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Restaurants
Elements
City:
PrincetonCounty:
Mercer CountyPhone:
609.924.0078Price:
$$$$Cuisine:
New AmericanKey:
Full ReviewElements
* * * 1/2163 Bayard Lane (Route 206)
Princeton
609.924.0078
elementsprinceton.com
This ambitious restaurant, which serves what it calls interpretive American cuisine, aims to raise the bar for dining in Princeton, if not the entire state. The key to its success will be co-owner Scott Anderson, its 34-year-old executive chef. Anderson is a veteran of several New Jersey restaurants, notably the former Ryland Inn, where he was chef de cuisine. He counts that restaurant’s Craig Shelton among his major culinary influences.
Anderson grew up in Japan, and the Japanese aesthetic of elegant lines and pure, natural materials is evident both in his fare and in the restaurant’s stunning modern design. It’s a sophisticated showcase of stone, wood, steel, and glass. Every detail harmonizes beautifully, causing two of my most design-conscious friends to declare that they would happily live in
the space.
I am content simply to dine there, enjoying Anderson’s always exciting and often flawless fare. The menu, which changes regularly, employs ingredients both highbrow and low. Foie gras, rare kindai tuna, and jamón ibérico share the spotlight with such dishes as fish and chips and calamari and sardines.
Anderson and his second-in-command, Joe Sparatta, employ modern techniques using state-of-the-art equipment, yet nothing resembles a science experiment gone wrong. Instead, they produce such wonders as translucent, melt-on-the-tongue eggplant “chips” and 48-hour short ribs that give unimagined depth and complexity to that humble cut.
Sparatta, too, is an alum of the Ryland Inn (as well as Circa in High Bridge), as is his wife, Emilia, who oversees Elements’ beverage program. The carefully edited cocktails, beers, and wines are well suited to the sophistication of the food and ambiance. Interesting wines can be had at all price points.
“Simply perfect” is what my notes say about a starter of jamón ibérico with tomato, baby arugula, and plump, creamy lobes of artichoke poached in oil. When all components are speared onto a fork and smeared into the accompanying pine-nut purée, ecstasy ensues. My companions felt the same way about their Thai pumpkin, coconut, and lemongrass soup and a delicate crepe with wild mushrooms, celery root, black truffle, and creamy Jersey tomme.
I was fearful when a companion ordered her filet mignon well-done, but the resulting specimen managed to remain succulent and springy — no mean feat. I find arctic char, that relative of salmon, boring — even here. But its accessories! Imagine intense golden and red baby beets and couscous made extraordinary with a minuscule, almost undetectable brunoise of celery root and truffle. Wan suckling pig, though, is in need of salt or other seasoning, and sheep’s-milk cheesecake left us shrugging our collective shoulders. But the chocolate brioche with maple syrup–wood smoke ice cream blew us away.
Service is not up to par. Busboys hover. Some servers are overly serious and describe every component of every plate as it gets cold. When such wrinkles are ironed out, as I have no doubt they will be, Elements will easily rate four stars.
Review posted November 2008
