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Restaurants
Cafe Matisse
City:
Rutherford
County:
Bergen CountyPhone:
201.935.2995
Price:
$$$$
Cuisine:
New AmericanKey:
Full ReviewCafe Matisse
***167 Park Avenue
Rutherford
201.935.2995
cafematisse.com
A small crowd gathered one night in the jewel box of a wine boutique at the entrance to Café Matisse, sipping complimentary samples. It was a scene that any great watering hole’s owner would envy: sophisticates and novices standing side by side politely asking questions (“Is this aged in oak?”), dishing out adjectives (“Wow! White peaches!”), and making brisk purchases (“I’ll take that cabernet for dinner!”). Indeed, converting the front dining room three years ago into a retail shop has paid off handsomely for chef/owner Peter Loria both monetarily (like all Rutherford restaurants, Café Matisse is BYO, so if you forget, you can buy it there) and socially (offering free sips of wine in a dry town brings people in the door who are likely to stay for dinner).
And they really should stay for dinner, because Café Matisse is a wonderful restaurant with terrific food and an atmosphere that honors its moniker. Just step into the main dining room, with its gold-framed faux-Matisse works that are actually painted on the pink walls, and check out the chandeliers dripping with wine-motif baubles from a barrel-arched ceiling. The plush chairs are covered in rich, patterned brocades; the banquettes are adorned with oversize pillows in every color of the Matisse palette. Yet although the place is meticulously decorated and elegant, it is more casual than uptight (read: no jackets required).
Chef Loria, an acolyte of David Bouley, takes inspiration from his Manhattan mentor by offering a three-course prix-fixe menu for $65, or four courses for $85. You can also order à la carte, in which case appetizers are all priced at $16, entrees $38 (some with supplements of up to $4), and desserts $10—numbers that are definitely more 212 than 201. My favorite part of the menu, however, is the addition to the standard “Please no substitutions” plea: “No cry babies—only the chef.”
Our order one night was taken by longtime maitre d’ Larry Falcone, who might very well know more people in town than the mayor. Falcone, who remembers names and faces remarkably well, makes me wonder if he is about to unmask me as a dining critic in disguise when he proclaims, “It’s a pleasure to have you back, Mr. Ferretti!”
Regardless, it was nice to be back, digging into Loria’s artfully plated dishes, like his sesame tuile napoleon of seared sea scallops and lobster stacked
atop curried tapioca pearls. The shellfish was so surprisingly—and uncharacteristically—sweet, in fact, that I wondered if he’d sprinkled everything with sugar. A seafood trio, featuring a lump crabmeat croquette and an orange-glazed seared scallop and shrimp, was more appropriately savory, dressed
with vanilla-kissed chili oil and cilantro.
If I were king I’d declare panko—supercrunchy Japanese bread crumbs—the official coating of everything fried, especially oysters. Here the oysters are coated and then perched atop a Noah’s ark of ingredients, including shaved lobster, sautéed shrimp, zucchini gratin and grilled asiago focaccia with heirloom-tomato chutney, alfredo-sauce drizzle, and tomato juice. It sounds like gastronomic overload, but Loria’s recipes taste amazingly light on the palate. Even his curaçao-marinated roasted foie gras managed to melt in my mouth between bites of toasted-macadamia-nut mille-feuille and an exotic fruit salsa topped with ginger sorbet ($4 supplement).
I had a feeling of overly sweet déjà vu à la the lobster/scallop napoleon after a taste of the first main course, a beautiful, lemon-spritzed sole napoleon that seemed implausibly caramelized. I expected the same of the ginger-lacquered Muscovy duck breast with sweet- onion rice pudding and a terrine of duck foie gras dusted with smoked fleur de sel, but its sweetness was beautifully balanced by a subtle undercurrent of acidity. So was the pan-charred filet mignon topped with Saga blue cheese and fried Italian peppers. The roasted veal loin medallion, which suggested a hint of crust by way of Parmesan and chopped olives, was simply a perfect piece of meat.
Pastry chef Paula Hayward’s desserts take artistic license. Some of them probably get reactions similar to those that Matisse got in his day, especially the oddly dry free-form vanilla crème brûlée cakes with mango sauce and caramelized bananas, and the toasted nut financier cake, which tasted more like carrot cake. The flourless chocolate cake with ganache, however, was as chocolaty and delish as expected. A roasted white peach in puff pastry was also good, but the pineapple-sage yogurt shake should be served in a ramekin instead of an unanchored shot glass.
