Zellas

Outstanding restaurant. The menu is a delightful selection of American fare prepared to perfection. Ambience is elegant and comfortable. Noise level is good for conversation. Service could not have been better, very professional. Our waitress went out of her way to assure meals were exactly how we ordered them. There were 10 of us in the group and we will definitely go back again and again.

I had the Apple Meatloaf after hearing the (locally-sourced) lamb burger was not available.  It was excellent, I must say, and the waitress even substituted their excellent tomato soup for a side salad for me (I hate salad).  The total bill came to $13 - which is quite impressive for a place with such ambiance.  The only thing wrong with them was the sub-optimal seating (too much height in between booth and table).  Otherwise, a great find on my part (or my phone's, to be honest).

I had been to Zella a few times before while in Hutch on business, and liked that I could get a decent salad there, but wasn't wowed by any means.

Well - I stopped in for lunch yesterday and fell in love.  Had the chicken cashew salad sandwich and grilled pear salad.  The salad was very good - I was especially impressed by the variety and freshness of the greens.  But the sandwich. Oh my, I loved it.  It's served on grilled bread that has a bit of a char to it, and the cashews are so crunchy and yummy.  Mmmm.

I liked it so much that I went back for dinner on my way back through Hutch today.  I was planning to have the cashew chicken salad sandwich again, but apparently that's just a lunch item.  I chose the lamb burger from the dinner menu. YUM. Very flavorful lamb with this red wine aioli that brought it to a higher level.  The bun was nice and soft and fresh.  My side salad was (again) super fresh and tasty.  

On both visits, the service was friendly and efficient, and the ambience was classy but not too frou frou.  

Many items are locally sourced and they have a better beer selection than I ever expected in Hutch (today's  offerings included local breweries  Lucid and  Cold Spring, plus some decent national brews like New Holland and Bell's).

A previous reviewer knocked Zella because it wasn't as Italian as she expected.  FWIW I didn't see anything that led me to believe Zella is marketing itself as Italian.  It's more the locally-sourced-creative-new-American genre.