Old Mill Room at Boar's Head

Date
1/26/2013

Location
The Boar's Head Inn, just out Ivy Road
200 Ednam Drive

What I ate
Atlantic salmon tartare
Grilled flat iron steak
Blood orange panna cotta

Who came
Nora, Lindsay, Ali

Website
The Old Mill Room

Thoughts
It's Restaurant Week again!  I happened to have the flexibility to get away for the weekend, so I drove to Charlottesville and caught up with good friends.  First up was the Old Mill Room at the Boar's Head Inn.  The dining room feels very warm - not in temperature, but just like a rich, old banquet hall.  If our waitress hadn't seemed a little antsy to move us along, I would've been pretty comfortable just hanging out there for a while.  It just seems like a good place to nurse an after-dinner drink and catch up.  Alas.  Let's move on to the food.

My appetizer was really tasty; I may have to learn how to pickle things to help accent dishes like this.  The slightly sour taste put a sharp edge at the end of each bite, but the "salmonness" of the fish still led the way.  While I know a flat iron steak isn't exactly filet mignon, I was a little disappointed by my entree.  The complements were great - I especially liked the surprising crunch of the kale - so the dish was good on the whole, but the steak just was so-so.  It was a sort of mix between being a true medium rare and Pittsburgh, and it felt like a relatively small portion.  The dessert, however, helped the meal rebound in a big way.  Not only that, but I backed into this find when the girls all ordered the creme brulee and I felt the need to branch out.  Tart is not high up on my list of favorite flavors, but there was just enough of it and the panna cotta was so light and delicate.  The cranberry compote bumped the overall quality up a smidge, but there was only so far to go.  The ginger in the ice cream wasn't very strong.  I love ginger and, normally, this would've been a problem.  It worked in this case since it didn't distract from the panna cotta.

One of my favorite things about Restaurant Week is that I get to go places that are normally too expensive for a non-celebratory dinner.  I went to the Old Mill Room during my first Restaurant Week and really enjoyed it.  This meal was definitely good, but didn't live up to previous years.  The biggest difference was that it was obvious that it was Restaurant Week this time whereas it felt like we were getting the normal experience last time.  Our waitress seemed a little out of sorts and the portions all felt tiny.  I enjoyed going there, but I think it could be some time before it rotates back into my Restaurant Week lineup.

Recap
Pros - comfortable atmosphere, awesome dessert
Cons - underwhelming steak, small portions
Overall - A good meal that benefited from some late-meal momentum.  This is still a place to go if you are celebrating or catching up with old friends.  With so many other options in town, I'll probably wait a while before going back.