Restaurant News

The Southern mood is set at Escape in Montclair, when a cast-iron skillet filled with warm, sweet cornmeal Madeleines and give-me-some-more-of-those light biscuits are placed on the table with butter and crunchy pickles. “Do you know your farmers?” the menu asks, and lists the names of the farms where chef Bryan Gregg obtains his ingredients—an informative touch.

ESCAPE, MONTCLAIR
Owner/executive chef Bryan Gregg has been receiving rave reviews since opening this casual farm to table 48 seat restaurant in May 2013. He is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Institute of Culinary Arts and previously worked at the Ho-Ho-Kus Inn in Ho-Ho-Kus and Michael Anthony’s in Jersey City.

We started with a creamy, butternut squash soup accompanied by corn crumbs, brown butter and sage croutons, a hearty soup that was wonderful on a cold evening. While fresh tasting and certainly a light tasty starter, the arugula, apple, pecan and blue cheese salad did not have any dressing on it. We are not sure if the kitchen forgot to dress the salad, but a simple vinaigrette would have added more flavor. Brussels sprout leaves, chanterelles and cauliflower bolstered the delicate, rich, black cod while duck breast paired with turnips and cabbage had support from a lovely orange-honey sauce. For dessert, we opted for a carrot cake with dates, cream cheese and caramel sauce, which was a deconstructed presentation with a ball of cream cheese surrounded by the cake and sauce; delicious. Equally delightful and picture worthy was a buttermilk pie with blueberry jam and fresh cream. Chef Gregg wants his customers to leave Escape smiling and presents chocolate chip cookies with the bill.


Buttermilk pie with blueberry jam and fresh cream.
Photo courtesy of Lowell Saferstein

Escape
345 Bloomfield Avenue
Montclair
973-744-0712
BYO

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