Zacharias Creek
Side Café
Center Point Shopping Center
2960 Skippack Pike
Worcester, Pennsylvania
(610) 584-5650
Recently making its debut in the Center Point Shopping
Center on the site formerly occupied by Ravenna, Zacharia's Creek Side Café
is already causing quite a stir among the area's foodies. Andy &
Marlene Singer, founders of the Twin Bays Café in Phoenixville, and Andrew
& Nancy Gallo of A Gallo Affair Catering have put together an attractive
and exciting culinary package.
The restaurant sports a modern Mediterranean décor replete
with a bustling open kitchen and front patio that seats 50 for al fresco
dining in warmer weather. But it is chefs Cindy Coll & Anthony Boccella's
eclectic New American cookery that is causing the real buzz.
You begin, for example, with a diminutive island of black
olive tapenade floating in a sea of extra virgin olive oil, the perfect
complement to the crusty, golden brown rolls that come along for the ride.
Among the
appetizers, it's difficult to top the deliciously eye-catching antipasto for
two ($15.00). In contrast to the usual innocuous representatives of this
particular genre, the assortment proffered here (see photo) includes luscious
grilled vegetables and earthy marinated mushrooms, as well as cured meats,
wedges of aged provolone and shavings of mozzarella.
Other starter possibilities include a grilled vegetable tart
embellished with goat cheese and artistic dabs of balsamic-fig reduction ($8.00),
duck confit bruschetta on Boursin cheese crostini ($11.00), and a
delightful vegetable-based ginger-carrot soup tinctured with cinnamon and honey
($8.00).
And main courses prove equally agreeable. The special red
snapper ($28.00) is set on a seabed of lentil purée and enlivened with a
roasted yellow pepper sauce and grapefruit vinaigrette; and the
beautifully-textured black cod ($28.00) reclines on a pillow of lemon-almond
couscous and is finished with a yellow tomato bruschetta.
Meatier matters include a marvelously moist tenderloin of
pork embraced in the arms of apple-wood smoked bacon and sided by an addictive
mound of cheddar-sage Yukon gold smashed potatoes ($24.00); 9-ounce center-cut
filet mignon consummated with a heady pinot noir-thyme reduction; and
pan-roasted chicken breast pillowed on tagliolini pasta ($22.00).
Desserts ($8.00), all made in-house, are simply not to be
missed. Especially recommended are a tart and creamy Key lime cheesecake and
absolutely decadent peanut butter-chocolate ganache.
There is absolutely no question that Zacharias Creek Side
Café is destined to become exceedingly popular. My advice& go now and avoid
the invading hordes. Just don't forget to BYOB.
The Artful Diner
November 2007
The Artful Diner Diner is a freelance food writer who writes restaurant reviews for nj.com. His latest review can be seen on his nj.com weblog at http://blog.nj.com/artful_diner/. An archive of past reviews for nj.com as well as reviews for restaurants around the country and the world can be found on this Web site at http://www.artfuldiner.com/reviews .
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