ORANGE SQUIRREL, BLOOMFIELD
Chef Francesco Palmieri is an unconventional extrovert and it shows in his food and décor at The Orange Squirrel in Bloomfield. When entering this small restaurant, which has about 50 seats—all orange—see how many squirrels you can find. Look up and you’ll see one on a shelf, look down and there is one on the hostess stand holding chocolate acorns. The washroom has tiles on the front of the sink that read: “squirrel washing.” There are more, and you’ll have fun finding them. One is very obvious. It is on the back wall, made of reclaimed wood. It was a gift from a customer, as are most of the squirrels that are squirreled away in the restaurant.
We have dined here numerous times since the restaurant opened in November of 2009 and have never been disappointed with the food or service. Both are exemplary. The menu is innovative and fun to read with whimsically named dishes, such as squirrel nuts, which are crisp, truffled potatoes or squirrel diner slaw.
Attention to detail and quality was noticeable from the start to the end of our dinner. We started with a palate cleansing amuse of mango salsa presented on an orange spoon. We had an aha moment of “this is what a salad should taste like,” when we ate the tall skyscraper presentation of mesclun greens with radishes and a few thin slices of herbed bread. The greens were so fresh, so tasty, and so full of life. Then we found out they came from Radicle Farm in Orange and Newark, which sells their living salad greens uncut with the root intact. Our other appetizer of spiced, grilled pineapple added drama and another level of flavor to the peeled tomatoes and creamy buffalo mozzarella salad. Loved it. A skate wing Veronique entrée with halved white and red grapes and brown butter was artistically presented and depending on which way you placed the plate it looked like a waxing crescent moon or a happy face. A humongous, sizzling, dry-aged, rib-eye steak was presented in a cast-iron frying pan with chipotle butter and garlic confit. Sides of a spicy sriracha broccolini and glazed sautéed mushrooms, both commendable, complemented our entrees.
Orange Squirrel salad.
While chef Palmieri is known for his "dirt" tasting desserts, which are three flights of flavored mousse, that change monthly, and are served in tall shot glasses with crumbs for the dirt, we opted for a jumbo chocolate chip cookie sandwich filled with housemade chocolate chip ice cream, covered with chocolate syrup. Outrageously opulent and although we were stuffed, this dessert was impossible not to finish it was so enjoyable.
Chef Francesco Palmieri is a graduate of The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and formerly worked in New York City at the following top-rated restaurants: Windows on the World with chef Michael Lomonaco, TOWN with Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian and Pino Luongo’s, Coco Pazzo.
The wine list is compact but reasonable. Orange Squirrel is one of our “go back to as often as possible restaurants.”
Skate with a smile.
Photos courtesy of Lowell Saferstein
The Orange Squirrel
412 Bloomfield Avenue
Bloomfield
973-337-6421
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