Restaurant: Brightwell
Location: 206 North Washington St. Easton Md. 410-819-3838
Date: May 23, 2014
Cuisine: American
Rating: Tasty Gastro-comfort, hint of Spanish
The Eastern Shore of Maryland is home to all sorts of great seafood, particularly the famous blue crab. And it’s a place that time seems to have left untouched… well almost.
There is an aura of gentrification and the infiltration of national trends, in this case the “brasserie” concept. Restaurants are all moving down the formality scale and lately, after the whole “osteria” thing peaked, it’s back to French — not fancy French but Gaulic comfort food.
Le menu.
Back porch lemonade. A tasty concoction of vodka, lemonade, and I think a bit of cranberry thrown in.
Black and tan.
Some other cocktail.
Cream of crab soup. The other typical version, what vegetable crab is to Manhattan, this is to New England.
Beet salad. Rocket, burcheron, sherry vinaigrette.
Caesar salad.
Grilled Sausage. Potatoes Vinaigrette, smoked tomato, pickled mustard seeds. Very Catalan and quite tasty.
Jamon Iberico. Spanish Ham, manchego, almonds, grapes, frisee, balsamic. Yum.
Crispy Vietnamese Spring Rolls. Chili sauce. Tasty enough, but not terribly like Vietnamese spring rolls.
Spaghetti, pomodoro sauce, and cheese.
Grilled Duroc Pork chop. Brussels sprouts.
Grilled whole trout.
Wood-fire grilled rib-eye. House-made fries.
Mussels & Frites. Red curry. Spicy chili, cilantro, scallion, candied ginger. There was some serious heat hear — and salt.
Chocolate ice cream.
Brightwell was solid. Not mind blowing in any way, but the food was bright and tasty. The infusion of Spanish influence livened up the otherwise tedious bistro/brasserie factor.