Gunk Haus Revisited

Croquette with goat cheese

We were here before and we liked it, you can click here for the review. Tonight we started with the croquettes with goat cheese on a bed of greens with cole slaw. They were good, but I felt there was something missing. On the way home I realized what I wanted with them, a side of applesauce instead of the greens. 

Vegetarian Streusel

Teresa had the vegetarian streusel and she said it was very good. She said it tasted like an Italian dish her mother makes with spinach and beans but kicked up a bit and wrapped in a struesel. 

Three Cheese Chicken Sausage

I went with the three cheese chicken sausage with broccoli rabe, pretzel dumplings and an onion gravy. Good. Even better after I put some mustard on the sausage. 

Sacher Torte

We wrapped it up with the Sacher Torte, not that we had room, and it was excellent. Overall, excellent food, great service, nice relaxed, casual atmosphere and reasonable prices. The total bill was just under fifty bucks. Stop by sometime and see what I mean.

Brasserie 292, Poughkeepsie, NY

Burger

Brasserie 292 is located at 292 Main Street in Poughkeepsie, hence the name. The location, once the site of a Chinese restaurant, sat empty until about two years ago when the new owners renovated and created a cute, contemporary French Bistro. The tin ceiling is all that was left from the original and they used white tile on the walls, huge mirrors (spotlessly clean I might add) and nice lighting to create a warm and inviting atmosphere. 

Fried Oysters

The menu is not large, it fits on one page, but there some great choices. I was going back and forth between the duck, the mussel frites, the steak frites, getting a couple of appetizers (including the escargot) and the burger. I started with the fried oysters at $15 because friends were there the night before and recommended them. We both ordered the burger at $14.

The Oysters were delicious and they should be as the restaurant specializes in oysters. At the Best of the Hudson Valley Party I'd sampled quite a few of their blue point oysters. As I was eating the fried oysters with spicy pepper and aioli, a couple of orders of mussels passed by our table and the smell was intoxicating. Next time. The burgers were very good and we were given a few choices for the cheese. I chose blue cheese and a medium burger and Teresa chose gruyere and medium well. My burger was closer to medium rare, which was fine for me, and hers was medium. I asked if she wanted it to be redone and she said no and promptly finished it. I only point this out because if you are like me you are used to restaurants overcooking a burger so be aware that they are more prone to under-do it. By the way, the picture shows a salad with the burger. Behind that salad was a mountain of really good fries, the kind that a French restaurant does well.  

The service was excellent. Vanessa was our waitress and she was helpful, attentive and enthusiastic. A young man also stopped by to top off our water and keep us supplied with bread. 

Overall, a very nice dining experience and we will definitely be returning. I want those mussels and I want to try the escargot too. Oh, and I want more oysters. By the way, the restrooms were clean. Stop by and give them a try. 

Would Restaurant, Highland, NY

Duck

The Would Restaurant is an odd name for a restaurant and I'm not sure how they came up with it. What I do know is that I like it. I'd heard good things from some fellow food bloggers with similar tastes and decided we needed to stop by. 

They open at five and we got there at five on the button, without reservations. They weren't needed as it wasn't all that crowded in the ninety minutes or so that we were there. I've found that arriving right after they open usually works out well if you don't have a reservation. It is a rather interesting restaurant. I suspect that it was once the dining hall of a Villa, or resort, where city folk came during the summer to escape to heat of New York. As such it has more the rustic look of a lodge than a white tablecloth restaurant. In fact, I don't think the term white table cloth applies as they cover the tablecloths with white paper. 

As people came in we saw that they were far better dressed than we were, but I wasn't concerned. Jeans are fine in any restaurant where you can take crayons and write on the table. In conversations with friends who have been there I was informed that the regulars do indeed dress nicely to eat there, they look at it as a special place to go.

We started with the mac and cheese appetizer at $7. Our waiter, Tomasz, was excellent. He gave us space while being attentive, that perfect balance of good service. He informed us that the mac and cheese would take twenty minutes as it was made to order, as were all dishes. He also told us that they bake their own bread, make all of the deserts in house and even make their own ice cream. 

The mac and cheese, a good sized portion I might add, arrived about twenty minutes after being ordered and was quite good, and piping hot. It got even better and better as we ate it and it may have needed to rest a couple of minutes more before being served. 

I ordered the duck at $25. It was quite possibly the best duck I have ever eaten. I ordered it medium and it was delivered a shade below medium with a crispy crust, which was absolutely perfect. The cinnamon and pomegranate reduction sauce was just the right balance of sweet and heat and the corn and zucchini side dishes were good. Even the rice (I don't like rice) was good.  

Teresa had the vegetarian dish at $22. It featured risotto (delightful) and grilled vegetables. She said it was good, but thought that perhaps she should have ordered a different dish as there were a couple of others that struck her interest. I guess that means we'll have to return to try them.  

Vanilla Crème Brulèe

In spite of being quite full, at the end we decided on the Vanilla Crème Brulèe at $7. It was delicious and light enough to sit well after a rich meal.

Overall, a very good dining experience. There has been a bit of hype about The Would and I would say they certainly live up to it. I think you need to get there soon. We'll definitely be returning.