Marigold Kitchen sits in a charming converted Queen Anne-style row home at 45th and Larchwood. Inside its welcoming exterior lies claret- colored walls adorned with a minimum of artwork, exposed ductwork, and rustic wood trim. This University City institution, a friendly neighbor for 73 years, continually attempts to reinvent itself.
In its latest incarnation, Chef Erin O'Shea of Richmond, Va. takes the helm. Chef O'Shea has transformed what had previously been an amalgam of middle eastern and New England flavors into what server Cathy Nguyen calls, "forward-thinking southern cuisine."
My dining companion and I partook of the five-course $50 tasting menu, comprised of an appetizer course, two seafood plates, a meat plate, a cheese sampler and two desserts.
There were several high notes to the meal: the creamy turnip soup achieved a lovely silken consistency, and the earthiness of the turnip was tempered perfectly by a sweet apple coulis. Moreover, a Virginia ham-accented buttermilk biscuit admirably maintained its flakiness floating above the potage. The morsels of Surrey sausage - bearing hints of coriander and clove soaring above their smoky heartiness - elevated the pear-and-cornbread-stuffed chicken breast to memorable heights. Finally, a moist, warm chocolate cake perfectly balanced the fine chocolate's exquisite bitterness with a sweet hot-fudge-like sauce.
A few of the dishes left room for improvement. First, a chicken liver pate was so rich that it overpowered the nice crunch from the brioche below, and obscured its pickled celery garnish. The pleasantly meaty shrimp served atop the grits constituted a nice touch; however, the grits themselves were not revived by the grated pecorino. The fish courses varied in quality. Two succulent, buttery scallops, pan seared, stood up well to two perfectly steamed mussels. Tapioca pearls added a vibrant textural dimension to a pleasant butternut squash sauce. On the other hand, flounder, although nicely seared on the top, cut away to reveal a soggier texture. Dessert offered a similar range of experience. The praline-crusted apple tart served a la mode with sour cream ice cream was deliberately lacking in sweetness, though I appreciate the attempt perhaps to update the storied praline.
Given that Chef O'Shea has only been at Marigold Kitchen since January, it is doubtless only a matter of time before she more fully hones what seems to be promising culinary talent.
