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This New Hope spot offers a cozily warm eating experience.
By: Richard Burns — 12/17/2004
Known mostly for its outdoor dining area overlooking the Delaware, this New Hope spot offers a cozily warm eating experience in colder months.
Probably the best time to visit The Landing in New Hope is during the late spring, summer and early fall, when the large terrace is open. It provides a lovely setting to enjoy outdoor dining, watch the river go by, and as it gets dark, to watch the lights come on in Lambertville across the river.
However, there is something quite comforting about the cozy nature of the small interior dining rooms on a cold, damp (almost) winter evening. I was a busy Saturday when we visited, and the front dining room and rear bar and dining room were filled with excited diners. Although things were lively, the noise level was not bad and we felt very relaxed.
Our cordial and pleasant server, Michelle, increased the feeling. She proved to a major asset to the restaurant. Apparently the only server in the front dining room, Michelle made serving 25 people appear to be effortless. She had time for a brief visit with everyone but all seemed to have heir dining needs attended to with care, friendliness and promptness. When we commented on this, she pointed out that her prior experience as a teacher of third- and fourth-graders prepared her well for the task. Whatever the reason, she is very good at her job.
The front room has a rather plain but appealing look, with wooden walls and a combination of wooden booths and tables, all with white tablecloths. The back room contains a good-sized bar and another small eating area. There is a small fireplace in that room.
The restaurant has been owned by Chris and Ellen Bollenbacher since opening in 1976, and they are hands-on owners. The Landing is set back from the street and is close to the rive. The recent flooding in New Hope completely covered the terrace but fortunately only flooded the basement. The restaurant was able to recover quickly and was closed for only a few days.
The menu currently offered is somewhat limited with about a half-dozen appetizers and a dozen entrées. The appetizer menu has a number of unusual offerings. For example, there are Prince Edward Island mussels ($9.95) steamed in beer with roasted corn, grilled chorizos, chipotle chilies and cilantro. Also available is a shrimp gruyere ($10.95), bacon-wrapped shrimp with cheese and greens. We chose the pork and shrimp spring rolls ($7.95), roasted pepper and crab fondue ($8.95), and fried calamari ($8.95). The spring rolls were served with a Mandarin-sesame dipping sauce that complemented the somewhat tough rolls. The crab fondue was served with a large number of still warm, deep-fried flour tortilla wedges and an avocado-tomato relish. The fondue, while smooth and creamy, was a bit bland. Two sauces, a cilantro-lime mayonnaise and a spicy tomato sauce, were served with the very crisp and delicious fried calamari — an outstanding appetizer.
Four salads are offered ranging in price from $6.95 for the house salad to $9.95 for a beet salad that includes watercress, pear, walnut, ricotta salata and an apple cider vinaigrette. We shared a Caesar salad ($7.95) which was a good size, served on a cold plate, and flavored with a first-class Caesar dressing.
Approximately half the items on the entrée menu are seafood with the other half ranging from a sautéed duck breast ($28.95) to a prime rib of beef ($27.95) to a grilled veal chop ($27.95). We stayed with the seafood. Our dinner companion selected the sautéed red snapper ($25.95). A black-bean risotto cake and that avocado-tomato relish accompanied a good-seize portion of well-cooked snapper. I found the risotto cake somewhat dry but our friend loved it. Rose, my wife and regular dining partner, went for one of her favorites, a sautéed Chilean sea bass ($27.95), although the rack r lamb ($29.95) also tempted. She deemed the sea bass, with a red-pepper coulis and balsamic reduction, roasted tomato with parmesan, and potatoes, "great". The pan-seared lump crab cake ($26.95) was my choice, and it was large and almost all crab. It was fine, but could have benefited from a sauce beyond the sun-dried tomato vinaigrette served on the side. The crab cake was served with a stir-fry of snow peas, baby corn, red peppers and scallions that, while well-cooked, had been flavored to be too sweet for my taste.
A half-dozen desserts are offered, including a vanilla bean crème brulee ($8) and a chocolate polenta tart ($8), with the polenta forming the crust. We tried the chocolate Cointreau truffle torte ($8) and the white chocolate-pecan bread pudding ($6). The torte was a layering of light chocolate "truffle" filling with dark chocolate cake and served with a chocolate-orange sauce on the side — an awesome dessert for chocolate lovers. The large portion of bread pudding was served warm with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. It was an equally good choice.
In addition to dinner, The Landing serves a lunch that includes an award-winning chili ($8.95), a Chicken Milanese sandwich ($7.95) and a vegetable quesadilla ($7.95), along with the more typical hamburger ($7.95), 8 oz. and char-broiled.
We found The Landing to be an attractive and inviting restaurant with a limited but fairly complete menu of well-prepared food. And if all the wait staff is as competent as Michelle, you will be well cared for.
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