After a great night visiting friends in Bordentown City, NJ last night, we couldn't help but take a ride back to Bordentown to visit our other favorite BYOB on Farnsworth Avenue. I tell ya, between Under the Moon and Oliver-A Bistro, I don't know that I could pick a favorite if I had to, as they both have great food, and they are both run by such great people. Regardless, what a great weekend being able to hit them both on back to back nights! Make sure you check out last nights review of Oliver-A Bistro HERE.
What else can you say about Bordentown City other than charming? This is small town America at it's finest, and straight out of Mayberry! It is a great little town, with a few great BYOB's, some other good restaurants, and some great shops, ranging from women's boutiques, to art galleries, to coffee shops, to a great little second hand shop. Bordentown screams charm, are we love to visit and stroll up and down Farnsworth Avenue!
I made reservations for 7:30PM tonight, and we were greeted as always by the great family who runs the restaurant. Owned and operated by a great, local Bordentown family, Mom Estella AKA "Mama," and father Luigi, while son Santiago and daughter Silvi work hard in the kitchen as well. The four of them work together in unison with their other employees, and they are some of the nicest people you will ever visit with. Mama and Luigi actually took the night off, so hopefully they had a nice evening sharing each others company.
Santiago and Silvi were working tonight, along with Sarah, Fawn, and a few other members of the Under the Moon family. We were seated in a table in the back side of the restaurant against the wall. We had a nice two top, with a round glass top, situated on top of an old sewing machine stand, which is what most of their tables are composed of. This is a nice touch, and adds some nice charm to the restaurant.
Sarah was our server tonight, and she is always a sweetheart. I pulled our Riedel Sommelier Series Burgundy glasses from the carrier, she immediate handed Sarah our 2006 Kosta Browne Russian River pinot noir. She came back moments later, and I poured us both a glass. A few swirls, and a cheer, and we were on our way to a wonderfully romantic evening. Feel free to read to the review on the Kosta Browne below. Sadly, this bottle didn't perform nearly as well as past bottles we have had, and I think that this wine just needs another year or so in the cellar to come together. We will definitely find out in time as we have 3 more of these in our cellar.
This was our first look at the new fixed menu, and there were quite a few things worth looking at! This was our first trip in a few weeks, and our first visit where they have their new "set" menu in place. In past visits, their menu has changed nightly, which is not a bad thing in the least, however, now I can find all of my favorites on the menu, ranging from Mama's Pork, to the Seafood Enchiladas, to the Under the Moon Chicken, to Santiago's crab cakes.
Tonight, we started off with the Oaxaca Guacamole and chips. This was a great serving of fresh guacamole and fresh salsa. The guacamole had a great texture to it, with nice large chunks of avocado worked in, with some onion, tomato, and seasoning. The salsa was nice and fresh, and had a nice rich texture to it, with nice tomato, some pepper, and just the right amount of seasoning again. This is great salsa, and it is served with a in house fried flour tortilla chip that has a really nice crunch to it. What a great serving this is, and like all of their dishes, it is more than enough for two people.
For entrees tonight, we both had a hard time deciding on what we were going to have. I was a bit surprised that Zelda decided to have the vodka rigatoni with grilled chicken. As usual, this came out and was a monster of a portion. Nice pasta with a gorgeous vodka sauce, and the chicken was grilled with a nice char on it. The chicken was nicely seasoned, and the flavors as usual were delicious. This is some of the best homemade cooking you are going to find in the area. This was then finished with some fresh mozzarella cheese, and shaved Parmesan cheese. Like every other time we have visited Under the Moon, Zelda ended up boxing up what was left, and it will be the perfect portion for lunch tomorrow.
For me tonight, I was excited tonight to try the Beef Wellington, which I first noticed when we stopped in a few weeks ago when we got a preview of the new set menu. There is something about Beef Wellington that I love! But in all actually, what I think it comes down to is the puffed pastry, and quite frankly, you could probably wrap a shoe in puffed pastry, bake it, and I would eat it.
My entree came out served over a nice gravy, over a bed of mashed potatoes. Upon cutting into the Wellington, with my fork mind you, I discovered some gorgeous beef, cooked nicely, with a nice gravy, some diced carrots, and mushroom. The first bite was reminiscent of the best pot roast your mom had every cooked for you. I mean that in the greatest way possible, and some of you are probably shaking your head and saying"pot roast?" Call me crazy, but I absolutely love pot roast, which is surprising as I used to dread pot roast night as a kid.
This was also served with a mound of julienned vegetables, consisting of onion, red and green peppers, and a whole plethora of other sauteed vegetables. By the time I got to the bottom of my Wellington, I was pleasantly stuffed, with no room for dessert.
We spent the next 1/2 our or so talking with Sarah and Fawn, and checking out the buzz through out the restaurant, while browsing the antiques that are on display and for sale around the restaurant.
As always, it is great to look around this restaurant and seeing every table full, along with every seat in the window side bar full. We have been coming here for years now, and we are glad to see that Under the Moons hard work has established them a great reputation as one of the best restaurants in Central New Jersey.
In closing, what is there to say other than awesome? As always, the Orosco Family and their Under the Moon Family took great care of us, while making food that is to die for! My name is F. Scott Fitz, and I am a member of the Under the Moon Fan Club! Cheers!
Once again it has taken us far too long to get back to Under the Moon in Bordentown, for no good reason at all. It has also been way too long since we have gotten together with Chowhound and Wine Board friends tom246 and his lovely bride DW. But with the snow apocalypse on the horizon, we decided to brave the elements for a little get together at Under the Moon, and as always, we left with happy belly's, and had a wonderful evening.
Under the Moon is still one of the treasures in downtown Bordentown. It is a quaint little place on the main drag of Farnsworth Avenue, and us just so friendly and cozy. From the great family and friends who work their, to the dishes made with love and great flavors, you just cannot go wrong.
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We arrived at Under the Moon steps behind our friends, and said hello to Mama's crew! Mama is actually on her way back from Argentina as I type this, but her son Santiago had the kitchen well under control, and did a great job.
We sat and caught up with tom246 and DW while we were trying to decide on the wine selection. They brought an '03 Richioli pinot noir, as well as an '03 Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel, while I brought a selection ranging from an '05 Kistler chardonnay, '03 Fiddlehead pinot noir 728, '05 Sea Smoke pinot noir Southing, and an '07 Stefania Haut Tubee. We finally decided on going with the Sea Smoke and the Tablas Creek. Feel free to read those tasting notes below once I get them posted!
Before ordering, Santiago came over and sat with us for a few minutes, talking about their new menu that they are going to debut next Tuesday, February 9th, as well as their new take out menu, delivery services, etc. Let me say that the new menu looks great, and is also very ambitious in my opinion. There will be many dishes on the new menu, including some of Mama's staples! One thing that I am really looking forward to is the Beef Wellington, and we are also really looking forward to the new guacamole addition to the appetizers! YUM! Regardless, we are wishing them the best on the premier of their new menu! I think it is going to be fabulous!
So on to appetizers, tom246 ordered the soup, which I think was a white and black bean soup, and Zelda opted for the Tempura Cauliflower. In the mean time, out came the toasted signature bread and mama's chimichuri, and we just enjoyed some great wine and conversation while catching up. A bit later the apps came out, and the soup looked really nice, as did Zelda's cauliflower, smothered in melted cheese, with a nice breading and topped with tomato sauce. I will say that I am not a big fan of cauliflower, but bread anything and top it in cheese and I will eat it! It was nice and tasty, and a massive portion! Needless to say we didn't finish it all as we had to save room for dinner, and I was determined to save room for dessert tonight as well!
For entrees tonight, Zelda opted for the homemade Lobster Ravioli, and I opted for Silvi's Short Ribs. Other dishes at the table included Paella, as well as Joel's Chicken. Dinner came out in what seemed like no time as we were all busy catching up.
The paella and Joel's chicken looked fabulous, and as usual, looked like massive dishes! It looked as though there was 2 pounds of paella on DW's plate, formed from a bowl in a large mound, and topped with a gorgeous orange puree of some sort. Tom246's chicken was covered in a beautiful, thick, and chunky fresh tomato salsa, and too was a heaping helping of Argentinean hospitality that can be seen above.
Zelda's lobster ravioli looked fabulous, and is there really anything better than homemade, handmade pasta? This was served with a beautiful creamy tomato sauce, that was nice and light in color, garnished with some roasted red peppers. Upon cutting into the ravioli, Zelda pointed out a gorgeous chunk of what looked liked lobster clam meet. WOW! I have never seen such a large chunk of lobster meet stuffed inside of ravioli, but this was incredible. This was not pureed with a bunch of cheese and filler, this was chunks of lobster heaven with some cheese. This is how every restaurant should make lobster ravioli, and was absolutely delectable!
Out came my short ribs, and again, another massive portion! Two giant short ribs on the bone, smothered in a sauce that had some mushroom, served over a bed of ginger mashed potatoes, and some Julienne vegetables consisting of carrots and other veggies.
These were as tender and fat free as can be, and cooked very nicely. All of the fat had been burned off, and these could be cut with a fork...no knife needed here. The flavors we awesome, and the textured of the short ribs was perfect. The portion was huge, and I couldn't have eaten another bite without killing my appetite for dessert. The ginger mash paired nicely, and were seasoned perfectly. I was a little hesitant about the ginger element, but it was a nice combination.
As we finished the bottoms of our bottles of vino, we ordered dessert. I am a huge fan of Santiago's bread pudding, and the apple bread pudding was fresh out of the oven tonight. Really nice chunks of fresh apple, with a nice breading and smothered in a homemade caramel sauce. It again was huge, and I couldn't finish it all.
Tom246 and DW went for the lemon meringue pie, another Santiago staple, and it too looked great. Santiago also sent out a piece of his chocolate peanut butter cheesecake for the table to share, and it too was great.
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All in all, what can we say other than the fact that we had another great night at Under the Moon with great friends, food, and service. Santiago did a great job as always, and the service from Sarah was once again fabulous! Great job from the Under the Moon family, and as always, we look forward to our next visit! I'll clean this up and make some more comments after doing some snow shoveling! Cheers!
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