I recently went back to Repast after being a bit disappointed with my first visit about 7 months ago. Sadly my first impression was the right one as Repast is a restaurant that just doesn?t deliver on the promise that its creative, eclectic and well written menu holds for its diners.
I really want to like Repast, Cher/Owner Joe Truex is a really nice guy, he regularly chats with his guests at the bar, the restaurant has a fine selection of bourbon? something that always earns points with me and as I said before, the menu has a litany of dishes that just sound outstanding. But sadly, each time I?ve been and pretty much every dish I?ve had has left me feeling that it didn?t live up to the promise I had for it.
We started off with the black garlic hummus and the Japanese octopus carpaccio. The hummus was really good and easily the best of the two appetizers. It had a great garlic essence running through it that added a nice depth of flavor. The hummus had just the right amount of creaminess and was a great app for sharing and getting the meal started. The octopus carpaccio sounded far too interesting not to order. Its served with shaved onion, a fennel salad and a ponzu dressing. I?ve had Octopus numerous other times, but I?d never had it in a carpaccio style, so I was curious to try it. While the dish was good, the ponzu dressing it was served with was far too salty and just lacked a brightness from some acidity that would?ve really added a layer of flavor to the dressing and helped balance out its flavor. I think the fennel salad was supposed to provide the layer of acidity that the dish needed, but instead just added an accent of licorice to the dish, which when combined with the ponzu dressing, just didn?t work.
For the entrees, we went with the crab cakes ?Repast style? served with saut?ed sesame asparagus and a yuzu caper butter and the seared sea scallops & pork belly served with roasted winter root vegetables.
Now maybe its me, but if you?re going to put your name on something and claim it as your own, it should be pretty damn special and unfortunately I just didn?t have this reaction to the crab cakes at Repast. In a word, they were bland. Sadly, its not really worth saying too much more about them; there simply wasn?t much flavor and I was extremely disappointed in them.
After the disappointment of the crab cakes I was ready to get my eat on with the scallops and pork belly. I mean, talk about a tantalizing dish: scallops AND pork belly on the same plate? Sign me up! But again, I was left with a mouth and stomach full of disappointment. I thought the scallops were a little overcooked and while not rubbery, were not the soft and succulent morsels that a well cooked scallop is. The pork belly was tasty, as pork belly almost always is, but I thought it lacked a bit of seasoning and didn?t shine in the way I think it could have. The roasted root vegetables, lacked the depth of flavor and sweetness that you would expect from roasted vegetables. I definitely see the concept of the dish and it seems so perfect: the sweetness and fresh ocean taste of the scallops, offset with the fattiness and ?porkiness? of the pork belly; then round the dish out with some roasted root veg to finish and damn, you?re ready to eat. On paper the combination just sounds perfect. But somewhere along the way, the flavors never developed and thus never came together.
I have to say that I was extremely disappointed with my meal at Repast. Sadly the best thing we had was the hummus and if that?s the best thing on a fine dining restaurant?s menu then it?s a really bad sign. I really hope that when the menu changes Repast can get it right, because this is a restaurant that I truly want to like but based upon a pretty disappointing meal, I just can?t right now.
Pros: friendly owners, cool patio, good bourbon selection
Cons: a bit expencive based on enjoyment of the food
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