Samantha Causey
Latest Reviews
The Musket Room
My favorite dish at The Musket Room was the breads and spreads. The house-made sourdough boule wasn’t much bigger than the water glasses and came pre-cut into four chunks. We slathered smaller pieces in briny anchovy butter sprinkled with flakey sea salt, whipped ricotta and olive oil; and chicken liver mousse. I sunk my teeth into the chewy crust.
The croquettes capped our round of Musket Room appetizers. We used forked pieces to mop up the smoked saffron aioli, refusing the leave anything for the servers to take away. I expected potato, but rich bechamel oozed into my mouth (nearly burning me) and onto the plate. The Musket Room certainly didn’t skimp on that jamon Iberico sliced thin and folded on top.
The two people I was with didn’t like The Musket Room’s Matsutake mushrooms with sunchokes and heirloom rice. I had jockeyed for it and felt bad that this was the dish I’d chosen to share with everyone came out cold and two-noted: earthy mushroom and overwhelming sour cream. At least the island of wild rice was swimming in the tangy sauce (I love sauce). I had hoped for more Matsutake, but wasn’t so lucky.
The Musket Room’s duck was perfectly cooked. The seared crust was the best part, and the inside was succulent and juicy. It came with a classic cherry sauce, little dots of labne, and tiny chunks of white turnip. The server spooned an au jus over the duck at our table.
After the miniscule entrees, the expected “sooo…anyone want to hit up dollar pizza after this?” half joke happened. To “fill up”, we ordered three spoonfuls of panna cotta. Excellent spoonfuls, but spoonfuls. The piped ruffle of chocolate panna cotta went perfectly with the charred banana puree. Garnishes-wise, I can do without eating gold, but thank goodness for the flaky sea salt.
Still not full (because of course not) we ordered a slightly larger dessert (four spoonfuls instead of three): sweet potato with mousse, smoked molasses, and rum. I don’t particularly care for plating and food styling, but the pastry team at The Musket Room made the dish so pretty. A wide ribbon of meringue curled around puffs of airy light orange sweet potato mousse, and three or four circles of sweet potatoes prepared in some mysterious way (maybe cooked and slightly dehydrated?). Without the smoky molasses rum semifreddo on top, it tasted like a deconstructed sweet potato pie. With the semifreddo, it transformed into a sweet potato s’mores kinda deal.
The Musket Room had amazing appetizers, and the desserts interesting, but the entrees were underwhelming
The croquettes capped our round of Musket Room appetizers. We used forked pieces to mop up the smoked saffron aioli, refusing the leave anything for the servers to take away. I expected potato, but rich bechamel oozed into my mouth (nearly burning me) and onto the plate. The Musket Room certainly didn’t skimp on that jamon Iberico sliced thin and folded on top.
The two people I was with didn’t like The Musket Room’s Matsutake mushrooms with sunchokes and heirloom rice. I had jockeyed for it and felt bad that this was the dish I’d chosen to share with everyone came out cold and two-noted: earthy mushroom and overwhelming sour cream. At least the island of wild rice was swimming in the tangy sauce (I love sauce). I had hoped for more Matsutake, but wasn’t so lucky.
The Musket Room’s duck was perfectly cooked. The seared crust was the best part, and the inside was succulent and juicy. It came with a classic cherry sauce, little dots of labne, and tiny chunks of white turnip. The server spooned an au jus over the duck at our table.
After the miniscule entrees, the expected “sooo…anyone want to hit up dollar pizza after this?” half joke happened. To “fill up”, we ordered three spoonfuls of panna cotta. Excellent spoonfuls, but spoonfuls. The piped ruffle of chocolate panna cotta went perfectly with the charred banana puree. Garnishes-wise, I can do without eating gold, but thank goodness for the flaky sea salt.
Still not full (because of course not) we ordered a slightly larger dessert (four spoonfuls instead of three): sweet potato with mousse, smoked molasses, and rum. I don’t particularly care for plating and food styling, but the pastry team at The Musket Room made the dish so pretty. A wide ribbon of meringue curled around puffs of airy light orange sweet potato mousse, and three or four circles of sweet potatoes prepared in some mysterious way (maybe cooked and slightly dehydrated?). Without the smoky molasses rum semifreddo on top, it tasted like a deconstructed sweet potato pie. With the semifreddo, it transformed into a sweet potato s’mores kinda deal.
The Musket Room had amazing appetizers, and the desserts interesting, but the entrees were underwhelming
Jmart
Came for the persimmons. They're okay
the Flying Fox Tavern
They put effort into coming up with non-alcoholic versions of two drinks on their menu, the Count (butterfly tea, lemon, simple syrup); and the Nandor, espresso, cinnamon syrup, and dark chocolate.
I got the Count but it's just lemonade since butterfly pea tea doesn't have much of a taste but it was tasty lemonade.
They were out of the potato cakes so I got the broccoli croquettes. They were pretty flavorless and while kept their shape they were a little too mushy. There wasn't much broccoli in there. I was thinking about ordering a burger but the croquettes really turned me off.
Tldr: better places for food in the area but the food they do have is very vegetarian /vegan friendly and the alcoholic drinks are fairly priced.
I got the Count but it's just lemonade since butterfly pea tea doesn't have much of a taste but it was tasty lemonade.
They were out of the potato cakes so I got the broccoli croquettes. They were pretty flavorless and while kept their shape they were a little too mushy. There wasn't much broccoli in there. I was thinking about ordering a burger but the croquettes really turned me off.
Tldr: better places for food in the area but the food they do have is very vegetarian /vegan friendly and the alcoholic drinks are fairly priced.