I stopped by True Laurel about a week ago around 9:30 and agree with the other two posters. It seems like a really promising place for reasonably priced, interesting but not froofy food.
I also got the fried hen of the woods mushrooms and would gladly order anything fried from the menu again. They had a nice light and crisp batter, and the sour cream/creme fraiche based allium dip was lightened by air/whipping, making it a lighter dip that still packed a great flavor punch.
While I wouldn’t order the crab fondue again at $18, I did enjoy it. The crudite were arranged whimsically, in a way that may have hampered the toasts crispiness, but were good vegetables, some seemed to have a light pickle to offset the cheese. As for the fondue, it had a good texture and nice cheddar flavor. If you’re the sort to think cheese completely obliterates any seafood, definitely don’t order it. If you, like me, prefer your linguine alle vongole with parmesan because the seafood flavor enhances the savoriness of the cheese flavor, maybe give it a try. Though, as I said, I wouldn’t get it again, because when I’m at a restaurant I want the whole to be better than the sum of it’s parts, or for the dish to be something I find difficult to make (like the nicely fried mushrooms).
As for the drinks, I’m not a big cocktail fan. My palate in general doesn’t care for sweet things, and most drinks with hard liquor read as sweet to me. The cocktails I had did not change my mind about this.
HUMPS FOR THE BOULEVARD
Sesame-Washed Bourbon, Berto,
Persimmon-Infused Rosso 14
The Humps had a strong sesame smell, and was the primary note of the cocktail. I didn’t notice much of the tannin mouthfeel I was hoping for from the persimmon infusion, but enjoyed the thin slice of one on the top of my ice cube.
MAI O MAI
Panamanian Rum, Lime, Pistachio Orgeat,
Curaçao, Coffee-Rum Float, Milk-Washed 15
The listed ingredients and appearance of the float on top of a clear cocktail were more interesting to me than the taste. To me it read as a lightly sweet, lightly fruity drink with coffee liqueur.
My descriptions feel overly negative–both were good, and I’d take either over a $12-13 standard (without infusions, fat-washing, or milk-washing) cocktail that seems to be the norm these days. And I’ll likely try the rest hoping that their taste can live up to the complexity of ingredients and techniques that went into them. I’m just trying to understand why I don’t really get the complicated cocktail–to me a lot of the techniques make the cocktail taste lighter, as in less strong flavors, but again, this could be a flaw in my palate.
In any case, I wouldn’t hesitate to go back, at non-busy times, though who knows how long that will last.
