Review: Jax Kitchen
by Tom Stauffer on Nov. 12, 2008, under Taste
Duck leg confit with fingerling potato salad, truffled green beans and mustard sauce at Jax Kitchen.
A new eatery that bills its fare as “Modern Comfort Food” spurs the questions of just how modern and just how comfort-foody?
The answers here are very modern and very comfort-foody, so much so that this apt description of Jax Kitchen falls short of the singular dining experience we enjoyed on a busy Saturday night.
The Northwest side bistro housed in what was Conti’s Italian Ristorante has a modestly upscale look and feel with clean lines, white linen and an open kitchen. These elements amount to a tasteful but largely neutral canvas with which to showcase what matters – energetic, inspired food that’s elegantly edgy yet exceedingly wholesome.
It’s not as if chef Addam Buzzalini has reinvented the wheel, but rather that he’s carved an artful arc, like a driver who deftly turns his race car left by steering hard right into a precise, graceful sideslip.
The Sea Scallops ($10) would have been excellent with nothing more than the pair of pan-seared scallops – meticulously charred yet sweet and jiggly. The plate, however, raised the bar with an exquisite sweet corn sauce, an earthy mushroom mélange and crunchy fresh garlic greens.
Our other starter, the Baked Goat Cheese Dip ($9), had been heated to just the right temperature to mellow the salty, pungent cheese into a creamy, luxurious tang yet retained a pleasing, workable consistency when spread on the fresh baguette slices. A spoon of rich olive tapenade worked well with the cheese and bread but was so intriguing we kept dabbing at it separately.
The Tuna Niçoise ($15) cleverly contrasted the demure, buttery ahi slices against the powerful piquancy of Spanish anchovies, with the oceanic duo nicely complemented by a softly-boiled egg, tomatoes, vibrant greens and truffled green beans.
The Kobe Burger + frites ($11) featured a generous patty of domestic Kobe-style beef stacked with sautéed mushrooms, thick slicks of deeply roasted onion, melted gruyère cheese and truffle aioli, accompanied with a flawless side of pomme frites. I usually end up pulling most of the extra players off Kobe burgers because they tend to obscure the almost-creamy payoff of the high-brow beef. This version had me appreciating the teaming.
The Duck leg confit ($18) had the kind of innately visceral, comfort-food appeal that almost made it cheating. Think of the most sinfully satisfying fried chicken anybody’s grandma ever served you – crispy, salty skin and moist, supple meat. Now, up the ante – considerably – with the über-rich nature of expertly prepared duck. The accompanying fingerling potato salad was cool and mild – a pleasant counterpoint to the duck leg – and we enjoyed the way a smattering of fresh, cut grapes imaginatively played with the potato salad and the side of green beans.
Desserts (all $5) brought back childhood memories, the hallmark of comfort food at its best. The Pot de Crème (baked chocolate custard) was a refined, upscale version of the pudding you couldn’t get enough of as a kid. The Apple Crumb Cake, though classic in theme, was notable for what it didn’t have. Rather than the overly sweet and often overly congealed nature of apple filling, the sweetness was kept in check, and the almost airy texture allowed for a more vibrant duality of the tangy apples and assortment of fresh berries against the homey crumb topping and nicely dense whipped cream.
(There’s got to be something to keep this from being an all-out gushing review. Think. Think hard.)
OK, here goes:
• The goat cheese starter could have done with more slices of baguette (I’m sure we could have asked for and gotten more, but we were too busy with the scallops).
• The wait between getting menus and placing orders could have been a tick or two longer.
• The decaf we ended with could have been hotter (something we encounter with a curious frequency dining out).
There. It’s not much, but that’s about all I can muster.
Rumor has it that Buzzalini plans to expand the menu with housemade salumi and other enhancements, and what had been a dinner-only eatery started opening for lunch earlier this month.
Jax Kitchen has succeeded in distinguishing itself as a true original, a newbie that has already hit its stride with the best of them at notably reasonable prices and what may be an introductory menu.
And with a mantra – Modern Comfort Food – that, although accurate, is overly modest.
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Jax Kitchen
Address and phone: 7286 N. Oracle Road, 219-1235
Hours: 5-9 p.m. Sunday and Monday, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5-9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Prices: Appetizers from $4 to $12; salads $7-$10; entrees $10-$21; desserts $5
Bar: Full
Vegetarian options: Smoked Tomato Gazpacho ($10); Heirloom Tomato salad ($10); Boston Bibb salad ($7)
Desserts: Several, including Cookies-and-Milk spiked with bourbon and Lemon Pound Cake
Latest health inspection: Passed opening inspection in August. Has yet to undergo its first unannounced inspection.
