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Type: Bistro
Hours: Open year round. Breakfast and lunch, seven days. Dinner Monday to Saturday.
Reservations accepted.
Other establishments
listed in this review:
AQUA GRILLE:
14 Gallo Road, Sandwich
(508)888-8889
Hours: Open April through October. Seven days, lunch and dinner.
Reservations accepted.
TraBiCa
327 Gifford Street, Falmouth
(508) 548-2076
Hours: Open year-round. Dinner only, seven days.
No reservations.
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CONTRAST BISTRO and ESPRESSO BAR
605 Old King's Highway, Route 6A, Dennis
(Dennis Village)
(508) 385-9100
Restaurant reviewed 07/09/98 by Julie Riven
A dose of urban cuisine on Cape Cod has been a long time in coming. Some say too long. But it has arrived in the form of bistro fare. It has taken two Bostonians, an experienced restaurateur coupled with a European chef, and three Cape Cod locals to shake up the ubiquitous fried seafood and baked stuffed scrod. David Nelson Burbank and Christian Soderstrom closed two Boston food establishments to move to the sleepy town of Dennis. They left behind Sumptuous Food, their Somerville catering company, and Here, Eat This!, a corporate cafe in Boston's Design Center, to open Contrast Bistro and Espresso Bar.
Burbank says the name is an expression of their food, which they see as a sharp contrast to the standard fare on the Cape. An arrogant notion perhaps, but they've done it. Their idea for Contrast began as a gourmet takeout shop, and evolved into a full-fledged restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The food is displayed everywhere - elegant desserts in a glass case, homemade breakfast muffins and scones in baskets and on tiered trays, oversized cookies in stacks.
Upon entering, the diner is struck by the ``wow'' of the place. There are periwinkle ceilings, tomato-red and chartreuse walls, vibrant oil paintings, and wide plank floors. You'd swear this was the South End.
In its second year, Contrast is always lively, filled with customers who are in the area trolling for antiques.
French toast bread pudding, still warm, with a chewy cinnamon and sugar crust and a sweet, moist, eggy interior, arrived in a divine pool of gently warmed sweet cream laced with maple syrup. That, with a full-bodied coffee (a find on the Cape) in an oversized cup, made a dreamy breakfast.
At lunch, a salad of baby spinach, caramelized red onions, and fleshy roasted red peppers was drizzled with a honey-balsamic vinaigrette. A simple tuna salad over mixed baby greens was served with pain d'Avignon focaccia - ethereal by any standard.
Anyone can make breakfast and lunch, but it's more difficult to soar at dinner. Grilled Thai chicken sausages, made with cilantro and slightly hot, were served over fresh green pea tendrils tossed with a rice vinegar and sesame oil vinaigrette. Cornish game hens, grilled and left whole, came with a smoky, spicy chipotle vinaigrette. The salmon, pan-seared in sesame oil, with bright green, barely wilted spinach, was garnished with a corn and red pepper compote.
All of these were cooked to perfection. The only disappointing note was a grilled beef tenderloin on garlic crostini with Stilton and sun-dried tomato pesto. Perhaps too much of a contrast? Certainly too much on one plate at one time.
Aqua Grille in Sandwich also wants to be different. Hints of Asia, Mexico, and Europe pop up throughout the menu. While they don't have the SoHo style of Contrast Bistro, they've made a big effort to remember that this is a family resort area.
``We have to serve fried shrimp and scallops,'' owner John Zartarian said in an interview. ``But we wanted to push the envelope a little on the Cape.''
Zartarian and his family own the Paddock in Hyannis, a successful restaurant that has been around for decades. Aqua Grille, open since April, has a view of the marina, and a Cape Cod decor (minus the nets). The napkins and glasses are aqua-colored.
With executive chef and co-owner Gert Rausch, a native of Germany, Zartarian has managed to bring some European style to the menu. An appetizer of plump Wellfleet oysters came with a mignonette sauce, the vinegary juices of the sauce highlighting the oyster's flavor.
Fried calamari bypassed the typical breading, opting for a graham cracker crust instead. Tender calamari suffered under a too-thick coating. Salad of mesclun, endive, roasted spiced pecans, and creamy goat cheese combined the piquancy of the cheese, a mildly sweet vinaigrette, and pleasant spice from the nuts.
Scrod was baked with a light coating of bread crumbs tossed with lemon zest, the fish moist and boasting of citrus. Old-fashioned braised short ribs, nice on a damp evening, were meltingly tender, accompanied by a light horseradish cabernet sauce. Perhaps Rausch brought this from his native Germany. Grilled tuna, ordered pink, arrived beautifully pink, with a crispy caramelized crust. We shared a dense, gooey chocolate pecan pie. No, we didn't lick the plate, just the forks.
We were relieved to finally find TraBiCa, which I couldn't spell at first because I didn't realize it came from the words trattoria, bistro, and cafe. I had been looking for the New York address TriBeCa instead.
There is nothing of New York here. Owners John Reid, Bob Cook, and Chris Silva decided that Falmouth needed some Mediterranean fare. They succeeded in bringing the food when the restaurant opened in April, but the kitchen, with Michael Gotreau at the helm, seems to be searching for its rhythm. That's not unusual for a restaurant only two months old. If waiter Alan Roos is any indication of the level of service, patrons will be happy to come here as the place evolves.
There are the expected pastas and grilled pizzas. Bread was homemade and served with seasoned olive oil. A salad of baby field greens with a sun-dried cherry vinaigrette was topped with goat cheese crostini and pine nuts. Calamari came with hot cherry pepper rings and a roasted green tomatillo vinaigrette, both good counterpoints to the golden, perfectly cooked seafood.
Then, a grilled sage-rubbed chicken, salty and slightly overdone, arrived with a side of ratatouille, which drowned it out. The same fate befell pork medallions and mashed potatoes, which would have been better off with a simpler, less runny side. Right now the chef wants to put everything on the plate. But the elements are there for interesting food. Restraint will come.
A creamy cheesecake, which was remarkably light, came in a pool of raspberry coulis. Chocolate mousse pie, with a chocolate crust, wasn't overly sweet, but dense in a good way. The two women at the next table were lamenting the fact that as soon as word spread about TraBiCa, there would be a line out the door. I think they're right.
Tips & hits
