The legend of Shadowbrook preceded
my visit.
Callers inquiring as to its street
address, I had been told many times, have been advised that
it's simply "Shadowbrook, Shrewsbury - no street number.
You'll find us."
A friend who dined there and asked
if there were any special entrees that night, received a most
polite response: "Everything on our menu is special."
Shadowbrook, even though it has
no street number, is one of the area's most elite addresses
for a wedding or special occasion. Indeed, it would be hard
for any prospective bride and not to succumb to the splendor
of this Georgian mansion swathed in bejeweled chandeliers, ornate
gilded mirrors, paintings that look as though they must be on
loan from a museum and urn-size vases filled with flowers.
You also will be impressed, at the
very least, and more likely dazzled by the drive up to this
secluded showplace off Route 35. Tree-lined and movie-set perfect,
the narrow road leads to the hidden-away compound that probably
needs to be seen from an aerial view to be appreciated. In addition
to the mansion itself, there are gardens and courtyards that
heave seen as many weddings as a poplar pastor.
Should you not be interested in
a setting for a wedding but rather a pleasant dinner, you can
simply surrender your car to a valet and call this mansion your
home for the evening. You may feel a little lost at first: There
are regal banquet rooms, a series of smaller, thoroughly elegant
dining rooms and a sumptuous bar room that probably wouldn't
be intimidated hosting a party made up of Cary Grant and Grace
Kelly clones. It's the kind of dark, woody bar festooned with
gleaming brass accents that's most accurately described by interior
designers who live for every issue of Architectural Digest.
So set a spell there, and enjoy tripping back in time to an
era when that sort of civilized relaxation was de rigeur.
If all this spells grandmother's
birthday or major anniversary dinner to you, you've got the
idea. That is of course, providing the folks involved are happy
traditionalists and not in search of the cuisine of the moment.
Shadowbrook, built in 1907 and owned by the Zweben family since
1971, banks on its foundation in tradition.
Given the lavish detail of the surroundings,
it's not surprising that the food at Shadowbrook is deftly executed
by a competent kitchen and graciously presented by a cordial,
if reserved, service staff. So while there are no culinary revelations
coming out the kitchen here, there is a respect for the classics,
a knowledge of how they should be prepared and a pipeline to
superior ingredients.
So start with a classic - tender
escargot in a vibrant butter bath with strong accents of garlic,
shallots and capers. Shrimp were more subtly swathed with a
garlicky sauce in another starter, while the lobster in a lobster
meat cocktail was on the too-chewy side. Fettuccine with shrimp
and lobster in a decadent lobster cream sauce was among the
richest renditions of pasta I've ever tasted. It's a coat-your-stomach
winter dish I'd be hard pressed to imagine downing in summer.
For those many fans of Caesar salad,
they do the real thing here - and tableside, to boot. It's a
wondrous thing, a true Caesar like this, because you can taste
every ingredient in the dressing and savor how the egg, the
anchovies, the garlic, the Worcestershire, the Parmesan and
the olive oil almost miraculously work together, making salad
royalty out of mere romaine and croutons.
A 32-ounce steak from the T-bone
end of the loin billed as "the ultimate steak" wasn't
for off its claim. It is a prime example of an aged steak, so
deeply buttery, so rich-tasting, so much the partner for very
old red wine that you might find it criminal so many official-type
agencies and organizations are touting a piddling 3 or 4 ounces
as the perfect portion of beef. You'd only be begging for more.
Tender, faintly herbed rack of baby
lamb proved the Zwebens have quite the meat purveyor. Less enticing
was duck a l'orange basted with fruit juices and Bing cherries,
succulently prepared bird, for sure, but one served drowning
in sweetness from an excess of sauce. Crabmeat, shrimp and scallops
sautÈed in butter, Sherry and garlic before being joined
with pasta in a lemon-garlic sauce was a mellow dish, adequately
prepared, but it failed to provide that definitive garlic punch
that could have dominated and bound this malange of tastes together.
The serviceable though not extensive
or particularly imaginative wine list is balnced between domestic
and European wines. There's also a list or rare and old wines
(heavy on the Bordeaux) for wine buffs carrying hundreds or
maybe thousands of dollars in their pockets.
Should Old World, civilized elegance
be your primary requirement when planning a special occasion
dinner, you'll find it at Shadowbrook.
Andrea Clurfeld
is the Press restaurant critic. The Dining Companion appears
Sundays.
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