Green Monkey
I did it. I really did it. I paid $12 for a single bottle of beer. The name of the beer was "La Fin du Mond", which means the end of the world. And when you are paying $12 for a bottle, the end must be near.
The Green Monkey is a nice little restaurant on Pleasant Street in Portsmouth. When I called for a 7:00 reservation for four, the person on the phone said she had three parties coming in at 7, so would I mind 7:15. I should have guessed from this question that the place would be a little busy when we arrived.
We were seated at our table, a nice location about 1/2 way back from the front window. As I was sitting down, it was obvious from the noise levels of the other people there, that we weren't going to have an intimate dinner conversation. It felt kind of like that party where the volume keeps going up while each group raises its voices to be heard over the one next to them. After a while, though, the noise did seem to subside, or I just got used to it.
The first order of business was the adult beverages. The Green Monkey offers a small but effective list of martinis. I tried the Lavender Lust, which was not Lavender, but was tasty. Others in my party had a Cuban Martini (good, but valuable glass space taken up by mint leaves) and one who's name I can't remember but it had champagne in it and wasn't anyone's favorite. The fourth member of our party asked for a Monty Python's Holy Grail Ale, but was denied - they were out of stock. He instead had another beer who's name I forget (hmmm, I'm thinking now that the martinis were a little potent).
The second order of business was appetizers. The selection looked good. We went with the Wild Mushrooms Forestier, described as a sautee of wild mushrooms and fire-roasted tomatoes in a sherry cream sauce with grilled asiago bread, and the Lobster and Mango Spring Rolls, described as crispy spring rolls topped with a sweet and spicy chinese mustard sauce. Both appetizers were wonderful and gave us great anticipation for the dinner selections.
But before dinner arrived, we needed to reload our glasses. I went with the $12 Le Fin Du Mond from Unibrou. Turns out that the triple fermentation leaves a bitter finish to each taste. If I were any kind of a beer connoisseur, I'd probably have realized what I was getting into. Live and learn. Another member of our party ordered Unibrou's Maudite, another $12 bottle but a bit smoother on the way down. The good news about paying $12 for a bottle of beer is that you get a two beer bottle (22 oz.) and each beer was 8 or 9 percent alcohol - so you're getting the buzz equivalent of at least three regular beers for your money.
Two members of our party ordered wine. One was a wonderful cab/shiraz combination known as Mad Dogs and Englishmen (probably endorsed by Joe Cocker). The other was a white wine, some kind of chardonnay, I think. The wine was a bit evervescent, which was wrong, and there was some serious sediment in the glass, which was very wrong. Obviously we were getting the bottom of an old bottle. After pointing this out, our waitress rectified the situation with a glass from a fresh bottle that was very good.
For dinner, we had the following items (with menu descriptions in parenthesis): Wolfe's Neck Farm Bistro Steak (grilled bistro steak topped with seared fois gras, garlic scallion butter, pomme frites), Hawaiian Sea Salt And Peppercorn Seared Tuna (served rare over an Asian slaw and mashed potatoes with citrus butter and a sweet soy glaze), Macadamia Encrusted Mahi Mahi (served with a creamy tahitian vanilla bean risotto and papaya buerre blanc), and Wasabi Roasted Wild Salmon Mignon (served over a sautee of sweet corn, fire roasted peppers, leeks, crispy spinach and miso aioli). Two out of four met or exceeded expectations. The steak and the salmon were both nicely prepared and the combinations served with them complimented the main item. The tuna, on the other hand, was too seared on the one side that faced the fire - so much so that it took a knife to cut through the seared section; the act of doing so shredded the raw parts. And the mashed potatoes were just that, mashed potato, lacking in imagination. The Mahi Mahi was over-cooked and the nuts served to detract from the fish flavor, rather than enhance. In all cases, the food presentation was artful and creative, and I particularly liked the round plate with a flat side that matched the edge of the table - it helps you keep your food close.
Nothing on the dessert menu caught our fancy and the menu was somewhat limited with only 4 or 5 choices. And after the somewhat spotty nature of our meals, we decided to head up to Breaking New Grounds for coffee and dessert.
Service was polite and timely, and our waitress was just the right amount of conversational. The prices were typical for Portsmouth, between $24 and $28 for the entrees and about $12 for the appetizers. All in all, I'm glad I went but I will probably try other restaurants before returning.
The Green Monkey is a nice little restaurant on Pleasant Street in Portsmouth. When I called for a 7:00 reservation for four, the person on the phone said she had three parties coming in at 7, so would I mind 7:15. I should have guessed from this question that the place would be a little busy when we arrived.
We were seated at our table, a nice location about 1/2 way back from the front window. As I was sitting down, it was obvious from the noise levels of the other people there, that we weren't going to have an intimate dinner conversation. It felt kind of like that party where the volume keeps going up while each group raises its voices to be heard over the one next to them. After a while, though, the noise did seem to subside, or I just got used to it.
The first order of business was the adult beverages. The Green Monkey offers a small but effective list of martinis. I tried the Lavender Lust, which was not Lavender, but was tasty. Others in my party had a Cuban Martini (good, but valuable glass space taken up by mint leaves) and one who's name I can't remember but it had champagne in it and wasn't anyone's favorite. The fourth member of our party asked for a Monty Python's Holy Grail Ale, but was denied - they were out of stock. He instead had another beer who's name I forget (hmmm, I'm thinking now that the martinis were a little potent).
The second order of business was appetizers. The selection looked good. We went with the Wild Mushrooms Forestier, described as a sautee of wild mushrooms and fire-roasted tomatoes in a sherry cream sauce with grilled asiago bread, and the Lobster and Mango Spring Rolls, described as crispy spring rolls topped with a sweet and spicy chinese mustard sauce. Both appetizers were wonderful and gave us great anticipation for the dinner selections.
But before dinner arrived, we needed to reload our glasses. I went with the $12 Le Fin Du Mond from Unibrou. Turns out that the triple fermentation leaves a bitter finish to each taste. If I were any kind of a beer connoisseur, I'd probably have realized what I was getting into. Live and learn. Another member of our party ordered Unibrou's Maudite, another $12 bottle but a bit smoother on the way down. The good news about paying $12 for a bottle of beer is that you get a two beer bottle (22 oz.) and each beer was 8 or 9 percent alcohol - so you're getting the buzz equivalent of at least three regular beers for your money.
Two members of our party ordered wine. One was a wonderful cab/shiraz combination known as Mad Dogs and Englishmen (probably endorsed by Joe Cocker). The other was a white wine, some kind of chardonnay, I think. The wine was a bit evervescent, which was wrong, and there was some serious sediment in the glass, which was very wrong. Obviously we were getting the bottom of an old bottle. After pointing this out, our waitress rectified the situation with a glass from a fresh bottle that was very good.
For dinner, we had the following items (with menu descriptions in parenthesis): Wolfe's Neck Farm Bistro Steak (grilled bistro steak topped with seared fois gras, garlic scallion butter, pomme frites), Hawaiian Sea Salt And Peppercorn Seared Tuna (served rare over an Asian slaw and mashed potatoes with citrus butter and a sweet soy glaze), Macadamia Encrusted Mahi Mahi (served with a creamy tahitian vanilla bean risotto and papaya buerre blanc), and Wasabi Roasted Wild Salmon Mignon (served over a sautee of sweet corn, fire roasted peppers, leeks, crispy spinach and miso aioli). Two out of four met or exceeded expectations. The steak and the salmon were both nicely prepared and the combinations served with them complimented the main item. The tuna, on the other hand, was too seared on the one side that faced the fire - so much so that it took a knife to cut through the seared section; the act of doing so shredded the raw parts. And the mashed potatoes were just that, mashed potato, lacking in imagination. The Mahi Mahi was over-cooked and the nuts served to detract from the fish flavor, rather than enhance. In all cases, the food presentation was artful and creative, and I particularly liked the round plate with a flat side that matched the edge of the table - it helps you keep your food close.
Nothing on the dessert menu caught our fancy and the menu was somewhat limited with only 4 or 5 choices. And after the somewhat spotty nature of our meals, we decided to head up to Breaking New Grounds for coffee and dessert.
Service was polite and timely, and our waitress was just the right amount of conversational. The prices were typical for Portsmouth, between $24 and $28 for the entrees and about $12 for the appetizers. All in all, I'm glad I went but I will probably try other restaurants before returning.
posted by carpoolguy at 4:30 PM
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