Seasonal Fine Dining at The Frog and Peach

Sometimes you just need a little fine dining in your life, and The Frog and Peach located on Dennis Street can provide you just that.

The restaurant’s namesake, a Peter Cook and Dudley Moore comedic routine about a restaurant concept in Scotland that only serves frogs and peaches, is (thankfully) a far cry from the restaurant that boasts local and seasonal ingredients, prepared in a sustainable environment (they have solar panels on their roof).

My dining companion and I arrived for our 8:15pm reservation, as they highly recommend reservations for Saturday evenings. We were a few minutes early, so we headed to the bar for a drink while waiting for our table. Only minutes into enjoying our drinks, we were whisked away to our table, opting for their outdoors patio seating, which was fully equipped with fans that provided more than enough airflow. Our lively waiter gave us our menus, making special note of the their peach tasting menu, and left us to look it over.

We decided on the Frugal Farmer’s farm-to-table prix fixe meal, which consisted of three courses for $35 per person. We were warned by our waiter that this particular tasting menu has smaller portions, and since it was only three courses, was a good option if we “had somewhere to be.” As someone that likes to taste a little bit of everything and quickly becomes full, I was more than happy with my choice as my dining companion and I decided to chose different dishes for each course.

Our meal started with a mixed greens salad for myself, and peach Carpaccio for my fellow diner. For two simple dishes, they were beautifully presented and full of flavor. After our waiter’s note about portions, I was expecting extremely small portions, but was pleasantly surprised. As we enjoyed our first course, fresh rolls were brought to the table with herbed butter. There was plenty of time for us to enjoy our first course before we received the second.

We split the two second course options; I opted for the seared day boat sea scallops with sesame peanut noodle sushi and a pickled vegetable salad with miso vinaigrette, while he ordered the Griggstown Farm chicken meatballs stuffed with cheese served atop local greens in a black truffle tomato pan gravy. Both were equally delicious, and I enjoyed such an interesting take on sushi. The nori was stuffed with the sesame peanut noodles that the seared scallops sat on, which was both tasty and fun. For dessert, I enjoyed a watermelon ice pop flecked with cantaloupe and mint, and also had quite a bit of the crème bruleé.

It certainly seemed like most diners took part in the peach tasting menu, which can be enjoyed as a five or six course meal, with or without wine parings. Aside from their tasting menus (they also offer a pre-theater menu), they have an impressive menu, and an equally impressive wine list. They offer just the right amount of fine dining and upscale ambiance, while still making the dining experience enjoyable, and more importantly, affordable.