MAdinolfi78 Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 Jim Burke of James was just named a Food & Wine Best New Chef 2008Has anyone been to James on 8th? I haven't seen any discussion on this thread. Am curious as I'm going to Philly this weekend and have a reservation for this saturday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAdinolfi78 Posted April 16, 2008 Author Share Posted April 16, 2008 went to james on 8th this past saturday with my wife & sister-in-law - Dining room was packed full when we arrived for our 8:30 reservation but the bar was pretty empty (thankfully) as we were able to get seats and talk to the bartender a bit. I had a hendricks and honeydew – gin & honeydew with fresh thyme – it was nice and refreshing. They didn’t seat us until close to 9 but that was OK, the host was very apologetic. Overall the food was amazing and the service was really spot on – attentive but not hovering or overbearing – the meal was leisurely and we weren’t rushed or anything, although it did take a bit too long between our 1st and second courses – almost 30 minutes, but that was the only niti had overall. Sommelier was great, very friendly – actually recommended a wine that was more affordable than the initial one I was looking at – and the wine list overall was really reasonably priced. They also had a few half bottles which I thought was a nice touch. We got a bottle of red a Dolcetto something – spicy upfront but light finish and then a 2nd half bottle of another italian that was lighter bodied and went really nice with the entrees. All of the servers were very friendly actually – I had a question about an after dinner drink, the Mas Amiel 10-year. The server didn’t know what it was but got another sever who explained it was a port (it wasn’t clear from the menu description) and gave offered me a taste. Kristina the manager/co-owner made her way around the entire dining room interacting with guests etc and stopped by several times to check on us and talked with us a bit. In terms of the meal itself –the menu is organized into basically 3 courses – 1st courses, then 2nd course of various pastas & risottos, and entrees. They sent out an amuse bouche which was a little pork pate thing with a parsley oil. For 1st courses the 3 of us split 2 dishes – a poached salmon with fennel and I think it was an artichoke puree (can’t really remember) as well as sea scallops with a slightly lemony sauce that was great. 2nd course we again split 2 dishes: hand cut tagliatelle with duck ragu, shaved chocolate & orange (apparently this is the only dish that has never been removed from the menu) it was amazing – the duck was almost braised – the orange sauce was delicate and not too sweet or tart – really well balanced. The other dish we got was the special, called risi & bisi – and it was better than the tagliatelle (which was amazing). It was a risotto with mint peas that had what was described as a sort of “bacon sorbet” if I remember correctly but was like a bacon flavored heavy cream. It sounded a little out there when first described (I actually had to ask the components again when it was served ‘cause I’d forgotten) but was awesome. For entrees – 2 of us got the Four Story Hill farms poularde, tender spinach porcini mushrooms & apple infused pan sauce. My wife got the red curry braised wild pink snapper, mustard greens & mussel-potato. The chicken was incredibly moist & light - it was prepared by some technique where thy take the skin off – then put in garlic and some seasoning and then wrap the skin back on and roast it. I initially thought it must have been brined to be that moist but it wasn't. We were pretty stuffed at this point but split one of the deserts – a rhubarb crème cake special, and I had the aforementioned 10-year port. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monavano Posted May 29, 2008 Share Posted May 29, 2008 went to james on 8th this past saturday with my wife & sister-in-law. James' Chef Jim Burke was chosen as one of Food and Wine's Best New Chefs 2008. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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