Stephanie March, Julia and I had a great time last night at Luring Kitchen and Pasta Bar. I really liked the esthetics of the restaurant. The design was simple and the front of the restaurant was open and airy with lots of outdoor seating. There is lush landscaping amongst the industrial backdrop of the Eiddel (sp?) building it is in on 1359 Willow Street. I found the room pleasing. We sat at the bar and had very good service. I cant wait to get back and sample more from the dinner menu - I really liked it. When you consider that the restaurant was only open recently the server and bartender was really knowledgeable and easily recommended 4-6 dishes - of course we ate them all and then some - here is what we ate.

Braised beef with caramelized onions and horseradish sauce.  This dish had a good flavor but the texture of the shredded meat was very chewy and a bit tough. I am afraid it had been cooked too far in advance of serving. The caramelized onions on top were actually deep fried mini onion rings and there was a horseradish drizzle that was tasty but I wished there was more. This dish had lots of promise but was the most disappointing.

Scallop with roasted beet, goat cheese and they were all stacked in a sandwich and some other liquids on the plate to make it look pretty and it did! We liked this dish and ordered two of them. The scallop was cooked perfectly and the roast beet and goat cheese was a nice combination. My only wish was there was two scallops for the $7. The dish was pretty and tasty.

Zucchini Fries was next. What's hard to like about fried zucchini? Nothing. They were fine and served with a marinara sauce. I wished for a creamy sauce with a hint of ranch instead and also the fries were more like shoestring versus cut fries. More zucchini would have helped the flavor but overall - they did taste good and the breading was well executed.

Tuna Tartar. I always like this dish. At Loring kitchen it was beautifully done with big chunks of tuna that were perfectly displayed amongst a pico de gayo mixed in on a jalapeno and lime chili oil bed. This dish was pretty and tasty and could only have been improved with a sprinkling of rock salt on top.

I saved the BEST dish for last. Roasted Brussel Sprouts with pancetta and blue cheese. This dish was heavenly. The brussel sprouts were perfectly caramelized with the pancetta and they sat in a blue cheese balsamic sauce that was to die for. Stephanie promised right there that she would try to recreate these for Thanksgiving. These were delightful little morsels!

Lump Crab was a great dish with mushrooms and a lovely lemon white sauce that was delcious. Again the only bummer here was there was 2 large pieces of crab and 2 small - and - I wanted bread to sop up this yummy sauce.

I am going back to this place. I think the perfect atumnal day would be to sit outside with a Summit Beer and take in the park views. Yummy.