Elaine's Tap & Table

I dislike giving a restaurant a review after a single visit. That being said, Elaine's earned all of its two stars quite well on our visit. And maybe two stars is generous. Another review where I depart from the collective wisdom of other Yelpers...butI feel fully justified on this one.

The big problem here is what I'd call culinary confusion. We sampled a few dishes -- and all of them were problematic. The "6 minute egg" appetizer, which looked to be a riff on a Scotch Egg, was OK - but was served with a lamb "confit," which was dry and flavorless. If it was actually prepared as confit, the reheat on it killed it completely. The wedge salads (and yes, I'm going to complain about a salad - because I think it's at the core of the problem with the restaurant), which we ordered with blue cheese dressing, arrived bathed in a very tart vinaigrette and with some cubed blue cheese in a metal container. The net effect - no real discernible blue cheese flavor, since the vinaigrette completely overpowered it. My main, a shrimp risotto, was toothsome and reasonably well prepared -- if under salted, generally forgettable, and short on shrimp (I think there were 4.) My companion's main - a "fish and chips" -- was fairly terrible. Under seasoned, somewhat soggy, and just plain disappointing. To the restaurant's credit, when we made our displeasure known they struck it from the bill and asked if we wanted something else. Handled well, but damage done.

So, I am having a hard time reconciling Elaine's ambitions (the menu is priced where my expectations were set quite high) with their delivery. Very, very unimpressed.

A great start for an upscale beer and food restaurant. The chef is quite inventive, and does take a few chances with his dishes. The bottom line is that we would recommend this restaurant to any of our friends. Now for the details of our experience. Given it was a cold winter evening, we opted for a table in front of the fireplace, which could not have been better. The other tables also have a view of the fire, or are in an attractive open room setting (this was not bad at all, but it could be been made more cozy.) The beer list was extensive, with very broad selection of beers:  (from the common-place, e.g. Bud Lite to some more unusual, e.g Ithaca Gorges Smoked Porter).  The tap tables are a nice touch if you are in the mood for beer, and have a group. Back to the restaurant, our server brought out a tray of warm breads with an oil and olive dipping sauce, which was excellent. We ordered a Caesar salad as a starter, this was one area of the chef's inventiveness. It was a 3 inch slice of Romaine, with dressing, topped with a slice of Gorgonzola and two white anchovies, with this being on top of a toasted slice of baguette. I loved it, although it was definitely not what I expected. We were also served a house salad (a wedge of iceberg with a tomato vinaigrette dressing) which was quite nice. For our entree's we had grilled salmon with a baby purple potato gratin, over Arugula and the "Fish and Chips". The salmon is an excellent choice, nicely cooked (it was not at all medium rare, but good non-the-less). The "Fish and Chips" are not traditional at all. For the fish, a White Bass was used, which while breaded lightly, did not give the usual large flakes of white fish you would expect, also it was a complete, but filleted fish, which meant there is also the head and tail, not typical. We found the flavour to be good, just not what we expected. For dessert we had the Porter Brownie, topped with caramelized marshmallow with a side of vanilla ice cream. This was an excellent end to our meal. As an aside, this new restaurant is a great improvement to the previous establishment. There are many interesting possibilities on the menu and it was hard to pick just one.

Pretty pricey entrees but the Pork Duet was delicious!! Sweet potato flan was a nicely inventive side dish.

There's a full bar, great wine selection. The guy behind the liquor & wine, Al, recommended a couple of great rieslings.

The place also has 3 tables with beer taps in the middle of each. You rent or pre-pay for the key and you have beer AT your table. Not a bad idea!