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It would be hard to find a better spot than Hugo's for a special occasion. A sincerely gracious place with an award-winning, amazingly imaginative chef, Rob Evans, Hugo's is also handsomely decorated and professionally run. The dinner menu is just fancy and pricey enough to qualify as a special rather than everyday indulgence. But there is also a separate bar menu, which is the subject of this review. This selection of small, beautifully wrought dishes allows grazers and dabblers to experience Evans' talent without breaking the bank - and to do so in one of the city's more romantic and intimate venues. The bar is separated from the dining room more by state of mind than actual barrier and the entire restaurant shares a marvelous atmosphere of soft light and shadow. The small tables set along the windows overlooking Middle Street gain film-noir allure from street light that the wooden Venetian blinds slice into stripes across the tablecloths. Hugo's is a great spot for wine by the glass because the selection is thoughtfully chosen and priced approachably, from $5, because it is served in tall, graceful stemware, and because your chance of finding something out of the ordinary is excellent. Good examples were the delicious Federspiel gruner veltliner, a dry floral Austrian white ($6.50) and clean, mineral Spanish Salneval albarino ($5.50) that we began with one night during the holiday season. The wines matched well with our first courses. But before those dishes were served, our waitress presented us with an amuse-bouche: demitasse cups of velvety heirloom potato soup as sweet and earthy as the essence of garden-picked, buttered new potato. On the saucer, a tiny, flaky rosemary biscuit was an enchanting little bite to follow the sip of soup. Broiled foie gras was tender, rich and ethereal, almost unearthly, and Evans chose to showcase it with the flavor of pears ($14). The plump morsel was surrounded with a constellation of charming garnishes: a quivering dab of Poire William sabayon, a poached forelle pear no bigger than a walnut, a couple of translucent pear chips, and a dainty wedge of panini sandwich filled with softly oozing pear butter. Scottish salmon belly was "flash-fried" but nevertheless retained a sashimi-like texture ($8). Neatly trimmed rectangles were draped over a cluster of orange salmon roe pearls. A colorful pool of concentrated orange emulsion provided a sauce that complemented the salmon and a small salmon cake garnished with translucent threads of pickled fennel. A shatteringly crisp strip of salmon-skin "crackling," salty and delicious, was anchored in the salmon cake so that it floated above the dish like a feather. Hugo's bar food servings were fairly small but so interesting and full of surprises - to say nothing of beautifully presented - that they forced us to consume them slowly and thoughtfully. While we mused, we spread a little butter - locally produced and hand-churned - onto slices of bread from the Standard Baking Co. Both butter and bread had undeniable flavor and pedigree. Evans makes his commitment to distinctive local ingredients quite clear by listing his vendors of fish, meat, vegetables, bread, dairy products, flowers and even the seeds used to produce the bright micro-mini greens that garnish many of the plates - at the bottom of the menu. It's not about the snob factor here - this is a chef who exalts the potato and has put grits and pork belly on his menus - it's about quality. Next came a dish of rabbit, in which a small, boned saddle was stuffed with rich rillette ($10). The meat here was pale, flavorful and thrillingly tender compared to the tougher, stringier, gamier qualities of this meat I was more familiar with as a home cook. Toasted chestnut froth and mustard jus sounded fussy in printed form on the menu, but they were actually flavorful complements to the mild meat and to the little melon balls of braised turnip and carrot that accompanied. Beef tartare was the most wonderful, sinful indulgence we spotted on the menu and we could not resist ($9). The beef, from Wolfe Neck Farm, was lean and tender and it was presented as a seasoned patty, minced rather than ground, topped with a shimmering sunny-side egg yolk. We loved everything about this dish, including the playful paper cone of mini-french fries served with horseradish mayonnaise and the little cup of beefy, locally foraged matsutake mushroom consommÈ. We matched the meat courses with a pair of Italian wines. Di Majo-Norante-Contado aglianico was a medium red ($6) and St. Michael Eppan Alto Adige lagrein was darker and more muscular ($5.50). Although we were new to these wines and unfamiliar with the grapes, we easily made friends. For a final course, we shared an exceptional beet risotto ($11). This deceptively simple vegetarian rice dish was made with beet juice in place of stock and the flavor was as pure and sweet as the first beets of spring with just a hint of added citrus. It was served in a covered white china tureen, garnished with dabs of creamy goat cheese, simple as could be. We did not leave a single grain. Five of the 10 dishes on the bar menu made us a delicious meal for two. Bear in mind that both the bar menu and the regular dinner menu change often so you may find a different selection. And some time early in the new year, the Hugo's team will open Duckfat, a casual lunch and dinner bistro across Middle Street. Hugo's deserves the praise and awards it has received; the place really is, to use an overworked term, a feast for the senses. Evans is a leader in his chosen style of cooking, and he and Nancy Pugh have made their restaurant a shining example of what the rewards of attention to detail can be. They keep a skilled staff, well versed in the food and wine, and with tremendous ability to be both personable and unobtrusive. This night we had the service of Janet, by whom I have been served before; she is arguably the best in town. This dinner at Hugo's was in fact a special occasion - my last meal as the anonymous restaurant critic for this column. Dining out and reporting on restaurants for more than three years has been a privilege and a pleasure - this bountiful state and especially this wonderful city have amazed me again and again with delicious meals. But I think it's time for fresh insights and opinions from someone new. Of course, my delight in dining out remains undimmed, so I'll see you out there. Thanks - to restaurants and readers alike - for the memories! Copyright 2004 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. |