Sublime Food Lounge -- replaced Wilson and is better and cheaper (a bit long)

[NAspy]

Sign of the Times -- Wilson, the eponymous overpriced and oversalted American bistro closed its doors almost a year ago, victim of the recession and its own exalted self-image. We wanted so much to love Wilson, it was close to our house, the chef is a Beach Baby, all the relevant reasons. But the food was very expensive for what you got, service was always a bit off, and the place never seemed to take off. After a brief stint as an upscale, lower priced taqueria, it was shuttered. For months the empty space was sporadically used as a set for exciting broken plate glass window scenes from TV shows like "Chuck."

But now Sublime is there. They had their soft opening a few weeks back and we decided to give it a try last evening around 7. The four of us (a family) walked in around 7. The place was empty except for our neighbors. We did not have a reservation but were seated. By 8 PM the place was full, much fuller than Wilson ever was. They also have back outdoor seating, but we chose to sit inside. There is a continuously running soundless black and white film running on the large wall over the bar, so if you like being distracted while eating, you'll want to face it. My younger daughter ended up being regretful that she sat facing it because she found it too distracting, though her running commentary on the plot provided some entertainment.

The menu is small, with a "gastropub" slant to it and divides itself into Small and Large. Small: charcuterie (house made) and cheeses, nuts roasted in indian spices and rosemary (the ultimate in cocktail nuts I suppose), beet salad, gravlax, tuna tartare, split pea soup with pancetta, foie gras french toast, roasted bone marrow and a couple of interesting but a bit outre sounding flatbreads for starters and Large: short ribs, seared duck, braised oxtail, carbonara risotto, scallops and one veggie dish for entrees. Prices are very reasonable, but still upscale. The Small plates range from $4 for the nuts to $14 for the flatbreads and $15 for the foie gras french toast and Large plates range from $12 to $18.

The wine list is pretty small, but we ordered a wonderful Malvasia ($24) and the kids got milk. Sublime also has a full bar, and while it looked like the type of place that would have a bunch of groovy, offbeat cocktails, I didn't see a list or a board for that. I'm sure it's coming. We started out with the house charcuterie and the nuts. The charcuterie was excellent: duck prosciuotto (fatty and flavorful), Tuscan salami, and a blue cheese, a cheddar and a hard goat cheese. They had additional selections but we had the chef choose and he chose well. Hazelnuts and sweetened cranberries were scattered about the plate and they added a dollop of honey as well. Very very good, as were the nuts (which we took home). Grade from us : A.

At this point our server is really singing the praises of the chef so we asked about who it was: the best we could get from him is that the chef's name is "Randall" and he used to be in "the film production business." We then ordered the beet salad and the tuna tartare. Both were very good, and though Fraiche and Jiraffe still win our best beet salad honors, this one was better than Gjelinas. The tuna tartare came with house made potato chips which were awesome, yet my oldest daughter proclaimed of the tartare, "it's good but not as good as Makos." She was right. Second term grade B+.

A big hitch in service developed after we ordered our Large plates, which were the short ribs and the scallops. They didn't show up for about 30 minutes. Finally our server came out to tell us that our dishes had been delivered to a different table that had ordered the same items. About 10 minutes later the scallops and short ribs came. The scallops (3) were thick and meaty and cooked just right, but the short ribs were COLD. I mean cold. The potato stack underneath them was hot. We needed to send the short ribs back. Additionally that dish had a couple end pieces that were simply not edible. Sublime just fell off the dean's list and is in danger of being put on academic probation. We noticed that the place was packed by this time and figured Sublime is having its growing pains. But still...

The restaurant recouped itself somewhat with dessert. The list is very intriguing, with those sweet/savory combos that came into vogue about 5 years ago, but never became the standard. Sublime's efforts, while bold, need improvement. Caramel popcorn bread pudding was too dense ("I like your bread pudding better," my oldest commented), and the chocolate hazelnut ravioli probably shouldn't have left the drawing board quite yet, but the concept is one worth working on.

Total bill $145 -- one bottle of wine, large charcuterie plate, nuts, 2 Smalls, 2 Larges and 2 desserts. Very reasonable. We gave the place a B/B+ overall. I think they should have comp'ed us the desserts for the screwup in service, but I guess that's a thing of the past.

They have a website: www.sublimefoodlounge.com

I'd be interested in hearing others' impressions, particularly of the flatbreads.

[Ciao Bob]

Great detailed review, NAspy. Thanks so much.

[nicolamj]

We live in the nabe too and just visited last weekend. Food is very tasty, but portion size is small - even for the 'large' plates. I like that sort of thing, but those who fixate on 'quantity' may be disappointed.

We started with the squash blosson flatbread to shared - had an alarming color, but was very tasty. For our large plates, we had the seared duck, carbonara risotto, and the 36 hour short rib, which was all very delicious, but I'm not sure what was 36 hour about it? It seemed medium-rare. Delicious, but odd name.

We had the popcorn bread pudding - delicious.

The only negative thing I have to say is that the glasses of wine seemed a bit short on the pour.

Servers were effusive and the food came out in good time. We were there on Sunday, so not crowded. When they start doing lunch, I think this place will really start getting popular.

[NAspy]

Yes the wine pours were skimpy, and in fact that was why we ordered a bottle of Malvasia at $24, because each 3 ounce pour of same was 8 bucks! And we were easily going to drink 3 tiny glasses.

[pointone]

I went a few weeks ago and enjoyed it. Had the foie gras french toast (it was really good), the squash blossom/goat cheese/truffle oil flatbread (I found it to be a little underwhelming), the carbonara risotto (really rich and really good), the hazelnut chocolate ravioli (meh) and the caramel popcorn bread pudding (I liked this one better than the ravioli). I'm not exactly sure why I was underwhelmed by the flatbread. Maybe the description made it seem like it would have a lot of flavor but somehow it was just okay.
The portion sizes aren't huge, but they're good sizes to share with someone else if you both want to try lots of things. The service was fine the night I went. I'd go back.