Firebox Restaurant

Friday night my wife and I decided to go to the Firebox Restaurant. We had been there once before with friends and had a good - but not great - meal and we wanted to give it another try.

FB is the type of restaurant you want to love. It is in a really cool space in the old Billings Forge on Broad Street in Hartford (just south of the intersection of Broad and Capitol) that has exposed brick and duct work and an absolutely awesome bar. It is committed to local produce and products. It is committed to its neighborhood; it established both a farmers' market and a vegetable garden on the Forge premises (each of which which supplies some of FB's produce) and it offers cooking classes, job-training, and employment opportunities for folks who live in Frog Hollow. And, most important of all, FB has a clever, seasonal, menu.

That said, my wife and I had another good, but not great, meal. There were a lot of high notes, but a few that went sour.

First, while the interior of FB is very cool, it tends to be noisy. We really didn't notice this the first time we went because we were sitting side by side in a booth in the bar area. Last night, however, we were in the back room and sitting across the table from one another and it was not always easy for us to hear one another unless we raised our voices. I don't know that there is much FB can do about that, which is a shame because it detracts from what would otherwise be great ambiance.

We started with the charcuterie. It consisted of three different homemade offerings, including quite possibly the best item either my wife or I have ever had from a charcuterie; duck prosciutto.

Duck can be bit thick and gamy, but this prosciutto was nice and thin and tender and had the added bonus of having just a bit of fat at the edge for added flavor. It was served with cornichon pickles, which are tart pickles made from tiny gherkin cucumbers. The crunch and flavor of the pickles was amazing when combined with the slightly chewiness and flavor of the duck and tiny strip of fat. I can't say enough good things about this offering. It was absolutely outstanding and showed a flash of brilliance that tells me someone in the kitchen has a whole lot of talent.

The charcuterie also contained salmon infused with lemon over cream cheese. My wife loved this as well. I thought it was very good, but perhaps a bit too tart from a touch too much lemon. Still, very creative and delicious.

Finally, there was a pork pate, which was definitely a nod to spam. I say that not as an insult, but rather as a compliment because the winner of the first season of Top Chef won the supermarket quickfire challenge by making a spam pate and many high end chefs have been doing their own take on this 1950's staple ever since. It was not as good as the duck or the salmon, but it was quite tasty, very creative, and a lot of fun.

Another minor criticism. While we were served delicious complimentary Italian bread, the toast points served with the charcuterie were overly crisp and actually somewhat brittle.

For dinner I had the pumpkin ravioli and my wife a special dish consiting of a strip steak, potatoes, creamed spinach, and roasted bone marrow. My dinner was pretty good. The pumpkin filling in the ravioli was tasty, though perhaps made with a bit too much sage. My one criticism is that the ravioli seemed a bit undercooked, which was a shame, because the taste of the pasta itself was quite good.

My wife's dinner had some problems. She thought the strip steak was not the best cut and a bit too tough. I thought it was a bit tough as well, though pretty tasty. I was, however, a little troubled by the fact that my wife ordered it cooked medium and I thought it was much more like medium rare. My wife is a bone marrow addict (I am not) and she was disappointed that she was served only 1/2 a bone, but otherwise she had no complaints. The creamed spinach was not good. It really had no flavor at all and seemed soggy to me. We both liked her potatoes, however, which were good sized, well-cooked, and full of flavor.

If you follow this blog you know I tend to be harder on fine dining establishments than on a neighborhood joint. Here's my thinking - if you hold yourself out as a first class operation and you charge premium prices, then every aspect of your business needs to be 100% squared away. Make no mistake, FB is a good restaurant, but it is not 100% squared away, so it loses points.

My wife had a glass of Montepulciano/Sangiovese, 2006, Rosso Piceno, which we both thought was pretty good. One positive note, FB not only has a good selection of wine, but also a good selection of wines by the glass, which you don't always see.

One aspect of FB which was totally squared away was the service, which was excellent. The staff was friendly and efficient, but not pushy, and we certainly did not feel like we were being rushed through dinner so they could turn the table. Our server also was very knowledgeable about the menu. I was not surprised, not only because FB aspires to be a first class fine dining operation, but also because the front of FB's house is run by my old friend, Spiro Koulouris. I didn't know Spiro was managing FB until I was on my way out, but I have known him for about 10 years, from his early days as a barback at the Half Door on Sisson Avenue in Hartford. He is smart, hardworking, customer-oriented, and very friendly; qualities that really came through during our service.

Bottom line, and it kills me to say this because Sprio is an old friend, but FB is not all there, at least not yet. It has, however, shown flashes of brilliance both times we've gone, which is reason enough to go every once in a while. If FB can nail everything down it will be an excellent restaurant. I would love to be there when it all comes together because it will be one great meal.

Here the link to FB's website - http://www.fireboxrestaurant.com/