La Cipollina, Freehold

Well, it was bound to happen.... the combining of families. Matt and I met up with my folks and his parents for dinner in downtown Freehold (which is pretty central for all of us). It's so flippin cute in that area... so many adorable restaurants and stores and just a nice, small town, down home feeling. We chose La Cipollina because A) it's been around forever, and B) they seemed to have a menu where we knew everyone would like something. Weird fact about La Cipollina... while you can order a la carte their menu is set up to only really offer a prixe fix option... you can do 3 courses for $35, 4 courses for $45, all the way up to 7 courses. (BTW for the prices of the prixe fix it's almost silly to order a la carte.... so none of us did)

La Cipollina seems strangely formal when you walk in... the staff wear tuxedos (so odd), and the lighting is dim, but it really isn't a fancy shmancy place (for example the table next to us? Both sweatshirts and an infant were present, so how formal could it be?) Anyway, all six of us opted for the 3 course choice, and while you are free to choose any combo of starter, salad, entree, and dessert we all decided to do starter, salad, entree. I'll relay the memorable things here for you.

For my starter I went with the smoked salmon with wasabi and creme fraiche. While I was expecting a slice or two of fish what came out was way different. It was a smoked salmon SALAD (probably should have been noted on the menu, but whatevs) held together with creme fraiche in lieu of mayo. It was delicious, and I was glad to have it, but still, quite the surprise. I enjoyed this both on it's own and schmeared on the crusty table bread.

Matt started with the gnocchi in parmesan, sage and brown butter. I thought this was fantastic... nutty, toasty, and warm it was the perfect food for a chilly night. He thought it was a bit bland, but I disagree. I found the gnocchi perfectly cooked, soft and not at all gummy, and I found the downright earthiness of the ingredients to be perfectly balanced.

Matt's dad and my mom ordered the mozzarella, prosciutto, red pepper and mushroom combo, served on grilled Italian bread and drizzled with organic honey. Almost everything on the plate was delicious, but the homemade mozzarella was SO salty... it took over the whole dish. I love a good home made cheese, and while the texture was perfectly creamy and the color was a gorgeous glistening white, the salt was just too much. The prosciutto added enough to the dish and the cheese was just overkill. Sad... it would have been the perfect combo of fresh, sweet, bitter and salt if it was just cut back a smidge.

The salads were ok. Nothing special. The caeser was caesery, the beet and goat cheese one that I had could have used a lot more beet and a lot more goat cheese. Not notable.

For dinner Matt had the chicken in a basil white wine sauce. It was topped with roasted red peppers, mushrooms, artichokes, and sun dried tomatoes. Matt says it was good and while I remember enjoying the bite I had to be honest it's a little forgettable to me. I can't really recall now what I thought of it. Oh well.

Dad had possibly the best dish that came out, the pork braciole over polenta. First things first, I LOVE polenta. I fell in love with it in Italy and ever since I have been completely enamored with everything about it... the texture and consistancy, its chameleon like nature of absorbing any flaor, it's feel and color... all of it. This was no exception, the polenta was a pleasure. The pork was tender and soft and stuffed with spicy sausage, onion and eggplant, all smothered in an almost sweet tomato sauce. It was a real treat. Perfectly cooked, intricate but not pretentious, and just really good.

I ordered the veal with artichokes, mushrooms, and pine nuts in a white wine sauce. I liked my dish a lot. Don't let the picture fool you... the sauce was not at all as thick and gloppy as it looks (although why it photographed that way is beyond me). It was pretty light and certainly tasty, with an almost citrusy hint of flavor. The pine nuts added some great crunch, the mushrooms and veal were earthy and warm and the artichokes were bright and delicious. It was a really good meal!

All in all La Cipollina has it's quirks, but was a really good time. It's byob (which I love, of course) has a pretty extensive menu, and offers a lot of food for a reasonable price... 3 courses for $35 bucks is ok by me, any time. The neighborhood is so much fun too.. in the Summer keep an eye out for live music and block parties. Give it a try, I think you'll find the value really impressive and the food a pleasure.

La Cipollina

http://www.lacipollina.com/

16 A West Main St

Freehold- 07728

732 308- 3830

Bayou Cafe, Freehold

Matt and I recently went to New Orleans on vacation, and haven't stopped raving about Cajun food since. The spices, the flavors, the heart and soul... we really fell in love with the cuisine. When my uncle S told us that he had recently visited a joint called the Bayou Cafe in Freehold we couldn't get there fast enough. We rallied up my Mom and Dad and made our way to what we hoped would be an authentic Cajun supper.

Uh.... No.

Located on Main Street in downtown Freehold (such a hip area!) it fit in with the other amazing local eateries as far as looks go. The furniture and décor were modern and fun. The hostess was friendly and happily allowed us to switch tables (we were originally seated right in front of the band... I will expand on that later). It was clean and had a lot of character. That's about where our good time ceased.

The place is loud. Like 'Huh!?? What was that?! I can't hear you!!!' loud. Like we had to read each others lips and use hand gestures loud. We actually ordered our meals by pointing at the menu since our waitress couldn't hear us. Live music is nice but not at the expense of your customers. Since there is no bar (Yay for BYOB.... knew there had to be a bright side, yes?) the band starts playing at 6:00 PM instead of the standard 10. It's distracting and takes up a good eighth of the restaurant but whatever. The noise was the least of my problems (insert ominous 'dun-dun-dunnnnnn' here).

The food was bad. It was either overly salty or severely under seasoned. It was not well presented and it was actually quite boring... completely UNLIKE the food in New Orleans. But I digress. Allow me to walk you through it (Hey! if I had to sit through this meal you do, too!)

We started with an appetizer of 'cajun chicken fingers'. It came with a side of what I thought was a horseradish sauce (may have been a mustard sauce... either way it was underwhelming). They were fine. Not bad, a little salty, but not bad. There was no heat... zero. Alas, we ate them and hoped that our entrees would be a little jazzier, as when we think 'cajun' we think big flavor and a nice kick of spice.

While waiting for our entrees to come out we had our salad course. I had opted for a nice, safe Caesar salad. Matt got a gumbo (which was the best thing to come out of the kitchen all night) while Mom and Dad went for the house salad. As I mentioned Matt's gumbo was delicious. A little spicy with lots of veggies and rice and beans it was a hit at the table. The house salad, though, was odd. The chef fancied himself creative when he composed these bad boys, as they had standard salad fare (lettuce, tomato, carrot) and balls of cantaloupe. Now I like fruit in salad, I really do, but only when it serves a purpose. Dad put it best when he said 'if the house dressing was at all acidic the cantaloupe would be a welcome addition, as it would even out the flavors. This is not the case. The dressing is sweet, and therefore does not need the additional help of the fruit... all it does is confuse the mouth." Well said, guy.

Out came the entrees. I had ordered one of the specials, which was described as blackened catfish topped with shrimp, Tasso ham, and Andouille sausage. What came out was a messy plate covered in glop. I will say that the catfish itself was cooked well, but everything that was piled atop it was mediocre at best. It was crazy salty and I could not for the life of me figure out which lumps of food were Tasso and which lumps were sausage. The lumps that were shrimp were actually quite tasty and properly cooked, but the sauce they were drenched in lessened the experience for me. The sides of rice and veg were unimpressive. I was very 'meh' about the whole dish.

Mom got the blackened catfish straight off the menu. It was exactly like mine, except she escaped the glop. She was dissapointed by how salty the seasoning was, and, once again, the lack of heat. The fish was cooked well, but it lacked that pizazz that we were all so desperately craving. Same rice, same veg, same meh attitudes towards it.

(See? Looks like a 'before' picture of mine!)

Matt got the Creole chicken, which was an almost stew like dish in a tomato based sauce atop a pile of rice. It had potential, but again it fell flat. It had NO flavor... seriously, none. He added salt, pepper, hot sauce, and was even dying to ask the waitress to bring out some garlic... he didn't (that Matt.... so tactful) but wanted to. The chicken was a touch over cooked, too, but after a sauce that almost bored us to tears who cares. I don't know how it COULD have been so bland... it had peppers... it had onions... it had tomato... how do you mess that up?! It wasn't BAD, it just wasn't good.

Finally, Dad's dish. This was the least offensive of the entrees. He ordered the Jambalaya and it wasn't bad. The dish contained chicken, Adouille sausage, and shrimp in a tomato based sauce mixed over rice. Again, a bit lacking in the flavor department (even though it says 'spicy' right in the description!), but everything was cooked well. Andouille sausage carries so much flavor on its own that it was able to save the dish from Blandsville (well that and the tablespoon of hot sauce Dad threw on). By far the King of all the dinners (which isn't saying TOO much).

Here is what I took away from the experience. One, Cajun food should be a little spicy. Not angry 'OMG my mouths-a-burnin' ' spicy, but there needs to be a zip. Two, it is possible for one place to serve food that was WAY too heavily seasoned and insufficiently seasoned at the very same time. Three, don't trust Uncle S when he suggests a restaurant. To be fair I heard from other family members (Cousin J and her husband R for instance) that the food was decent (we didn't have any overlap in our ordering, so maybe they found the winners). Maybe we caught the place on an off night. It's possible. I just know that we were all so underwhelmed that we have no intention of going back (except maybe for the gumbo.... that was damned good). The biggest lesson learned? If Matt and I want to cure our hankering for some serious Creole we're going to have to get ourselves back to New Orleans. Who's down for a road trip?!?!

Bayou Cafe

http://www.bayoucafe.net/

32 W Main St.

Freehold, NJ 07728

(732) 845-1800