Reviews
CitiScapes Magazine featured Basil’s Cafe in their May 2009 issue.
Eats & Drinks Review: Basil’s Café
By Case Dighero
Citiscapes Magazine – May 2009
Change is good. In fact, in the restaurant world, anything short of a perpetual evolution of cuisine, wine list and cocktail menu could yield catastrophic consequences. Successful chefs and restaurateurs are obsessed with finding a balance between staying on the cutting edge and not “fixing what isn’t broken” in order to simultaneously satisfy and surprise the ever finicky and important patron.
Professional foodies spend their vacations researching what other cultures are consuming, scour trade magazines and blogs to compare and contrast their own ideas with those from other parts of the globe, engage in serious dialogue with local gastronomic contemporaries about what has worked and what hasn’t worked, and run nightly and weekly specials using revered customers as an important sounding board for their ideas and creations. And when they’ve gone as far as they can, they evolve their restaurants through subtle change of their menus and the slight nuances of dining room ambience. Or, sometimes, they start over completely and do what we in the restaurant business always threaten to do…move! And, this is precisely what Basil’s Café owners Wade and Kelly Jones decided to do.
Previously located in Village on the Creeks, the restaurant now sits comfortably in The Shoppes at Pinnacle Hills. Little remains of the old Basil’s, particularly the idea that its menu is primarily Italian, which indeed, it no longer is. The ambient design strikes a beautiful balance of austerity and comfort, the dining room yielding soft white tones throughout—on the walls, fixtures, ceilings and table linens—nicely contrasted with light beige overlays. The dining room and lounge areas are visually tied together with similar overhead lighting fixtures that stretch out dramatically and are vibrantly illuminated. There’s still a display kitchen, a familiar design from the old Basil’s, visible from both the main dining room and the lounge area – a much-appreciated choice that forces kitchens to be ultra clean and organized, while giving the patron a close view of the busy goingson surrounding the chef and his staff. A well maintained display kitchen announces to the diner, “…we are allowing an insight into our cuisine because we are proud of it.”
The staff, dressed in all-black attire, is attentive, conscientious and precise, offering suggestions on courses and wine pairings without hesitation. A rule of thumb for me at any restaurant is to ask for favorites of the server, hence giving the server a feeling of inclusion that typically yields an exponential reward for the diner. During my multiple visits over the course of a couple weeks, the Basil’s servers were always on target, even remembering my preferences (and dislikes) from the previous visit – something we, as diners, all aspire to experience when eating out. In fact, during my first visit the kitchen was out of the Buffalo Short Ribs, but upon my second arrival the server, remembering my disappointment from the earlier visit, gladly announced that the short ribs were indeed on the menu that night…and they were superb.
Even more than the opulent ambience and fantastic service, Basil’s greatest virtue is its cuisine. The food is delicious. From start to finish, the culinary journey at Basil’s Café is exciting, boasting a tinge of local edible culture next to rich Americana and a whisper of Italian influence. The appetizers offer a broad cross section of old and new favorites, such as the Artichoke and Spinach Dip, a rustic spinach concoction chock-full of gooey cheese and garlic set delightfully with flatbread that is drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and topped with fresh herbs and sweet caramelized onions. The flavorful flatbread, a pleasant and surprising lagniappe to an already successful dish, is delicious enough to consume by itself. Or perhaps the Tuna Salad, a rare minimound of lightly seasoned ahi tuna perfect when dolloped on a lightly toasted crostini. And the deliciously briny Peruvian Shrimp, or Mushroom Crusted Scallops – huge sea scallops lightly pan seared and served atop perfectly crispy potato cakes and delectable ancho aioli. But my favorite thus far is the Gnocchi, a hearty potato pasta sautéed with wonderfully fresh Maitake (or Hen of the Woods) mushrooms, pepper bacon, fresh Parmesan cheese and reduced heavy cream.
The entrées at Basil’s include a little something for everyone, such as the aforementioned Buffalo Short Ribs, a slowbraised piece of meat so moist and tender it quite literally dissolves before hitting the back of the throat, served with herbed gnocchi, roasted vegetables and a wintry bordelaise. This seasonally heavier entrée may not remain on the menu during the late spring and summer months, so do yourself a favor and keep it in the back of your mind and palate until the fall and winter months roll back around.
A wonderful juxtaposition to the ribs is the Milk Poached Halibut, a clean and whimsical white filet of fish served with a chilled lemon vichyssoise, a nice butternut squash mash and a spring-inspired corn-cucumber salsa. And if you’re a meat eater at heart, then by all means revel in the Tomahawk Chop Ribeye, a gargantuan bone-in ribeye served with ratatouille, real pomme frites and a hint of white truffle oil. Again, be advised that Basil’s Cafe is all about change and seasonal evolution, so a lighter and more summer-inspired menu is most certainly right around the corner.
The desserts are as familiar and exciting as the rest of the menu, and I highly recommend the archetypical Crème Brûlée, as well as the fun and delicious Rocky Road Bread Pudding, a bread-laden custard teeming with chocolate, nuts and a homemade marshmallow skewered and lightly toasted.
