Princeton Packet Review 2000

Princeton Packet

November 12, 2000

Verve American Restaurant

By: Antoinette Buckley, Time Off

10/12/2000

With a unique daily menu ensuring the freshest ingredients, this Somerville restaurant's French country-style cooking creates fabulous meals. The food is top-notch, the atmosphere is inviting and the service is excellent.

Verve American Restaurant
18 E. Main Street, Somerville
(908) 707-8655

Food: Very Good
Cuisine: American with strong French country influence
Service: Excellent
Ambiance: Buoyant
Prices: Moderate to Expensive
Hours: Lunch: Tues.-Fri., 11:30 a.m.-2-3 p.m.; Dinner: Mon.-Thurs. 5:30-9:30 p.m., Fri. and Sat. 5:30-11 p.m.. Sunday Brunch on holidays only.
Essentials: Major credit cards accepted; liquor license; smoking at the bar only; wheelchair accessible; reservations highly recommended on weekends, appreciated on weekdays; lounge area upstairs for after dinner conversation; live jazz music on select evenings.

   SOMERVILLE — If a restaurant could be personified, Verve would greet you at the door, put an arm around your shoulder and draw you into a lively crowd, introducing you to friends and family until finally you make your way to a table in the depths of the restaurant that was waiting specifically for you. What is it about the restaurant that makes it so appealing?
   Yes, the food is outstanding, but it's something more than that. Perhaps it's the many blown-up black and white photos that capture the pure humanness of patrons enjoying themselves within its walls. The collection is the work of young local artist, Jonathon Decola, and depicts moments of a Mardi Gras celebration held at the restaurant earlier this year. (Decola will take photos at a masquerade party later this month that will soon replace these.)
   Perhaps the restaurant's charismatic spirit is due in large part to the owner and maitre d', Rick St. Pierre, who adds the personal touch. When we arrived, he immediately made us feel welcome by narrating the photographs that he noticed us admiring. And through the course of the night he had worked his way around the room, joining table after table for brief moments of conversation. It seemed a if everyone was a personal friend. It is no wonder why this restaurant draws so many regulars. The food is top-notch, the atmosphere is inviting, and the service is excellent.
   Verve pampers you without making you feel stilted as a more formal restaurant has a tendency to do. As soon as we finished with one course, the plates where whisked away with the next course following soon behind. Our water glasses were always full, and our waiter was quick to offer to send back a bottle of wine we ordered when my reaction to the first sip was less than enthusiastic. (As it turned out, it actually paired very well with our meal.)
   When head chef, Scott Switzer, came to the restaurant a few months ago from the Ryland Inn, where he was a sous chef, he brought the idea of the daily menu. There are no daily specials at Verve, instead, the one-page menu, describing straightforward food, is unique everyday. That's a sure sign that only the freshest ingredients in the market will be served. It's also very characteristic of the French country style cooking that Switzer embraces.
   From the very first taste of Switzer's work, we were sold on this simple, but elegant cooking style. The lobster bisque was amazing. It was also a steal for $7. Sometimes the thickness of a bisque can weigh down its flavor halfway through the bowl. The understated consistency of this bisque drew out the pure lobster flavor. A scoop of crabmeat held a place of prominence in the center of the bowl adding a compelling flavor and texture, and dots of emerald green olive oil on the surface of the bisque made up the finishing touches. I can't say the appetizer of three plump sea scallops on a bed of greens dressed with balsamic vinaigrette was as much of a bargain at $12. But they were succulent, well seasoned so fresh and lightly cooked to perfection. Thinly sliced wild mushrooms on top of the greens were a treat, and the cherry tomatoes were sweet delights as it was their peak season.
   The Maryland crab cake ($10 ) was a fantastic version of a very popular appetizer. As I would expect in a restaurant like this, it was all crab, bound together, it seemed, only by the seasonings and moist sweetness of the tender meat. The dainty portion of capellini with shrimp and chive butter that accompanied the crab cake was surprisingly bland and contained no actual shrimp as the menu implied. The crab cake alone (maybe two) would have sufficed.
   Restaurants often fall short on the entrees. Verve did not. We savored both of ours. Wood smoked ribeye steak ($24) was smoked on the premises and then grilled to a medium rare. The smoking provided a depth of flavor that went on and on with every bite of tender meat. Red potatoes seasoned with a little spice and haricot verts that retained their freshness with a firm crunch were noteworthy sides.
   But the butter-raised lobster with mushroom risotto ($32) was the lobster dish of my dreams. The shell had been removed in the kitchen, so the only thing left for me to do was relish the butter-infused, sweet, luxurious meat of the tail and claws. And what could be better than an accompanying mound of perfectly cooked wild mushroom risotto in the center of the plate? Just in case that didn't impress, sautéed spinach that glistened a brilliant green and carried overtones of garlic was draped over the risotto.
   If this restaurant has one weakness, it would have to be the dessert selection. In fact, it was the one element keeping the restaurant back in the food category. Dessert choices just weren't as compelling as the rest of the menu. While fresh fruit is always lovely in itself, I'm looking for something with a bit more interest when I'm dining out. We settled on a crème brulee ($6) that was a little looser than I like and a respectable black currant swirl cheesecake ($7).
   All in all it was a fabulous meal in a spirited setting. An evening out for dinner doesn't get much better than this.