The Weekly Eater
HAVE you ever gone out with someone, only to find the person you wish you'd met first was his/her best friend, sibling or something like that? That's how I felt at Cafe Euro. I was enjoying myself, service was great, but I couldn't stop my wandering eye, noticing the many cars pulling up in the parking lot, their passengers all heading next door for sushi and pupu at Imanas. Good, but not
love at first biteNot that there's anything wrong with Cafe Euro, by any measure a good little restaurant new to the university market, though well beyond a typical student budget.
The room is in an "L" shape, intimate, with simple, spare furnishings. It's painted in a clean pale yellow, with lace curtains accenting its windows.
The restaurant's fare is described as "Euro-American cuisine with a touch of Asia." One has four choices of appetizers and five of choices entrees with a couple of specials. The wine list is easily double the size of the menu.
Food: Cafe Euro
Service:
Ambience:
Value:
Address: 2626 S. King St., just east of Puck's Alley
Start with the Tequila and Lime Cured Gravlax ($8.75), stacked between layers of crispy fried tortillas on a plate painted with olive oil and pink tomato aioli.
If it's a salad you want, there is Mesclun ($5.25) served with roasted garlic dressing, an Orange and Watercress salad ($6.25), or for those who like seafood, there is a timbale with a base of steamed, chilled salmon, and cubes of ahi mixed with crabmeat, avocado, mango and red bell pepper dressed with truffle vinaigrette.
The latter sounded fabulous in theory, but the real thing had a sameness of textures and blandness of flavors that fell flat without a tart element to perk it up.
Entree choices include Crispy Salmon with Balsamic Glaze and Baked Fennel ($18), and a simple New York cut ($17) or Tenderloin ($19) of Beef with garlic in a cabernet wine sauce.
Three tender Roasted Lobster Tails ($18) are topped with a light "crust" or sprinkling of orange zest, served in a vegetable-flavored broth with artichoke hearts. It's served with white rice, which to me, is a mismatch. You may think otherwise.
Rice also accompanies the buttery Shiitake-Coated Snapper ($21), served with carrot coulis and strips of grilled zucchini. The snapper was delicious in itself, but as in most of the dishes, the chef seemed to be trying too hard to pull too many disparate elements together. The coulis was no more exciting than baby food, and was more of a distraction than enhancement.
Desserts included a potent rum-filled Creme Brulee and fluffy Mascarpone Cheese Cake ($4.75), with an almond biscotti crust encircled with creme anglaise.
Overall, it was a perfectly good dinner, but as with good relationships, sometimes people long for something more, an undefinable spark.
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Nadine Kam's restaurant reviews run on Thursdays. Reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Bulletin. Star ratings are based on comparisons of similar restaurants:
-- excellent;
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