With Zest, the executive chef Eric Eckard tries to marry traditional Italian flavors with somewhat modern American cuisine, and the result is surprisingly disappointing. I visited the restaurant during the busy Valentine’s day dinner service, and what a service it was (more on that later).
First the food: I started with the traditional fried calamari that was served with spicy lime aioli which complemented the calamari well. Thankfully the batter wasn’t needlessly thick and it was light enough to be enjoyed without weighing yourself down. Another appetizer I tried was the seared yellow fin tuna which was cooked to perfection and the gingered cucumber slaw was refreshing, without overpowering the tuna itself.
Unfortunately the entrees did not fare as well as the appetizers. One thing that grabbed my interest from the menu was the duck confit fettuccini. A nice duck confit of leg is difficult to pull off and Zest knows how to cook its ducks. The problem was with the fettuccini that featured sun dried tomatoes and mushroom, drowned in fat and oil. There was so much oil in the pasta that it was drowning and the mushroom was soaked in heavy oil. The pasta itself was nothing spectacular, and my pasta was severely undercooked. A beautiful duck confit was not able to save this disaster.
Another thing that has to be noted was the atrocious service. Granted it was packed to capacity, but that does not excuse the waiter from not attending to my table, taking forever to bring ice to chill the lukewarm bottle of white and not taking our order. The manager had to step in and take our entree orders when our appetizers were done and the waiter still failed to show up to figure out what we were going to eat next.
It is a bit disappointing that the duck confit was paired with the oily fettuccini. Perhaps a simple vegetable sidedish would have worked better. In the end, this mediocre restaurant needs better food if it is to compete in the crowded “American” cuisine.