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Fine dining has a new name:
2 Vine.
By Diana Louise Carter
Democrat and Chronical
Weekend Magazine
April 29, 1999
RATING: 10
Take key players from The Brasserie, Harry’s Bar & Grill
and Rooney’s. Mix with a tastefully
rehabbed building. Place in an up-and-coming
cultural district.
It’s a recipe for delight: Restaurant 2 Vine.
Rochester’s
newest fine-dining establishment could hold its own against anything in bigger
cities. Its prices match those found in
big cities, too, but the portions and ingredients justify the costs.
This is a fancy restaurant, but steps have been taken to
keep the place from seeming stuffy.
Customers are greeted by crates of apples in the vestibule. Tablecloths are topped with white butcher
paper. Wine is served in straight sided
juice glasses. Bread comes in a paper
wrapper. And the serving staff have
tablecloths tied around their waists for aprons.
All these trappings, through, belie the elegance of the
food.
Take this salad, for instance: mild, chopped Belgian endive
mixed with cubes of ripe pear, candied walnuts and creamy, mellow Maytag blue
cheese with a hint of lemon ($7). This
melange of textures and sweet-and-sour flavors could have been a lunch entree,
but it also kick-started taste buds for a delightful dinner to follow.
Grilled sausages – two of the tastiest I’ve ever had – on
escarole with lemon sauce ($8) was a hearty and satisfying appetizer,
especially paired with hunks of a whole wheat baguette.
The chefs have a special talent for grilling. Salmon ($17) was cooked perfectly _ no trace
of transparency inside, but every bite was moist and flaky. It came on a small bed of chopped fennel and
tiny French lentils and was topped with crispy onions fried so delicately it
wouldn’t be fair to call them common onion rings.
My pork chop ($16) was a special treat. The thick, juicy chop was butterflied before
grilling and served on top of a pool of seared escarole and a sweet sauce made
from prunes that worked perfectly with the flavor of the pork.
Main dishes usually had no sides, which are ordered separately.
Seared Garlic Spinach ($5) was good enough to make Popeye week in the knees,
but the Smashed Herbed New Potatoes ($3) seemed overly dry.
The one entrée that disappointed was penne ($14) with white
beans, celery, tomato and crushed red pepper.
It tasted good, and the flavors melded nicely, but it just wasn’t as
exciting as the non-vegetarian dishes.
Two favorite desserts: crème brulee and maple ice cream
(both $6). The crème brulee was as good
as the Brasserie’s, which sets the standard in town. And the maple ice cream tasted like a frosty,
solid version of maple syrup.
One of our servers was great, never missing an opportunity
to refill our water glasses or make sure everything was going well. On another, quieter night, a different waiter
seemed distracted and made several errors which were quickly corrected.
None of these little problems marred our impression that to
dine at 2 Vine is divine.
Restaurant 2 Vine:
Address: 24 Winthrop
Str., in the city’s East End.
Phone: (585)
454-6020
Serving: Lunch on
weekdays’ dinner Monday through Saturday.
Cuisine: Upscale
Bistro
Atmosphere: Bustling,
artsy; jazz combo Thursday through Saturday nights.
Service:
Generally excellent.
Prices: Lunch
entrees $5 to $12; dinner entrees $10 to $19.
Kid stuff: Only
for very sophisticated tots.
Bar: Fully
licensed.
Parking: In
adjacent lot.
Credit Cards: All
major cards accepted.
Reservations: Easily accessible by wheelchair.
Diana’s rating: With
10 as a must try, this restaurant rates.
Diana Louise Carter
eats out anonymously. Her reviews
alternate with Deborah Fineblum Raub’s column, The Dish.
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