Restaurant Reviews: The New Frontier

On a recent business trip, I ate in two restaurants and had experiences I thought were worth writing about.

A friend took me to eat at Simeon's in Ithaca, New York. They describe themselves as "an upscale American Bistro" and I think that's accurate. The decor is just what you'd expect from that description: lots of stained wood, found objects on the walls for decor, seating both inside and outdoors on the Ithaca Commons. One thing I liked is that it isn't as dark indoors as some trying-to-be-fancy restaurants. You can actually see your friends, read the menu, and even identify your food by its appearance.

I had the "Red curry seafood" special. It included scallops, oysters, mussels, clams and shrimp in a spicy sauce over basmati rice, with carrots, broccoli, and zucchini. I thought it one of the best restaurant dishes I've had in years. Each form of shellfish was perfectly cooked--the scallops in particular were just on the edge of falling apart on the fork, removed from the pan at the exact moment when they were cooked and before they started to toughen. The sauce was not an authentic Indian one, but it was flavorful without overpowering the tastes of the individual components of the dish, and had heat without tasting of nothing but heat.

If I were searching for something to complain about, I might say that the rice was a bit undercooked, but in reality I really enjoyed the dish. However, I don't know why it was called "red" curry, since the sauce was white.

My friend had the linguine, which he said was a bit bland.

Portions were large, but for about $20 an entree you'd expect that.

Simeon's brags about its selection of alcoholic beverages, but since neither of us drinks I can't comment on that except that the bar looked well-stocked.


Driving back, I stopped for the night in South Abington Township, Pennsylvania and ate at Charlie's Pub and Eatery. (Restaurant appears not to have its own web page, link is to Google's page on it.) It was right next door to the Comfort Inn I stayed at, and the clerk described it as "aspiring to being Friday's." I wish it was.

It seems to be aspiring to being a gastro-pub. Prices are surprisingly high, e.g. $7 for a bowl of soup. I made the mistake of ordering an appetizer and also an entree. Now, I'm not a traditionalist on most matters, but I take the meanings of words seriously. An "appetizer" is by definition something you eat to whet your appetite. A chicken wing appetizer should not include (no kidding) 12 pieces of chicken weighting at least half a pound. That does not make one more hungry. Worse, the buffalo chicken wings were not that good. Two of them seemed to me to have been cooked twice--they were very, very chewy, as if they had sat through two cycles in the fry-o-lator. None of them were "crispy" as advertized, and the sauce was hot rather than spicy. They did include a nice selection of fresh carrots and celery along with it--but the quantity was so large it could have been a crudites appetizer by itself!

My entree also came with a bowl of chicken noodle soup. The broth was flavorful, but the chicken was clearly left over from the previous day's menu and dropped into the soup, being remarkably tough. It also was in two very large chunks, both over an inch long. In my opinion this is too large for a soup, especially when the meat is tough. The dish could have been substantially improved simply by cutting the chicken into smaller pieces.

For a main course I had fish and chips. Again in my opinion, the breading for fish and chips should be thin and crispy. This was thick, soggy, and almost doughy. (The problem may have been exacerbated by the chef's terrible timing, sending my main dish only about three minutes after my enormous appetizer. Fried food shouldn't sit for 10 minutes on the customer's table while he rushes through the previous course.)

The french fries were also uncrispy and in some cases not fully cooked.

I would suggest that Charlie's reposition itself as a less-fancy restaurant and cut both prices and portion sizes. They're located in the middle of a bunch of discount motels, two doors down from the Krispy Kreme and four from the Waffle House. I don't think "mustard-glazed pork chops" and such are the dishes people stopping from the road for the night are looking for.


If you're ever in Ithaca, I strongly recommend Simeon's. I wish I could say the same about Charlies, but in fact I should have eaten at the Waffle House.