Wine and Walnuts

I’ve been meaning to get to Crow Hill since it opened, and last Friday night I finally did. I had old friends in town I hadn’t seen in 15 years, and after enjoying a few glasses of wine at The Fortunate Glass, we decided we were in the mood for food, so off to Crow Hill we went.  The fact that it’s just a couple of doors down from The Fortunate Glass made it the perfect spot for a late night meal.

It’s such a lovely space — I loved it when it was Caffe Phoenix, and it still has that warm, inviting vibe, albeit with the interesting renovations Crow Hill implemented – that once we were settled in at our table, we didn’t want to leave.

Crow Hill bill themselves as “local, seasonal and rustic,” sourcing local sustainable farms and purveyors to keep it real, a concept also known as “farm to table”. A peek at the menu bears this out.  Current dinner selections include a Low Country Boil (the Friday Blue Plate Special) with Local Shrimp, Shellfish, and Sausage with Potatotes; North Carolina Trout served with Sweet Potato Hash, Pancetta and Brown Butter; and a Local Fish selection served with Citrus-Fennel Salad.  No doubt there will be frequent menu changes to highlight the best bounty of the season featuring additional locally sourced menu items.

A highlight of the menu for me was the charcuterie and cheese selection, something I’ve been missing since I left D.C.; I haven’t found it anywhere else I usually go in town, so this was pretty thrilling. (It really is the little things.)  There are currently four meat choices – Saucisson Sec, Dried Cured Chorizo, Serrano Ham and Sopressata – as well as five cheeses – two from North Carolina, two from Georgia and one from Holland.

I happily ordered the Goat Lady Goat Cheese (NC) and sopressata. It came on a small cutting board with wonderfully crunchy, delicious crostini, and went perfectly with the Nelson Bay 2009 New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc I drank along with it.  A really yummy combination that – goat cheese and Sauvignon Blanc are a classic cheese and wine pairing.

My friends ordered the Burger with Smokehouse Bacon and Sharp Mountain Cheddar (also from NC), which comes with fries, and a side of mac-n-cheese.  It was all a big hit.  I’m a huge fan of mac-n-cheese and usually where I see it on a menu, I order it.  I didn’t here, alas, but the friend who did said it was terrific.  So next time . . .

We ordered wine, but they have creative and interesting signature cocktails as well.  I won’t be able to tell you about those here, because I didn’t commit any of them to memory, and I can’t find their drinks menu or wine list at their website or elsewhere online.

On that note, I love to see either a drinks menu or a wine list at a restaurants’ website, or at least something about their wine program.  I know that for me and others I know, we often choose a restaurant based on the wine list in concert with the menu.  This is a small quibble, and it wouldn’t stop me going (obviously), but it would be a nice addition to the website. (That said, I know from experience how challenging it can be – given the peculiarities of the wine trade – to have an always up-to-date wine list online.)

While we’re on the subject of wine, I would love it if there were more by the glass selections available, but again, that’s a small thing and wouldn’t keep me from going back. 

And I definitely will go back.  Because there are more things to love than not to love here, including the warm, inviting atmosphere; locally sourced, expertly crafted menu items; the availability of charcuterie and cheeses (!), and the service, which was knowledgeable, attentive (and patient).   ; )

For more on Crow Hill, go here to read Liz Biro’s piece for the Port City Foodies blog, or here for the article on Crow Hill in the Greater Wilmington Business Journal, or directly to the Crow Hill website here.

Restaurant Hours
Dinner:
5pm to 10pm Tuesday – Sunday
Late Night:
10pm to 1am Friday & Saturday
Brunch:
10am to 2pm Sunday

Address
9 S. Front St.

Bon Appetit!

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Tags: dining downtown, downtown restaurants, farm to table

This entry was posted by Kimberly Houston on Friday, December 10th, 2010 at 10:51 am and is filed under Wilmington Eats and Drinks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.