“Restaurant review: Griffin's in Cresskill” |
| Restaurant review: Griffin's in Cresskill Posted: 23 Dec 2010 11:16 PM PST It started with one wooden sign hung over the bar, bearing the restaurant's name: "Griffin's." But chef-owner Peter Dulligan has two other children in addition to Griffin, and they needed their own signs. So "Laura's Café" was posted over the doorway to the dining room, and "Liam's Pub" went up over the bar entrance.  STAFF PHOTOS BY TYSON TRISH Buy this photoRhode Island calamari was a creation of Peter Dulligan, who was executive chef at Elaine's before opening Griffin's. The pub offers items such as thin-crust pizza in a casual setting. And then it all went haywire. "Chef de cuisine Peter" was put up near the kitchen, along with "Armando's hideaway," a reference to one of his staffers, and "Point of no return." There are also signs with a few bits of wisdom: "Many people have eaten my cooking and gone on to lead normal lives," and "We love to see all of you, some when you come, some when you go." This is the restaurant you open following 10 years as the executive chef of the Upper East Side celebrity hangout Elaine's in Manhattan (and yes, Dulligan has lots of good stories) and then running the popular Café Café in Tenafly. After the Culinary Institute of America-trained chef moved to North Jersey from the city, he began pining for a gastropub, a neighborhood place where he could get a good burger and his wife could have a nice piece of fish or some seafood. Griffin's **½ 44 E. Madison Ave., Cresskill, 201-541-7575 Food: Gastropub, with a diverse menu and ever-changing specials lists that includes burgers, steaks, seafood, fishes and pastas. Food is generally better than similar restaurants. Ambience: Quirky, down-to-earth neighborhood pub. Service: Casual; some servers are more attentive and enthusiastic than others. Value: Generally good for the quality of the food. Appetizers $7.95 to $9.95, entrees $13.95 to $24.95. Would be good for: Drinks and casual dinner, or when one person wants a steak and another wants pizza. Less appropriate for: Formal dinner. Recommended dishes: Kobe burger, Rhode Island calamari, wild mushroom ravioli. Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, noon to 9 p.m. Sunday. Liquor, wine: Full bar, wine list. Noise level: Depends where you sit; quieter in the restaurant than the bar. Credit cards: AE, MC, V. Reservations: Recommended for Friday and Saturday, and for parties of five or more. Accommodations for children: Menu. Dress: Casual. Early-bird specials or deals: Buy one entrée, get one half-off from 4 to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Children 10 and under eat free off special menu on Sunday. Takeout: Yes. Parking: Lot and street. Reviewed: Dec. 24, 2010. So he purchased the former La Petite Auberge in Cresskill and in 2006 opened Griffin's, a family affair where his wife, Kim, oversees the dining room, his brother, Tom, is the maitre'd; daughter Laura is a waitress and bartender and his son, the Griffin, is a food runner and bus boy. Those wooden signs are courtesy of customer Ray Jean, who is also responsible for displaying the 84 beer taps in Griffin's bar, where you may see the affable Dulligan occasionally holding court. You can come in for the popular sliced marinated steak sandwich, grilled swordfish, pizza or a Kobe burger. Specials might include Blue Point oysters on the half shell, Chilean sea bass, prime rib or calves liver. Desserts are house made. And unlike many restaurants that offer such a broad range of dishes, Griffin's pulls them off with skill, attracting other chefs who come in on their day off. You can sit in the dining room, with its brick fireplace, wood tables and stained glass lamps, but we'd recommend heading right after the entrance and taking a seat at the pub just off the bar, which has a laidback, neighborly vibe, a collection of beer steins and an indie pop soundtrack. You could feel comfortable here alone on a weeknight or with friends on a weekend; ordering three courses or just coming in for a salad. The pub is also where we found far better service – a well-versed waiter, versus the blasé, slouching waitress who seemed to serve us reluctantly in the dining room. Most everything we had here was good, but the one dish I'll return for is the Kobe burger ($15.95). It's a ubiquitous item that I often find disappointing and indistinguishable from any other burger. Not this one, which is eight ounces of organic Wagyu, ground in-house, with assertive flavor you'd expect from a good steak, served alongside a heap of greaseless skin-on fries and frizzled onions. Dulligan makes his own pizza crust, and it's thin and chewy; the individual pies (which start at $8.95) would be good for a sharable bite. So would the "black and blue" quesadillas, crisp on the outside, jack cheese and blackened chicken on the inside and just a hint of blue cheese for tanginess ($8.95). Seafood and fish would also be good options – a classic sole francaise ($16.50) and a spicy seafood fra diavolo ($21.95) were both winners, aside from an errant half a lobster on the pasta dish that had been cooked into oblivion. What's called Rhode Island calamari ($10.95) isn't exactly a traditional dish, just based on something that Dulligan once ate in Rhode Island: crispy calamari tossed in a light sauce with tomatoes and banana peppers. We were pleased with our 14-ounce strip steak ($24.95, not prime, not aged, but good flavor nonetheless). And after all this protein, who would have thought that another star item would be the one vegetarian dish, delicate wild mushroom ravioli in a subtle sage sauce ($15.95). As for desserts (all $6.95), they weren't quite the "phenomenal" treats our waiter promised, but better than many. Pumpkin mousse and cinnamon bread pudding were both light but substantial; chocolate pie had a filling with body, and the fried cheesecake was encased in a twirl of crust. The sweets do offer a good excuse for lingering at this unassuming spot and exploring its many quirks. It started with one wooden sign hung over the bar, bearing the restaurant's name: "Griffin's." But chef-owner Peter Dulligan has two other children in addition to Griffin, and they needed their own signs. So "Laura's Café" was posted over the doorway to the dining room, and "Liam's Pub" went up over the bar entrance. And then it all went haywire. "Chef de cuisine Peter" was put up near the kitchen, along with "Armando's hideaway," a reference to one of his staffers, and "Point of no return." There are also signs with a few bits of wisdom: "Many people have eaten my cooking and gone on to lead normal lives," and "We love to see all of you, some when you come, some when you go." This is the restaurant you open following 10 years as the executive chef of the Upper East Side celebrity hangout Elaine's in Manhattan (and yes, Dulligan has lots of good stories) and then running the popular Café Café in Tenafly. After the Culinary Institute of America-trained chef moved to North Jersey from the city, he began pining for a gastropub, a neighborhood place where he could get a good burger and his wife could have a nice piece of fish or some seafood. So he purchased the former La Petite Auberge in Cresskill and in 2006 opened Griffin's, a family affair where his wife, Kim, oversees the dining room, his brother, Tom, is the maitre'd; daughter Laura is a waitress and bartender and his son, the Griffin, is a food runner and bus boy. Those wooden signs are courtesy of customer Ray Jean, who is also responsible for displaying the 84 beer taps in Griffin's bar, where you may see the affable Dulligan occasionally holding court. You can come in for the popular sliced marinated steak sandwich, grilled swordfish, pizza or a Kobe burger. Specials might include Blue Point oysters on the half shell, Chilean sea bass, prime rib or calves liver. Desserts are house made. And unlike many restaurants that offer such a broad range of dishes, Griffin's pulls them off with skill, attracting other chefs who come in on their day off. You can sit in the dining room, with its brick fireplace, wood tables and stained glass lamps, but we'd recommend heading right after the entrance and taking a seat at the pub just off the bar, which has a laidback, neighborly vibe, a collection of beer steins and an indie pop soundtrack. You could feel comfortable here alone on a weeknight or with friends on a weekend; ordering three courses or just coming in for a salad. The pub is also where we found far better service – a well-versed waiter, versus the blasé, slouching waitress who seemed to serve us reluctantly in the dining room. Most everything we had here was good, but the one dish I'll return for is the Kobe burger ($15.95). It's a ubiquitous item that I often find disappointing and indistinguishable from any other burger. Not this one, which is eight ounces of organic Wagyu, ground in-house, with assertive flavor you'd expect from a good steak, served alongside a heap of greaseless skin-on fries and frizzled onions. Dulligan makes his own pizza crust, and it's thin and chewy; the individual pies (which start at $8.95) would be good for a sharable bite. So would the "black and blue" quesadillas, crisp on the outside, jack cheese and blackened chicken on the inside and just a hint of blue cheese for tanginess ($8.95). Seafood and fish would also be good options – a classic sole francaise ($16.50) and a spicy seafood fra diavolo ($21.95) were both winners, aside from an errant half a lobster on the pasta dish that had been cooked into oblivion. What's called Rhode Island calamari ($10.95) isn't exactly a traditional dish, just based on something that Dulligan once ate in Rhode Island: crispy calamari tossed in a light sauce with tomatoes and banana peppers. We were pleased with our 14-ounce strip steak ($24.95, not prime, not aged, but good flavor nonetheless). And after all this protein, who would have thought that another star item would be the one vegetarian dish, delicate wild mushroom ravioli in a subtle sage sauce ($15.95). As for desserts (all $6.95), they weren't quite the "phenomenal" treats our waiter promised, but better than many. Pumpkin mousse and cinnamon bread pudding were both light but substantial; chocolate pie had a filling with body, and the fried cheesecake was encased in a twirl of crust. The sweets do offer a good excuse for lingering at this unassuming spot and exploring its many quirks. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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