Starting Saratoga County Restaurant Week 2013 off strong, I visited Maestro’s as my first stop. Being one of my top picks for Restaurant Week, I overlooked the fact that all three of the appetizers included some form of cheese, which I coincidentally gave up for Lent. With that, I had a difficult start to my dinner Friday night, but I powered through and worked around my challenges.
I started off with the Chop Salad, which had a mix of greens, tomatoes, english cucumber, smoked blue cheese and topped with crispy onions and a spicy ranch dressing.
Of course, I had to nix the blue cheese but the salad was light and the crunch from the onions definitely made up for the lack of cheese. The ranch dressing wasn’t overwhelming or too spicy and overall the salad was a great way to start off the meal.
For my main course, I chose the sole roulade, which was stuffed with a scallop/salmon mousse, accompanied by a spring pea puree and parsley new potatoes.
While it looks very simple on the plate, this dish was very complex. The sole itself was tender and flaky, with a slight crunch on the top from some bread crumbs. The mousse inside the sole was where it gets very interesting. The combination of salmon and scallops was delicious and the pea puree was an absolute necessity by balancing out the flavors.
This is how this entree played out for me – The first several bites were excellent, full of that amazing flavor I was mentioning before, especially dipped in the pea puree. However once I got to the middle of the sole, I almost had to stop myself. The flavors then became a little too rich for me and I could hardly take another bite. Finally, after switching over to the potatoes which were nicely seasoned, yet simple, I went back to the fish. The last portion of the fish hit me like the first portion, complex and full of interesting yet enjoyable flavors. The entree was almost like a rollercoaster for my taste buds, but in the end I was glad I ordered it.
Finally, the dinner ended with the Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich with warm chocolate dipping sauce.
Holy crap. Remember when the Saratoga Idiots coordinated the Ice Cream Sandwich Throwdown in the area and several Saratoga restaurants made outstanding creations for ice cream cookie sandwich lovers to try? If Maestro’s had joined the competition with this sandwich, they would have had a fighting chance to win the whole thing. As simple as it sounds and looks, I’ve never had a more beautifully crafted traditional ice cream sandwich in my life. The cookie was crunchy and golden brown, as a chocolate chip cookie should be, while the vanilla ice cream was sweet and light. The two balanced each other in the best way, and dipping it in the chocolate sauce just put it over the top. If you aren’t understanding my jibberish – I LOVED it. Loved.
With that said, I think it’s safe to say Maestro’s was a great first pick for Restaurant Week. Not only was I happy with the selections I made, but the menu overall for the week is diverse and really offers something for everyone. I hope everyone is enjoying the week so far and also – Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Now go eat some corned beef!
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4 Comments
Can never go wrong with a Holy crap as part of a food description, cracked me up
hahaha it seriously was just that good. I couldn’t think of another way to describe it!
Never! The Idiots were looking for something unusual in an ice cream sandwich. This may have been “Holy Crap” good, but unusual it was not.
;^)
But it’s good to know where the other great ice cream sandwiches of Saratoga can be found. Seriously, it’s harder to execute these things than one might imagine. Two of the four we had on the tour were a complete mess.
Yes I’ll agree with you about the purpose of the Idiots quest to find a unique ice cream sandwich. I did want to get the point across though that I thought the sandwich was pretty top notch, even if it was a pretty basic ice cream sandwich! I hope they continue selling it!