Russet

[arepo]

How come there are absolutely no posts on this new center city restaurant?
It seems to get pretty good press elsewhere.
Has not one Chowhounder been there?

[lowereastrittenhouse]

I went last night and had a similar take as the others here. Good not great is an apt summary. I started with chicory salad, which was a nice pair of pear and la tur cheese, but skimpy on the greens for my taste. I'd like a chicory salad to play off the taste of chicory instead of making it a garnish for cheese Which was a pattern: for a farm-to-table-y New American style place, the cooking didn't really focus on bringing out the innate qualities of the ingredients. My main was a roasted half lobster which was overwhelmed with the rich sauce, but the accompanying winter squash and mushrooms were incredible. A companion found the steak too fatty.The service was good. 7:00 pm seating on a Saturday night, so I was worried about the noise level, but it was actually fine.

[arepo]

Perhaps by now the sound barriers are in place -- fingers crossed.

[lemarais]

Unlikely, they told us "by the end of the year". But your early dining time should help you avoid the din.

I had a better food experience that some others posting above, our food was truly great. An amazing array of flavors and textures along with fantastic presentation and service.

[JanR]

There was another thread which just disappeared. We were there last weekend. It's a beautiful space. Food was good, not great. My husband's suckling pig was visually unappealing,however, and about 60 percent fat (see Laban's comment about pig-fat encased tilefish -- maybe it's their thing). Didn't get intolerably noisy until about 7pm. Service was good.

[lemarais]

We were here a couple of weeks ago, here:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/868510

and a very extensive review here:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/855260

[arepo]

Thank you lemarais. Your post was extremely helpful.
I have just made a 5:30 reservation. That ought to take care of any extraneous noise and by the time I go in October perhaps certain sound barriers will be put into place.
Thanks again.

[sylviag]

We have been there twice.
We thought the food was creative and delicious, but the noise level was not tolerable for us.

[arepo]

Even at 5:30 was the noise level intolerable?
Might they have read about this huge flaw and changed it by now?

[Buckethead]

I'm not sure what happened to the earlier thread on this. Anyway, I liked Russet but not enough to go back, the mains fell short of the apps, and everything sounded better on the menu than it tasted on the plate. Kinda pricey, too. I didn't have a problem with the noise level, if I remember correctly I was there around 6:30 on a weekend evening.