Feast@4East takes the Challenge
I guess enough local is in season again to warrant a new round of the Eat in Season Challenge. This time Feast@4East is stepping up to the plate on March 19, 20 and 21.
Feast is the offbeat little restaurant (can I even call it that?) inside the 4 East Madison Inn in Mount Vernon. I liked Feast when I ate there, but it may not make you happy if you insist on a traditional restaurant experience.
I love the Eat in Season Challenge menu (below). Read along until you come to the shellfish starter and you'll get a good sense of the delightful wackiness of the place.
The other thing that amuses me is that on a locavore-centric menu (please forgive me for that description), bison is prominently featured. Yes, I know bison meat is produced, or grown, or whatever you do with it, in Monkton; but I just can't think of bison as a local delicacy somehow. ...
black bean soup (vegan) $6
house-made charcuterie $8
bruschetta (vegan), with topping of the day $6
shellfish something market price
green salads
with baked goat cheese $7
shallots and Dijon vinaigrette (vegan) $4
pasta
gnocchetti with tomato ragu (vegan) $12
gnocchetti with brown butter sage $12
dinner
roasted 1/2 organic chicken $16
bison steak with mushroom ragout $18
ground bison rolo with gnocchi $18
wild rockfish with mustard-tarragon-chive drizzle and butterbean succotash $20
sautéed Chesapeake skate with preserved lemon brown butter $16
dessert
bread pudding with apples and applejack-cream sauce $7
berry fool (vegan) $7
cherry ice cream $6
beverages
white grape juice, cola, iced tea, sparkling water, tea $2
organic fair trade coffee via French press, small $3, large $6
BYOW: $5.00 corking fee
Comments
If you can raise crabs in Arizona, I suppose you can raise bison in Maryland.
Posted by: Bucky | March 11, 2009 9:07 AM
Maryland: America in Miniature.
Posted by: Robert (the Single One) | March 11, 2009 10:15 AM
That's the most beautiful blue I've ever seen. Someone needs to find out the paint color for me. I have to paint my living room in that color immediately.
I'm not kidding
Posted by: Nakiya | March 11, 2009 10:30 AM
wasn't there a few buffalo that got loose in owings mills a few years ago?
yeah... here it is
must be a buffalo farm somewhere?
Posted by: Matt | March 11, 2009 11:11 AM
That blue almost makes me want to throw up. It attacks my brain with a too violent assertion of its brazen unnatural hue,
Posted by: Owl Meat Gravy 2 – Inverse Square | March 11, 2009 12:16 PM
Haven't any of you heard of wood buffalo? Never mind they are extinct.
Posted by: Lissa | March 11, 2009 12:17 PM
Matt - See Gunpowder Bison & Trading in Monkton.
Posted by: Anonymous | March 11, 2009 1:18 PM
Owl,
Is emesis forthcoming?
Posted by: RayRay | March 11, 2009 1:59 PM
There's also a buffalo farm in Lineboro:
http://www.twinspringsbuffalo.com
Posted by: Kathy | March 11, 2009 2:08 PM
Monkton is not all that near Pikesville....
(I'm not all that good with the West Side, but I'm quite sure about this)
Posted by: Eve | March 11, 2009 2:49 PM
I like the blue, Owl. I think it's bright and cheerful!
Pikesville buffalo are gone. Just the farm in Lineboro and one somewhere near Parkton (sign seen as car sped by on 83).
Posted by: Joyce W. | March 11, 2009 3:11 PM
I've also seen buffalo somewhere on the Eastern Shore--Delaware portion.
The menu IS quirky--somebody really, really likes making gnocchi, I guess. I like the "shellfish something"--honesty in menu-writing!
Posted by: Dahlink | March 11, 2009 3:15 PM
The Gunpowder Bison & Trading Co. is on Monkton Rd., via the Mount Carmel exit of I-83 North; the website is easily found on Google. The bison are raised on the GBT farm, processed in Pennsylvania, and the frozen, packaged cuts are returned to the GBT store for sale. The meat is delicious and quite healthy, having virtually no fat and less cholesterol than white meat chicken. The caveat is, if you don't like medium rare meat, don't try bison. If it's cooked past medium, ya got yerself a fine piece of shoe leather.
Posted by: Dottie | March 11, 2009 9:21 PM
I ate at the Feast @ 4 East Saturday night to support the locavore trend. It is an intimate setting to say the least. Six tables when we started with a seventh set up in the parlor later in the evening. A hostess and two servers do everything. Every table had atleast one person who wanted the skate. I wanted the skate. It is one fish that everytime I have cooked it home I have not been pleased with the results but in restaurants I have always been pleased. I made a special trip to the Wine Source to get a bottle of Muscadet. Took a back up in case the first bottle was corked. Then came the announcement "No skate tonight." Wow what a let down. I suddenly wished I had brought a red instead of a back up white. This is one of the problems with a BYOB restaurant.
I regrouped and ordered the shrimp grilled with the heads attached, the gnocchetti with brown butter and sage, and the rockfish. The shrimp were overcooked by several minutes. A real disappointment. The gnocchetti were very light and the brown butter did not overwhelm them. The rockfish was cooked perfectly and the succotash was a nice change of pace. Steamed carrots were also served with main course.
My wife had the salad with goat cheese and the gnocchetti with the tomato ragu. She enjoyed the salad but found the tomato ragu to not be to her liking. I had the leftovers for lunch on Sunday and thought it was good though no better that I make with canned diced tomatoes sauteed with a little onion and garlic. I think we were expecting a longer cooked sauce.
The service was good. I was offered a chiller for my wine which I turned down. I also poured my own. The glasses were nothing special. Five dollars to uncork my $12 wine and set a glass on table. Enough about that.
Overall the experience was nice if nothing special. If we return it won't be for the skate and I will bring a red and a white. I don't quite get the locavore aspect. Corn, tomatoes, carrots, and sage from Maryland this time of year? Are there sources of dried beans and canned vegetables grown here that I am just not aware of? Or is it that the main ingredients (fish and meat) have to be local and everything else can be outsourced? I do intend to try all the local challenge menus this year. Maybe a visit to the Slow Food website will provide answers to the above questions.
Posted by: Elite Elephant Lover | March 23, 2009 12:41 PM