My friend, Peter, and I wanted to go out to dinner for Dine About Town and decided to try Jack Falstaff where neither of us had been. Our reservation was at 7:45pm on a Friday and although the restaurant seemed empty when we arrived on time, we had to wait in their "lounge" for 10 minutes until our table was ready. While we waited we both ordered the basil gimlet, which were delicious. We were seated in a corner and I was overshadowed by a large rubber plant. The decor was drab; browns with dim lighting and very little art or decoration with a backdrop of smooth jazz. It definitely lacked the flair and yuppy atmosphere we were accustom to. After looking at both the regular menu and the Dine About Town menu, we decided to order off the regular menu that had several interesting sounding dishes compared to the dumbed down Dine About Town menu.
Peter selected an Oregon pinot noir. I will add the name when I remember it! We started with the Baby Romaine Hearts "Caesar", a sort of deconstructed Caesar salad. It came on a long rectangular plate with three small piles; grated parmesan with an anchovy on top, small romaine heart pieces with a garlic dressing, and a halved tempura soft boiled egg. I guess the idea was to allow the diner to assemble their own bites to taste, and it was actually quite delicious. For $11 the portions seemed substantial and they split the plates for us. Next we had a cheese plate, $15: Laurel Farms goat cheese stuffed in a squash blossom & pan seared, St. Andre cheese wrapped in philo dough and fried, and some cherries sauteed with a sour cherry sauce. This dish was tasty, but kind of lack luster compared to everything else we ordered. Following the cheese plate, the Pan-Seared Sonoma Free Range Quail which had 3 pieces of quail wrapped around artisan foi gras with an apricot marmalade. This dish was delicious and very well balanced. We thought this richness of the fois gras was perfectly cut by the tart flavors of the apricot marmalade. The portion was substantial for an appetizer and a good value at $14. We noticed there was roasted bone marrow on the sides list and couldn't resist for a mere $6. The same dish at Bar Tartine is at least twice that much. A piece of toast with some marrow was a great segway into dinner. For our entree we ordered the Handmade Egg Fettuccine
Braised Beef Oxtail & English Peas, for $22. This dish was really delicious and we both finished our bowls despite feeling stuffed at this point. The pasta was wider than traditional linguine and had ridged edges. The oxtail was rich and much leaner than I remember oxtail being last time I had it and the peas added a nice sweetness to cut the richness of the dish. For dessert we couldn't resist the homemade yeasty donuts with three sauces; creme englais, raspberry and dulce de leche. This was in indulgent and delicious dessert. We watched other tables eat their donuts to finish their meals and couldn't help ourself.
At first I thought our server was going to be stuffy, but he got much more comfortable with us and ended up being good. The overall service was excellent; water was always refilled, table was cleared promptly, food was spaced out well. The crowd was more problematic; a mix of an older conservative crown and young financial types. It definitely isn't my scene and I probably won't return, but we both really enjoyed the food.
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