A great old friend on a work trip took me and my 10 y/o to Aster this week. Guerrero @ 22nd has been seemingly doomed for the last several years even though it’s a perfect corner location. I’m hoping Aster will break the curse. We all felt that the $59 prix fixe for 4 courses was a very nice price for the quality of the food. A standout for me was cold golden beet soup with squid ink breadcrumbs and some other yum crunchy things. The 10 y/o ate sweetbreads for the first time–they were excellent. We all ordered different things and rotated dishes and tasted everything. There was a delicate and beautiful halibut presentation, milk-fed lamb, and some great potato dumplings. Standout dessert was pieces chocolate ganache served with incredible burnt sugar ice cream. (Avoid the Tomme Dolce dessert–it’s a not very interesting cheese paired with some elements that don’t work.)
Even the bread and butter (both made in-house) were outstanding. The place became pretty full on a Tuesday night, so it looks like things are looking up for this address.
Yeah. It just seems like some restaurants catch on and some don’t. Most of the time, we can pin-point to a reason - it makes sense (poor food, bad management, poor service, boring menu). However, sometime it does not sense. I wrote about a small Chinese restaurant in the Philadelphia board. Same problem. Everything seems to be ok, except not a lot of customers.
I think this is why these food boards (like HungryOnion) are so important. It help the potential customers and the restaurants too.
The standout from a visit in June was potato-black pepper dumplings, maitake, peas, and turnips. Fluffy and firm gnocchi-like dumplings. In that dish and a young garlic soup with olive oil croutons, pickled fennel, lemon, I was very pleased with, as Atomica put it, all the “yum crunchy things.”
