The Elysian Cafe is one of the hot spots in Hoboken. From what I understand, the owner also owns Amanda's. It is always packed! We have tried their brunch one time and decided to try their dinner menu. I have to say that both brunch and dinner were good, with some exceptions as you will see.
Let's talk about the restaurant first: warm, very cafe-ish. They have an outdoor terrace and two main dining rooms. Each time we went, the service was nice and efficient. According to them, it is the oldest continually operated bar/restaurant: it opened in 1895 and became an ice cream salon and an hair salon during the prohibition! Today, it is a French bistro.
Concerning the food, we decided to try different appetizers to get an idea. So here is what we tried:
- Organic field greens salad with a balsamic vinaigrette: nicely dressed.
- The soup of the day: mussels chowder. I really liked it. First of all, they bring you a plate with only mussels in it. They then pour, in front of you, the soup. I love that little show as it is surprising and playful! The soup itself was very good: the mussels were good and the cream deliciously seasoned and with a nice consistency (not too liquid).
- Cheese plate: this was a little disappointment. The cheeses were processed cheeses! Seriously: if you want to have a cheese plate on your menu, put a nice selection! It should not be that complicated!
- The Maryland style crab cakes (so surprising!) with Chipotle aioli: these were good crab cakes! You could actually taste the crab and the aioli had a nice kick that paired well with the crab (as opposed to a lobster or seafood sauce).
Now that the restaurant passed the test of the appetizers, we will probably try some more serious dishes like the seafood risotto and maybe the steak frites...I will just avoid the cheese plate!
Enjoy (I did)!
And remember: I just want to eat!
