 Stamford Advocate
Date: 06.17.09
Stamford's Butterfield 8 appealing to supper club crowd
Stamford's Bedford Street restaurant district has an addition. Butterfield 8 is the new kid on the block, and in the same place that was formerly home to the popular Temple Bar. With its large menu of mostly American comfort foods, moderate prices and entertainment lineup, it is likely to attract the same club crowd as Temple Bar. But the quality of the food makes the new restaurant a stand-alone winner for lunch and supper, too.
The very large space, which is always a challenge for restaurants, has an inviting and convivial main bar with plenty of room for congregating. The 70-seat dining room is at the rear, with enough distance and soundproofing to make it a comfortable place for dinner conversation even when the bar is filled. The restaurant also has a catering hall in the back and a more private cocktail lounge upstairs.
With an agreeable and well-priced beer and wine list, as well as an interesting specialty cocktail menu, such as a pomegranate martini or a ginger margarita, the bar should do quite nicely. But it is the food that surprised us. In most bars and clubs, the food is almost an afterthought, but here it is center stage and much is worth star billing.
An entire meal could be made of the generously portioned appetizers. Lightly battered and fried shrimp, presented in an edible crisp-fried "bowl," is served with a sweet/hot Chinese-style chili oyster sauce. Even tastier, and with the same presentation, are salt-and-pepper dusted fried calamari tossed with hot and sweet red and green peppers and a tangy Thai chili sauce. Other standards given thoughtful treatment are buttermilk batter chicken tenders with honey mustard and hot spinach and Parmesan dip with pita chips. Chipotle-braised beef brisket nachos take this standard to a new level, as does roasted corn chowder with crisp bacon and tender chicken strips. Pretzel-crusted crab cake, however, is an idea that needs a total reworking. Oversalted, overseasoned, overbreaded and under-crabbed; skip this one.
The burger is a winner with a half-pound of Angus beef cooked just right with a choice of two toppings and a heap of freshly cooked fries. Turkey club is elevated with avocado aioli, applewood smoked bacon and Texas toast. But the best of all are the trio of pulled pork sliders, heaped with mouth-watering pork shreds, crispy wisps of fried onions, all on mini-brioche buns with a side of sweet potato fries that we liked even better than the standard potato.
Bountiful salads include such classics as chicken Caesar and chopped Cobb. But also offered are sliced grilled skirt steak on iceberg lettuce wedges with bacon, onion, blue cheese and boiled eggs, and a salad of fried calamari over greens with roasted corn, chopped walnuts and Serrano peppers with a hoisin vinaigrette.
The menu has a section of full-fledged entrees, such as ricotta-stuffed chicken breast over polenta and spinach; Cajun-style blackened rib-eye steak; sesame-crusted tuna with wasabi mashed potatoes and garlic shrimp over tomato and basil tortellini. Grilled skirt steak with mashed potatoes and crisp fried onions in a peppercorn sauce is a winner, as is St. Louis-style ribs with warm cornbread and crunchy coleslaw. Go for a side of mac and cheddar cheese studded with jalapenos and ham.
There was but one dessert, called "cookie smash," and our waitress highly recommended it. She was right.
This super-simple concept of quickly baking chocolate chip cookie dough in a hot cast-iron skillet until the cookies are just crisp on the outside, but still very soft on the inside, then plopping a scoop of premium vanilla ice cream on top and finishing with a drizzle of chocolate sauce is an adult/child version of dessert heaven. We argued for the last spoonful.
BUTTERFIELD 8 112 Bedford St., Stamford TELEPHONE: (203) 504-8123 HOURS: Sunday-Thursday 11:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m.; Friday, Saturday 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m. RESERVATIONS: Accepted CREDIT CARDS: AE, V, MC PRICES: Appetizers: $6-$15; Main courses: $16-$22; Salads and sandwiches: $11-$15; Desserts: approximately $7 www.butterfield8stamford.com
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