I’ve tried a new restaurant tonight – a kitchen bar .  And armed with both a kitchen and a bar, it lives up to the name stupendously.  (By the way, is kitchen bar the new phrase?)  The interior is great.  There is a bar on the first floor, swanky and hip, and there is a wonderful open space upstairs with another bar and a gorgeous exposed beam ceiling.  The lighting, to be real, is a little dim.  And they need some blinds on the windows asap.  There is a wonderful, large community table in the center of the space, and the party occupying it was moved because of the setting sun.

The cocktails are good.  We tried everyone on the menu.  **Warning – they love ginger.  The Ginger Lime Martini has both ginger and lime, in excessive amounts.  While delicious, I may need an esophageal transplant after the lime juice, but in a Thai restaurant it would have been sublime.  The hit of the night was the 8407 Pimms, with an exceptional balance of lime, cucumber, and…ginger.  Delicious.  We ordered a few.  The Clementine tasted like a bathroom air freshener, but if you love a fruit/flower flavor, it’s meant for you.

The food was hit or miss, or a little in between.  We started with the Pickled Potted Rabbit Truffle Rillette.  Pretty darn good (my partners favorite of the night), but the consistency was that of a white bean soup – not the most appetizing when you know you’re eating meat.  It was served with some toasted bread that over-powered the flavor of the rabbit, and some cumquats that over powered the toasted bread.  We also ordered sardines – fresh and tasty, but the bones were a tad much, and they were served with some golden raisins on the side.  I sit here, still wondering, what were those raisins for?  For the final first taste, french fries cooked in duck fat with rosemary.  Most definitely flavorful, but limp.  And I hate a limp fry!  But if flavor is your name, then this potato is your game.

For our second round, we started with the sauteed greens in an apple cider gastrique.  Perhaps the best item of the evening, sweet and bitter.  The asparagus salad with poached egg and salad was a complete miss.  It came out luke warm and no body, and I mean no body, wants to eat cold, semi-solid egg whites.  Blah.  (As an aside, the table next to us ordered the same thing as was very displeased with the egg as well).  We ate one bite and gave the rest to Jesus.  The house burger, we ordered medium rare.  I’m a firm believer that if a restaurant can nail a hamburger, they can cook anything before them.  The burger, good, came out on the heavily rare side.  But, the good foodie I am, the rarer the better, and it was tasty.  The bacon on top was cooked well (still crisp) and the seeded bun helped add the perfect amount of salt to the dish.

Overall, in my best Gael Greene voice, I give 8407 three-and-a-half stars.  There is room to improve but I had a delightful first impression.  The pieces are all present, and they need a slight nudge to get them into alignment – and being opened for only a few weeks, no doubt they will put the pieces together.  To be honest, we tasted none of the main entrees – and starting at $19 (up to $30), I’m happy to keep to the appetizer and sandwich menu for now.  A certain price scale requires a little reputation to run along side it.  But please, taste, eat, and enjoy.

AEK