A Princeton review... backwards

This past weekend, AV and I headed back to his hometown of Princeton to lend a hand at his mom's jewelry show on Sunday. I'd been back to Princeton once before but hadn't thoroughly checked out all the edibles the town had to offer. For the past few weeks, I'd been looking forward to checking out the Bent Spoon, Princeton's famed artisanal ice cream shop, as an after-dinner treat, wherever dinner may be. But as Saturday night neared and dinner hour came and went, AV and I were simply not that hungry. But we wanted ice cream. So we decided to skip dinner entirely and head straight to the good stuff. Strangely, however, I wasn't craving fancy, delicate ice cream a la Bent Spoon; I was craving what we had had during my last trip to Princeton: Thomas Sweet.

Thomas Sweet is known for both ice cream and chocolate, but as we entered the shop, we knew exactly what we wanted. Two efficient orders later, we were sitting at a table diving into the most decadent, purest cookies 'n' cream ice cream I've had since that euphoric moment at SoCo Creamery in the Berkshires over the summer. This ice cream was a straightforward expression of sugar, vanilla, cream, and cookies-- nothing more, nothing less. It cooled the tongue and warmed the heart.

Absolutely classic

Satisfied with our dinner, we set off on a stroll around Princeton proper. Even in the merciless mist, Princeton was fairy-tale-like, cute and dreamy like a movie set. We peeked into the coffee shops and stores and dodged the college students, and all of a sudden I floated an idea: "Any chance you'd like some... real food?" Curiously, AV was on the same wavelength-- though we'd both just consumed about a half-pint of ice cream each, all of a sudden we were hungry for dinner.

And so we ducked into Mediterra, a warm yet chic restaurant near the center of town. It was about 9PM, and the hostess quoted us about 15 minutes for a table. So as I nipped off to the bathroom, AV retreated to the bar area, and by the time I returned, he had scored us two choice seats right at the bustling bar. I will note that Mediterra has by far and away the most comfortable bar seats we've ever had the pleasure of perching upon: padded and upholstered with substantial backs, these made our gastronomic journey a pleasure.

We each ordered a light bite from the menu, and within a moment or so a bread basket swooped down. The bread selection was admirable: three different kinds by my count, including a pumpernickle, a white slice, and some delicious focaccia. The dipping oil had a peppery bite to it that kept the palate interested.

Lots of bread for two casual noshers

With barely a few bites of bread consumed, our entrees (after-dinner snacks?) made their appearance. AV had chosen the fried calamari, which came with "harissa-pomodoro and lemon aioli" as dipping sauces. AV asked for an extra side of the red sauce, noting that any order of calamari that doesn't come with just straight-up marinara isn't quite playing fair (and though I wouldn't necessarily style myself a calamari expert, I'm inclined to agree). Speaking of playing fair, the mound of calamari was actually interspersed with tiny shoestring french fries, making the seafood pile seem more substantial than it was. As it was, AV steered around the unfavored octopus-like tentacle pieces and gobbled the rings and the fries and was satisfied.

Trompe l'oeil calamari

I had chosen the bibb lettuce salad with roasted pumpkin, red delicious apple, brie, roasted beets, and raisin vinagrette. I was very pleased with the salad, which came with two dressings on the side, one more apple-sauce-like (which I loved) and the other pretty standard. The brie crostino was pungeant and tasty, and the pumpkin was soft and sweet. My only gripe was that a few of the beets had slightly rotten spots, but other than that, I was a happy camper.

Creative melange

Our snacks at Mediterra capped off a delightful and delicious evening of dining in reverse. I'll be craving the ice cream at Thomas Sweet for some time to come, and the savory-sweet salad at Mediterra was no slouch either. It was the perfect combination for a dreamlike night at a fairy-tale land so close to the city, and yet a whole world away.

Thomas Sweet
179 Nassau Street, Princeton
609-683-8720

Mediterra
29 Hulfish Street, Princeton
609-252-9680

A Parisian moment in Princeton

Whenever I travel out of NYC, one of my favorite things to do is try to hit my destination's "hidden jewels"-- the places not everybody knows about but that yield tremendous rewards if you venture off the beaten path. Well, this past weekend I ventured far, far away from the city to Princeton, NJ, AV's hometown. I remembered a few months ago reading a Serious Eats post claiming Princeton was the home of the best croissants in the nation. I'm not a huge croissant-eater, and AV had never heard of the shop the post described, but, gosh darn it, we had to check it out.

So AV surprised me on Saturday morning by leading me to the Little Chef, a tiny storefront off one of Princeton's main streets. We wandered in the door to find the shop empty and a pastry case staring back at us. In its somewhat eerie setup yet scrumptious-looking pastries, the whole experience reminded me somewhat of Dousoeur Patisserie. But we soon found what we were looking for: a side cabinet contained the croissants for which we searched. And as we were opening the cabinet, the proprieter wandered out from the back to advise us on what filling each croissant contained. Needless to say, we went straight for the chocolate.

We paid for the croissant and dashed across the street with our paper bag of bounty. There, sitting on a set of concrete steps, AV unveiled it and we dug in.

Sort of looks like a conch shell

Again, I'll be the first to say that I'm no croissant expert, but even to my untrained eyes and palate, this was a damn good croissant. I pulled the pastry apart to reveal the flaky layers inside, which barely gripped the crisp crust and surrounded a slathering of dark chocolate.

Note the shattered bits of crust littering the paper bag

You could take a bite off the end, as AV did, which provided a rugelach-like experience. Or you could pick out the flaky bits from the center, as I did, which provided an I'm-three-years-old-and-will-eat-the-chocolate-first kind of experience. Either way, the combination of the intensely buttery pastry and the bittersweet chocolate was sublime.

Looks like rugelach? No? Just me?

While we came for and stuck to the croissants, the other pastries in the Little Chef's case also looked quite appealing-- maybe next time I'll investigate those. Regardless, I'd venture to guess you can't really go long in your selection; if you ever find yourself in the Princeton area, check it out yourself and let me know what you think.