| Restaurant Info |
| JG Domestic Cira Centre, Ground Floor 2929 Arch Street Philadelphia, PA 19104 (215) 222-2363 www.jgdomestic.com Hours |
The outer part that’s visible from the lobby felt a bit like the Beer garden in Reading Terminal Market or Bridgewater’s Pub in 30th street station. Its wooden trellis reminded me of the pop-up Santa’s North Pole stationed in the mall each holiday season. I felt as though the lobby-part of the dining room could simply float away. Or host the Easter Bunny sometime around Groundhog Day. But then we tried the food, and realized that JG Domestic will be going nowhere, save for certain items shifting on and off the menu as the seasons deem necessary.
At 9:30 on a Monday night, I could still feel the buzzing energy of an office building: of people coming and going, of decisions being made, of trains being missed. It’s a challenging place to put a “farm to table” restaurant, forcing Garces to create a vegetal, cozy oasis inside a vast glass fortress. But he does. If the wall of planted spices and herbs isn’t enough to remind you that you’re in for the best ingredients from the best producers at the ideal times of the year, the last page on the menu will, where you’ll discover where just about everything you’ll be ingesting comes from. And that’s just for you visual learners. Well-trained servers will also detail each item’s place of origin as it is placed on the blonde wood tabletop.
The appetizers, playing tug-of-war with the drinks, are reason enough to check out the space. The Adirondack, a rocks glass of bourbon, rosemary agave, and mescal, begs for the sticky and sweet hickory smoked Georgia pecans ($7). The smart, entirely domestic wine list begs for the house-cured charcuterie ($16), especially the proscuitto from La Quercia farms in Iowa which, my seasoned accomplice informed me, “may be the best domestic prosciutto you’ll ever have.” And the ever-rotating domestic cheese platter ($16) with the three cheeses and their accompaniments? The wine’s begging for that, too.
That was just the beginning. Their adorably tiny bowl of beets with crème fraiche and molasses vinaigrette ($9) were at once cold yet warming; tart but sweet. The wood oven flatbread of chanterelle mushrooms, black truffle, cheddar, and egg yolk ($14) sliced in four excited us far too much to warrant cutting it into more manageable pieces. We used our hands and it felt appropriate, even though the dried mushrooms atop the stubborn crust can run $59 per pound.
The Miles River blue crab gratin with sherry-mustard cream, shaved tasso and well-oiled toast ($14) was rich and delightful, but the kind of rich and delightful of which you only need a spoonful or two. Meat, seafood and cheese? It was a bit much, but thankfully, came in a modest portions.
The squash, black kale, sheep milk cheese and candied squash seeds ($10), however, were a light and much needed break from the opulent density that surrounded us. But the heirloom potato cassoulet with andouille, cabbage, and cheddar ($8) weighed us down again. The thought of our meat dishes to come was overwhelming, but unjustly so. Each dish was not too much, not too little. Not too many parts; but not one too few.The prawns in a spiced tomato broth (read: spiced, not spicy, $20), lemon, and a “sourdough crouton” the size of a think cut of bread, were proof that a couple of perfectly cooked and seasoned shrimp are far better than a huge, mediocre bowlful. And the boar rack atop maple grits and a dollop of seeded mustard glaze ($22) was well worth erring on the side of stomach pains: each meticulously piled forkful of ingredients sang in harmony.
As I put my stainless steel steak knife on the table and declared defeat, dessert arrived. Beignets with Bourbon Vanilla Mousseline and a Maker’s Mark Butterscotch sauce for dipping? Worth the stomach pains. Or its own visit. And so is the Huckleberry Ice Cream and house-made Crème Fraîche Parfait. Besides the Mark Twain novel, I’ve heard nothing of this berry, except that it’s Idaho’s state fruit. And perhaps that’s the beauty of the “farm-to-table” and domestic dining focus of the likes of Noble, Tweed, Supper and JG Domestic: reminding us of all that’s bountiful and delicious just a few towns (or states) away. We have it. Let’s embrace it. And enjoy.
Emily Callaghan is managing editor of Table Matters and a graduate of Drexel University. Her work has appeared in Philadelpia Magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer and TheSmartSet.com.
Article photograph from restuarnt website, "Eat Drink Philly" photograph from suvodeb, via Flickr (Creative Commons), "Philly" photograph from camardella, via Flickr (Creative Commons).
