What? You didn't Swoon (Kitchenbar)? Another review

Again, what is this with the wait staff? Let me stop, take a breath and begin at the beginning of this tale of two reviews.



As you know, Gregg, my old friend from California, wanted to take me and my mother out to dinner. He was staying with us at the Inn and eating there as well. I have known Gregg for years. We worked together at Divicom back in the '90s. It does feel strange to say that, "back" and "90's" in the same sentence but that's what it was and back in the 90's it was what it was. So say I.

I hired Gregg a number of times as a consultant and director to do release management and run not only configuration management, release management but quality assurance as well. We have a long working history and have developed a strong friendship. One of the hardest parts of leaving California was leaving our friends. Gregg and his wife Karen were certainly two of our best friends.

Gregg.

Mom.

Well, if you read this blog, you know that someone suggested I eat at Food Sing. We were going to go there for coffee but that didn't work out.

Since Kim is visiting our daughter and having a mother daughter week in Washington state and Montana, Gregg decided to take me and my mom out to dinner. Gregg suggested Swoon Kitchenbar where we'd had coffee the other day. Now, Gregg isn't a fake LA friend but rather a real LA friend, if that is possible, since he was born in LA but early on moved to the Bay Area and Santa Clara. In any case, he and Karen are real Californian friends. And thus, in honor of his visit, which was too short by far, I am doing one more review of Swoon.

Rather than wine, I decided on a nice Sidecar. I love my Sidecars. The Swoon bar didn't have Hennessy. I use the VS because I don't like using good cognac for a Sidecar. However, they didn't have it so they upgraded me. As my readers know, if a restaurant, such as Bolo, cannot make a good drink, it isn't worth the time. At Bolo, they served me sewer swill. I had to send it back. Sorry Bobby but Bolo isn't worth it.

This Sidecar was OK. Too much Quantro not enough cognac or lemon. Remember the ratio is 3:1.5:1, cognac:Quantro:lemon. I don't like Grand Marnier in my Sidecars.

They didn't have the steak tartare, not even on the dinner menu and had run out of it after lunch, and when I ordered the Rabbit Rillettes, they were out of that, too. I wound up with the Country Pork Pate. A distant third.

I had the only appetizer. Yes, my mother asked for soup but they didn't have any, forget about her favorite soup.

My mother had the duck breast. She rated it a 5 out of 10. I agreed. Not bad but not great.

Gregg played it safe with hanger steak and enjoyed it. I had a little, I'd give it an 8. I think he did, too.

I had the Rabbit Cannelloni. It was stuffed with shredded rabbit and was surprisingly good. I found it a little vinegary but palatable.

I decided on the Pannacotta and was happy. They served me the raspberry sorbet by mistake rather than the passion fruit, which was also on the zeppoli that my mother had, but I liked the raspberry better than the passion fruit.

The passion fruit.

Gregg had the dense chocolate mousse. Not bad.

The famous zeppoli. Not as good as when we had lunch but still tasty. And that's the nut of it. I think as a lunch place they are much better than as a dinner place.

On my last blog post, it was suggested that they showed better at dinner. That that was their strength. Remember, I had issues with the wait service falling apart. So, we went back for dinner. And what happened but in the middle of dinner, our waiter went home. We didn't have a late seating. We had 7:00 reservations and were out of there by 9:00ish. So, what happened? We got a nice waitress. She was much more enthusiastic than our waiter. Still, not what I would expect from a strong restaurant.

On top of that, they didn't seat us in the white tablecloth section. We were in the bar section while other people taking up half a table were in the white table cloth section? I wondered about that. All in all, dinner or lunch or just drinks, you wont go wrong with Swoon Kitchenbar. This was my third time this month and I was happy, mostly. It was also the only place open on Sunday. It seems that in Hudson, so many places close down at night. So, Swoon is reliable.

Thanks again, Gregg for taking us out to dinner and thanks as well for coming to visit. You'll have to come back soon and bring Karen with you.

Food Sing? Not what we thought it would be

I haven't eaten there yet but since we do Chinese food at the inn, I hope it's great Chinese food or I will be put out. On this trip, we were in search of espresso and rest and had heard about Food Sing without knowing it was a Chinese Food restaurant. We went all the way up to Food Sing thinking it in the same milieu and league as Swoon, only to find this at the end of our walk. Food Sing review coming. I just can't say when. But I can say that we turned around and went back to Swoon for a drink, cappuccino and aperitifs. A good time was had by all.



We, my good friend Gregg from Northern California and I, also went out to dinner. The review is coming. Here's a little taste of that review.

"Once again, while we were dining, our waiter was changed out from underneath us. It felt strange and unexpected and yet somehow familiar. Can't I eat at this place and not have my waiter go home before I do?"

Swoon Cafe in Hudson, New York

Kim and I went for a late lunch at the Swoon Kitchenbar.



Swoon Kitchenbar
340 Warren St, Hudson, NY 12534
(518) 822-8938

We had very high hopes for it. Very high. My mom recommended Swoon and had a great time there. She went with some of her fake LA friends. I know, that's a redundant oxymoron, like good LA suburb, but because they're really from Danville, VA, not LA, they're really fake LA. Mostly. Mom told us the gazpacho was not to be missed. We did miss it. What we wound up having almost made up for it. Almost.



Swoon cafe is a nice place. Large and well lit.

I enjoyed their steak tartare. Not as yummified as Spago Palo Alto, which is now closed, but beautifully made with gherkins and toast (points). Do I hear a trip to the Jersey Shore coming?

The duck confit scrapple combination was good but as you can see, the egg was over poached and I thought the potato overshadowed the duck confit. However, a nice, $15, glass of Jean-Pierre Grossot Chablis, AC, went very well with the dish. Personally, I would have preferred this for breakfast. Personally, I would have preferred it for breakfast in Baltimore, home of scrapple.

Kim had a panino with chicken, avocado and bacon. She liked it. She enjoyed it. Remember, I have taken Kim out to the finest restaurants in the world and the French Laundry and Per Se and have given her the finest wines to drink, Margaux '61, Cheval Blanc '78, Krug '85, even a Clos de Mesnil, not to mention dozens of Yquem vintages. She always says, "They're fine." But still, don't that look good?

I loved their zeppoli (zeppole) with blueberry and crème anglaise. And yes, I started eating and had to stop and take pictures. So, I take full responsibility for messing up the plating. Yum.



Kim had a cappuccino. I had an espresso. Because we were having a late lunch, we were there until 5:00 o'clock and had our waitress changed out from under us. Sort of like an oil change when you're driving down the highway. The waitresses, I felt, lost their focus as they transitioned to dinner. Basically, the dining experience fell apart. Kim commented that she thought it was because of the change over from lunch to dinner and not to hold it against them. Perish the thought. So, in that case, I would not recommend coming in for a late lunch because you'll wind up with shoddy wait service. Before our team of waitresses lost their focus, it was good. Price was less than Lupa more than the Spanish Pavilion in New Jersey. But that's another story.