Saturday, December 27, 2014

Pour

An unlikely contender has taken the lead in my mental ranking of best high-end restaurants in Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Pour.

I say unlikely not because it's not high-end—two people can easily drop north of $50 on a couple drinks and appetizers—but because it's more of a New York-style tapas bar.

The drink menu regularly lists 20 domestics and 20 imports in bottles and ten taps from Pennsylvania to Denver, Germany and Belgium. Six reds, six whites and sparkling wines are available by the glass or bottle, and there's a healthy cabinet of port. Pour consistently mixes the most surprising and nuanced cocktails in Lancaster, playing games with Jefferson's Reserve bourbon, Blue Coat gin from Philadelphia and Thistle Finch white rye from six blocks away.

In the evening, diners spill out of a lively courtyard onto Prince Street's gallery row. Inside, cascading metal wine racks and colored lighting make the bar feel comfortably upscale—like your aunt's "modern" house on Staten Island.

But the food menu is what really astounds. In a town where frozen pastries pass for hors d'oeuvres (see "Culturas"), Pour serves exquisite morsels of perfectly paired quail, duck, swordfish and pork butt.

No, the portions aren't big. You won't take home leftovers. But the food will be worth tasting the first time.

Slow down for once. Look at your food. Take a bite. Try to identify the ingredients. Then take a drink. Then continue your conversation. This is what eating out should mean: an experience very few of us can create at home.
 

In truth, Pour may be misnamed. Even if they didn't serve drinks, you could get drunk off the food.

http://pouronprince.com/

 Pour on Urbanspoon

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Camelot Cellars Urban Boutique Winery

I held my tongue. Literally. And made gagging noises.

No, actually, my friends and I were very polite. But I felt sorry for the couples across the bar who looked like they were on dates and trying to be taken seriously. 


Then the cheese plate came out and had to be freed from its plastic-wrap cocoon in our presence, and our server forgot to unwrap the two slices of stale bread, and we were pretty sure the revealed chunks of cheese were from Kroger. 

And then the bill came out and it was every bit as much as you would expect to pay for four good drinks and charcuterie at a nice place, and my hosts picked up the tab and I felt bad for them.

Camelot Cellars. They import exotic grape juice from all over the world and turn it into crappy wine on site. Avoid avoid avoid.


http://camelotcellars.com/

Camelot Cellars Winery on Urbanspoon