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Sweet Grass Grill, Tarrytown

April 19, 2009

J. and I went to see Demetri Martin at the Tarrytown Music Hall on Saturday night, and we wanted to grab a quick, early dinner beforehand. I had read on Small Bites about a new restaurant, Sweet Grass Grill opening on Main St. in Tarrytown, just across and down from the Music Hall. In fact, the restaurant just opened this past Friday night, and at 5:30 in the evening — just their second night in business — we were able to walk in and sit right down.

Sweet Grass Grill is a casual place — lime green walls plus some exposed brick, no tablecloths, a decent amount of space between tables, and big windows looking out onto the street. The facade of the original building from the late 1800s was restored (complete with outdoor lights flanking the former front door) and now makes up the back wall of the main dining room. The decor is peaceful, sort of spa-like.

There’s a short wine list with choices by the bottle or glass. Sweet Grass has a good-sized bar, too, and there were people ordering food there in addition to drinking. A large carafe of tap water with lemon and ice was delivered to the table (love that!) along with 4 small cubes of a focaccia-type bread and a shot glass-sized dish of thin, but yummy, garlicky bean dip loaded with black pepper.

The menu is small, focusing on locally-sourced ingredients in healthier, approachable presentations. Still, the offerings are plenty varied and with vegetarian options. There were perhaps a half dozen starters including sliders and mussels. Four salads, including one with a poached Stone Barns egg on top. Entrees included pork ribs (also from Stone Barns), grilled sausages with white beans, and a couple of veggie options again, including a pasta.

We ordered a vegetable terrine and dips & spreads plate to share as a starter; each was around $8. The terrine, though not really J.’s thing, was Spring on a plate: an asparagus-packed terrine slice, topped with lightly-dressed micro greens, plus shelled edamame and pine nuts. I loved it! The nuts were a great earthy contrast to the super-clean, herbal flavor of the rest of the dish. The trio of dips and spreads were good overall, though we liked the very thin eggplant mousse the least only because it was boring compared to the caramelized onion spread, and the ricotta topped with olive oil. The crunchiest crackers ever are served alongside, they seemed like ciabatta croutons. They weren’t hard to eat, but were almost distracting in their shatteringly loud crunch.

I tried to order a burger for dinner, but our waitress told me they were all out. At 5:30 on a Saturday? OK, I ordered roasted chicken instead. This was a lucky change for me, because the chicken was divine. Very crunchy skin, succulent inside, and served on top of a kind of deconstructed stuffing: roughly-torn chunks of bread soaking up the chicken’s juices, broccoli rabe, and some currents or dried cranberries. I really enjoyed it. J.’s bison burger looked forlorn next to my beautifully-plated dish. His fries were pale and I doubt restaurant-made. He described the burger as average. We’re still trying to figure out why I was told they were out of regular burgers, since after we placed our order there were sliders and burgers being delivered all around us (and I doubt everyone ordered bison).

It hardly seems fair to mention the service on the second night a restaurant is open, but I do have to comment that the server and bus boy working our table seemed to have never worked in a restaurant before — not just this restaurant. (I could overhear a different server at a nearby table, and she seemed much more polished.) We waited more than 20 minutes between our appetizers and entrees, and then it took a very long time to get the bill as well. The woman who seemed to be managing the floor did notice our attempts to track down a check, and she tried to help expedite the process.

I have a feeling the service issues will be ironed out within a month, and what will be left is a restaurant I would like to return to again. I like their simple, whole foods approach, and I always enjoy restaurants that source at least some of their ingredients from the local area. Only next time, I really want to try their burger.

Filed under: Restaurants

Tags: dinner, food, greens, Main St, menu, Music Hall, OK, Small Bites, Stone Barns, Sweet Grass, Sweet Grass Grill, vegetarian, whole