste shmeared onto the flat bread and while the color was icky the flavor was a delight... very Mediterranean. On top of the paste were chickpeas, olives, yogurt cheese, and peppers. It was toothsome and herbacious and overall good. I would have liked to see a touch more cheese and a few less chickpeas, but taste wise this was lovely.
I ordered the F&P classic smoked salmon dish and it knocked my socks RIGHT OFF. The fish was not too salty and not too smokey and not tough or hard to cut and had no discoloration and was just awesome. It came with a little truffled egg salad and some spicy, horseradishy mustard and some house baked brown bread pieces. I, of course, combined all of these things and made the worlds tiniest (and tastiest) lox n shmear. Delightful. So perfect.
For dinner Mom ordered the hanger steak (how cool is a mom who loves herself some red meat?) It was marinated in balsamic and drenched in an onion veal jus (and I do mean drenched... a little too much sauce for my tastes!) The meat was cooked perfectly... nice crust on the outside and rich and buttery inside. To me, though, the most interesting aspect of this dish was the side that came with it.... bleu cheese stuffed tater tots. These were absurdly good... crunchy tater tots exploding with super sharp, super melty bleu cheese. Each little tot was a flavor bomb of happiness. Yum.
The Sister decided on the monkfish (ya know... poor man's lobster?) Everything about this dish was amazing. I was jealous that I didn't order it myself. I just salivated a little while remembering it. The fish was buttery and succulent... there are just no words in my vocabulary that can do it accurate justice. The plate was accented with several clams, and the clams were accompanied by super thick, uber delicious bacon pieces. The sauce that laid beneath all of this culinary magic was downright drinkable. No complaints about this dish. None. Delicious. More please.
Matt went with the duck breast and spicy duck sausage, all in a dried cherry duck jus. The duck was cooked perfectly with a crunchy outside and tender inside, and the sausage was very good (although I wouldn't exactly call it spicy). The problem was the sauce. It tasted good.... there was nothing wrong with it flavor wise. There was just SOOOO much of it... it was drowning the food. The sweetness was just too overpowering. This was the least succesful dish that we had the whole evening. It wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination... it just couldn't come close to the rest of the meals. (Poor Matt!)
While I was smitten with The Sister's dish, everyone else at the table voted Dad's the winner of the evening. He opted for the Moroccan grilled lamb loin, and it really was superb. The seasoning was spot on and really did give it a somewhat exotic feel. The pilaf it came with was also very good. While I really liked this, the rest of the table LOVED it. So majority rules... this was the winning dish!
Last but not least was my dish. I ordered the grilled shrimp ragout, and it was fantastic. Huge shrimp (and I mean really, really big!) were stacked on top of a mixture of beans, tomato, and sausage. The sauce was salty and smokey and the sweetness of the shrimp really contrasted well with the meaty sausage. The presentation on this was also beautiful. The sauce is what made the whole thing pop, though. It was one of those 'let me drag my bread through this one more time' kind of sauces.
For dessert we went with the ginger rice pudding (good rice pudding, but to be honest I tasted NO ginger whatsoever.... I would say it was very vanilla-y if anything) and and apple crisp with a brown butter ice cream. Now THAT was something special. The brown butter ice cream on its own would have had me over the moon, but pairing it with the hot and crispy pasty filled with ooey gooey apple filling? Forget it. Game over. We were officially full and happy.
Frog and the Peach is one of the best restraurants in the tri-state area, and certainly one of the finest (let's face it, probably THE finest) that I have ever been to. Plus they heart the Earth! F&P was one of the first restaurants to install solar energy panels. They try to always use fresh, local, and sustainable ingredients. This is a special occasion place as a rule, but do keep in mind that they have a bistro menu (available in both the dining room and the bar area) that is reasonable and impressive. Do yourself a favor. Once in your lifetime give Frog and the Peach a shot. I assure you that it will be a culinary experience that you will not soon forget.
Frog and the Peach
29 Dennis Street- New Brunswick
732 846-3216
Brown butter ice cream sounds amazing. Seriously, what is with the widespread problem of entirely too much sweet sticky fruity sauce overpowering duck?!?!! Quack!
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