Max Downtown

Thursday was my wife's and my 5th anniversary. To celebrate, on Friday night we went to Max Downtown, where we were married in the room you see in the picture to the left.

My wife and I decided to get married at Max Downtown because it is quite simply the best restaurant in town. What makes Max Downtown the best is its remarkable consistency. The food is always at least very good and the service is almost always excellent. Indeed, in the last five years I have probably been there at least once a month for either dinner or lunch (often on business) and I can think of 2 occasions where the food was merely good and perhaps 3 occasions where the service was less than excellent. That's a really good track record and not easy to accomplish given the number of tables, how many seatings they tend to do in a typical service, and the standards to which Max Downtown aspires.

Unlike a lot of the places my wife and I like to eat, Max Downtown is fine dining and it stands up very well to the stringent standards against which I rate top-of-the-line operations. First and foremost the service is excellent. Although there is turnover in the waitstaff (perhaps more than you'd like to see), the servers are always very knowledgeable about the menu and many of them have an excellent understanding of the extensive wine list as well. The management is solid, and you will see suits moving throughout the dining area, seating and speaking with customers, and keeping things moving. Even the bus boys (and girls) are extremely efficient, perfectly dressed, and very professional. Friday evening was no exception. We we immediately greeted and seated, the shift manager paid a courtesy visit to wish us a happy anniversary and to check in, our waiter was well-versed on the menu, efficient, and extremely attentive (without being obnoxious), and the table was cleared between courses with no delay and a minimum of fuss.

As usual, the food was very, very, good. In fact, Friday night it was absolutely wonderful. My wife started with the braised short rib cannoloni with crispy shallots, truffle vinaigrette, forest mushroom sauce ($11). I had a bite and it was a great balance of flavors and textures.

I started with the duck confrit flatbread consisting of foie gras pate, grilled red onions, watercress, cranberries, and balsamic-fig glaze ($12). I love foie gras and this serving was very, very, very good (the best fois gras I ever had, however, was on my honeymoon in Montreal, at a place called le Caveau - http://www.lecaveau.ca/indexen.php - it was amazing, but that's a whole other story). Happily, my foie gras on Friday was not only very good, but there was also a more than ample portion, with 8 (count them, 8) pieces of flatbread, each well-supplied with delicious foie gras.

For our salad course, my wife had the Autumn market salad, with roasted sugar pie pumpkin, local apples, beets, frisee, endive candied walnuts, pomegranate vinaigrette ($10 ) while I had the chopped salad, which I had the night we got married. It comes with Gorgonzola cheese and sherry mustard seed vinaigrette ($9). A chopped said is a pretty basic thing, but it needs to be cold, crisp, and well-mixed, which mine (as always) was. The Gorgonzola and vinaigrette are a nice combination of contrasting flavors and textures and are a great compliment to the salad. I have had the Autumn market salad before and I loved it, though my wife was not as excited about it as I.

For dinner, we both had the same thing - the grilled New York Strip Steak entree with melted midnight moon macaroni and cheese, watercress, crispy onions, truffle vinaigrette, red wine jus ($29), which is not to be confused with the aged New York Strip a la carte ($35) from the "Chophouse Classics" section of the menu. If you read my review of the Firebox earlier this month you will remember that my wife criticized the cut of her stake and I thought it had not been cooked to her order of medium rare. In contrast, our steaks at Max Downtown were both top shelf cuts of beef which literally melted in your mouth. They were also cooked absolutely perfectly (medium rare for my wife and rare for me).

In fact, beef is probably the signature dish of Max Downtown and the menu has nine (yes, nine) different cuts from which you can choose. I have had most of them and you really can't go wrong.

The mac and cheese was also a great touch and there was just enough to get the taste of some wonderful cheese, but no so much that it filled you up or distracted you from the excellent steak.

We also split a very nice 2005 brunello ($60, if I remember correctly). It was a little young, but our waiter was more than happy to decant the bottle, which allowed the wine to open up nicely. It had a strong cherry note and it was very smooth.

For desert, my wife and I each had a glass of frangelico (a delicious almond-flavored Italian cordial) and we split the maple budino ($9.95), which is a wonderful concoction consisting of maple syrup, eggs, vanilla, and cream. It was was accompanied by a pair of lovely pizzella (an Italian waffle cookies) and some biscotti. It was a very nice way to end a delicious meal.

Finally, the decor of Max Downtown is definitely upscale, but not overly pretentious. The interior is spacious and well-appointed in a very modern New York steakhouse style. The lighting is always appropriate and the background jazz is a perfect tempo and not too loud. Here is a link to several photos of Max Downtown. While you obviously can't hear the background music, you can see for yourself just how great the fit out is - http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotos-g33804-d417746-Max_Downtown-Hartford_Connecticut.html#23674555

Frankly, the only thing that takes away from the atmosphere (at least at dinnertime because lunch is always full of well-behaved suits) is the overly casual attire and attitude of many of the customers. While my wife and I aren't snobs by any means (think about the places we go and food we like to eat!) it is depressing to see adults walk into a fine dining establishment wearing jeans, sweaters, and sneakers, with their similarly attired bratty eight-year-olds in tow. Come on!

In fact, working on this post I read quite a few on-line reviews of Max Downtown. While most were favorable, some were critical, often of the prices (too expensive), the atmosphere (too formal), and/or the staff (too stiff and/or too arrogant). Understand, however, that even though it has sister restaurants, Max Downtown isn't a chain like Ruby Tuesday's. It isn't even say the First & Last Tavern, which is a great neighborhood restaurant with good food. Max Downtown is a fine dining establishment. It is expensive, it is formal, and it really requires some appreciation of upscale cuisine and good wine to truly enjoy.

My wife and I don't always (or even often) want that kind of experience, but when we do, we head straight over to Max Downtown, because no one in these parts does it better. Anyway, here is the link to the Max Downtown page on the Max Restaurant Group website (Max Downtown is easily the best of the lot) - http://www.maxrestaurantgroup.com/downtown/