by Mystery MouthThere is no doubt that the ambience — intimate and romantic, with candles and scattered deco and earthy art — is among the best that Mystery Mouth has seen. Add the fact that Wednesdays at the State Street Grill in Clarks Summit feature live jazz music, and this Mouth was as sound as a pound come dinnertime one recent Wednesday.
The menu is sizable and offers many traditional dishes, but with twists. Take, for example, the steak and chee flatbread, the restaurant’s version of a cheesesteak, which features peppers, caramelized onions and blue cheese ($8.25). Subtly classing up a classic? The Mouth can definitely appreciate that.
(I can also appreciate the fact that State Street Grill’s menu doesn’t make easy the decision making process. Everything sounds so incredibly good it almost seems unlawful to favor one item over another, but such is the life of a serial diner.)
Two other flatbreads jumped out at me: baked potato, which boasted mashed potato, onion, sour cream, crispy bacon and cheddar for $7.95, and Mediterranean, with hummus, tomato, pepperoncini, artichokes, feta and basil for $8.75. Always a sucker for hummus, I decided to start my meal off with the latter.
Selections under small plates were diverse: Rice Krispied chicken tenders with a mango barbecue sauce ($8.25); truffled macaroni and cheese with a potato chip crust ($11) and fried wasabi-dusted calamari with red curry vinaigrette ($9.25), just to name a few. All were tempting to my companion Otto, who ultimately chose to start with the marinated pork kebobs with peanut dressing and rice ($9.95). (Word to the wise: do not let “small plate” fool you. Based on those kebobs, it’s fair to assume that at State Street Grill, small plate translates to big portion, but more on that later.)
Otto went to the opposite end of the food chain for his dinner entr�e, choosing the red snapper with braised Mediterranean vegetables, basmati rice, tomato coulis and preserved lemon ($27.95) over the pan-seared duck breast with wild mushrooms, spinach, polenta and pomegranate vinaigrette ($21.95).
After flip-flopping over offerings like the peppered tuna nicoise ($21.95) and New Zealand rack of lamb ($25.95), I couldn’t help but go the comfort-food route with the pot roast pot pie ($13.95). Its cream-cheese crust intrigued me.
State Street Grill also boasts enticing salads and sandwiches like the stir fry salad with greens, stir-fried veggies, soba noodles, grilled chicken and peanut dressing ($9.25) and the cod filet soft taco with jalapeno yogurt aioli and fresh fruit salsa ($11.95).
We were presented crusty chunks of bread and creamy hummus, a nice alternative to olive oil or butter, in a wrought-iron basket. Unlike other hummus I’ve tasted, State Street’s was delicately flavored and less garlicky. It was so yummy — and we were so hungry — that we asked for more.
The hummus’ delicateness didn’t overpower my Mediterranean flatbread, nor did it lessen the sinfully potent pepperoncini heat. The tomato, artichokes and feta added a delightful balance.
Otto’s colossal kebobs were stunning in their presentation. Both were strategically placed over a mound of rice, while a moat of savory, slightly zippy peanut sauce surrounded it. A few scallion ribbons added a dash of towering green. The skewers bowed under the weight of the large cubes of pork, red onion, pepper, mushroom and squash. One had slightly less tender pork than the other, but both were relatively melt-in-your-mouth.
The kebobs and the flatbread could have been meals in themselves, but Otto and I were only halfway done.
His snapper was smothered in a colorful array of snappy snow peas and beans and a delectable tomato puree. For someone who usually backs away from vegetables, Otto tucked into these with relish, though he found the preserved lemon a little too tart for his taste — but I thought it was a gorgeous accent to the dish. The thinly sliced filet was perfectly done with crisp edges.
My pot roast pot pie was incredible. Its sizeable crock was super-hot and the crust was absolutely amazing; the cream cheese added a nice flavor and an almost potato-like texture. Inside were huge cubes of buttery-tender roast, mushrooms and potatoes in a hearty stew that was even better than Mom used to make.
Earlier, I had spied a table getting its entrees soon after its appetizers arrived. Sadly, the same happened to us, but the genial runner noticed immediately that we had barely dug into the plates before us — nor had room on our tiny table for the extra plates — and took our dinners back to the kitchen. Otto and I sighed, figuring they would return ice cold — or not at all.
Au contraire. Our server Kat kept her eye on us and brought our dinners back after asking if we were ready. As for their temperature, only the smattering of frites accompanying my entr�e were lukewarm; everything else was fine. Had those frites been as hot as the pot pie, I’m sure they would have been all the more tasty.
Forgoing dessert because, frankly, we were stuffed, Otto and I sat back to enjoy a little more of the wonderful jazz that had been wafting from the front room most of the evening.
From the entrance — which we had to reach by snaking through the crowded front patio where diners were kept warm by tall outdoor heaters — to the truly eclectic and exquisite food and good service, our evening at the State Street Grill was excellent.
So much so that I know I’ll be in a State Street Grill state of mind quite often in the future.
