Saxon & Parole

Another October weekend and it was another round of college visits. This time the campus in question was at Stony Brook on Long Island. Cursorily checking the area on the web indicated that it was unlikely to throw up much excitement outside the university visit so we looked for alternative approaches. Choosing to stay in Brooklyn meant that we could have easy access to the city on the Friday and Saturday evenings while being on the right side of the city to get to Long Island relatively conveniently on the morning of the visit.

Friday night’s spot was another from Russell Norman’s helpful guide and was listed in the same “For the scene” section as Freeman’s. Saxon and Parole is on the corner of Bleecker Street and The Bowery so getting to the area early was a good opportunity to stroll around the shops on Bleecker Street with one in particular in mind. Living abroad for extended periods means you start to miss foods that you take for granted in England. Although our local supermarket has a decent mixture of British food, it’s worth knowing where to find British food specialists elsewhere in the US. I’d read about the London Candy Company last year and visited their store on the Upper East Side just after they’d closed it in preparation for relocating to Bleecker Street. This time, however, they were fully operational and for a couple of Brits starved of proper chocolates and sweets it was like heaven. As with all import stores, the London Candy company is not cheap so it’s vital that you don’t get too carried away. That said, we still left pretty smug with our stash of goodies.

Still early for our reservation, we stopped in Quartino for a quick drink. The Jakmel, a blend of dark Rhum Barbancourt, ginger and lime with a garnish of crystallised ginger was a fine companion. Drink downed, it was then time to head to the evening’s restaurant of choice.

Saxon & Parole extends into Madam Geneva gin bar (so we could have gone there for a cocktail if only we’d known) and is part of the Avroko group of restaurants.  The group includes The Thomas in Napa and Public on Elizabeth St that I’d also strongly considered while planning this trip, The restaurant, named after two 19th century racehorses, is a smart white-painted property that occupies the ground floor of a corner tenement. The entry corridor is narrow leading to the hostess’ desk and as you give your details you can’t help but notice the general hubbub from the crowd in the area round the large bar and the distinctive backlit glass-fronted shelves filled with rows of labeled bottles. Each bottles has patrons’ names painted on them and contain cocktails blended by the in-house cocktail expert Masa Urushido where the labels list the constituents. 

Our dining space was directly off the main bar and we ended up at one of a series of tables down one side of the room where the seat against the wall was a long bench and the facing seat was a simple wooden chair. The table was laid with a brown paper cover and the closeness of the tables meant that this was a problem. Any time the person sitting against the wall got up to leave it was very difficult to avoid catching on the paper and risking spilled drinks, dropped cutlery etc. 

The menu lists eight starters, twelve mains and other trinkets such as pots, cheese and charcuterie, seven sides and seafood snacks. Drinks were ordered first and I immediately struck gold with my chosen cocktail. The Saxon & Parole take on a Pimms Cup combined Zubrowka bison grass vodka, limoncello, Pimm’s No 1, house made strawberry syrup, celery bitters and ginger beer. This was a superb drink and probably the best cocktail I’ve had this year. The blend of flavours was glorious, benefitting from a nice hit from the ginger. The bread course was sent out around the same time as the drinks and featured a couple of garlic chive biscuits with maple honey butter. The biscuits had a strong peppery hit that made them quite addictive.

The first starter to arrive was one of the pots. Truffled Portobello mushroom mousse and parole whisky jelly was served in a glass jar and accompanied by a stack of baguette toasts. The mushroom mousse was seriously lovely with the rich taste veering close to liver pate in parts while other bites gave a more soothing mushroom hit. The mild whisky jelly added sweetness while the subtly pickled mushrooms on top gave the dish an acidic lightness. A fabulous first dish and even my daughter who is not wild about mushrooms couldn’t resist digging into it repeatedly.

Our other chosen starter was equally good. Grilled octopus and calamari with potatoes, celery, lemon, red chilli and capers was a wonderfully light mix of flavours. The octopus and squid were both tender and a strong focal point for the dish. The fried potatoes were superb here but what made it special were the fresh hits of mint and parsley and the subtle burn from the chilli. An excellent dish.

The mains didn’t sustain the momentum of the starters lacking the light thoughtful touches we’d seen so far. My daughter who never orders pork went for the grilled Berkshire pork chop with maple glazed roasted apple, goat cheese black pudding polenta and kale and loved it. I dipped into the goat’s cheese polenta and it was seriously tasty. The pork chop was good but I’m glad she ordered it rather than me.

I went instead for the spiced Long Island duck with red wine cabbage, Brussels sprouts leaves and roasted parsnips. This was a nice autumnal dish with the tender juicy duck living up to its billing as the centrepiece really well. The red cabbage was the best of the accompaniments although it could have done with more of the sweet cherries that garnished it. The parsnip crisps added a nice crunch and the roast parsnips were good but the Brussels sprouts were a bit lost. My problem with it was that all of the vegetables added the same kind of character so they became overwhelming for the duck after a while. 

Following on from two starters, the mains were big portions so dessert required careful consideration whether we were even up for it. My daughter took the sensible course and declined.

Looking back at Saxon & Parole, the meal consisted of a truly superb cocktail, excellent starters and then mains that unfortunately fell that little bit short. As the photos show, the lighting was dim but not unpleasantly so. Service was efficient but not particularly friendly. I would definitely go back again but would probably focus on the light bites part of the menu where the pricing is more reasonable and the dishes seem that bit more interesting. However, I would include Saxon & Parole on my list of places that I’d recommend in New York.

Overall Rating – 4/5