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Serving: Tuesday-Saturday 5 p.m. to midnight; Sundays 4 to 10 p.m. Cuisine: American tapas Plates run $4-$12 each Scoring: Our Gourmet and The Dining Companion each grade a restaurant in six categories, for a combined total score of up to 100 points. Visit the Dining section of NewHampshire.com to read previous Our Gourmet reviews listed by town. |
Ambiance 9/10
The Dining Companion: When we reviewed Manhattan on Pearl, we loved the setup of the restaurant. We particularly liked the flow from the bar section up front to the area in the back that affords a more quiet dining experience. That hasn’t changed. 4.5
Our Gourmet: The ambiance is clean, contemporary and urban. I’ll call it a toned-down high-end atmosphere. 4.5
Appetizer/entrée 27/40
OG: To start, we both ordered the specialty drink Stella Blue ($9) with sparkling wine, peach schnapps and blueberries. Very sweet, but cool and refreshing. The restaurant also has an extensive wine menu.
Like Manhattan on Pearl, Stella Blu serves tapas, but Stella Blu’s owners describe their tapas and small plates as being taken “from the ethnic neighborhoods of our great American cities,” enthusing, “Tapas are not just from Spain anymore!”
Tapas, of course originated in Spain, so the idea of American-izing them was intriguing.
TDC: Since with tapas, everything is served in small portions and the idea is to order several while enjoying cocktails — we had to change our regular rating system. This week we rated five dishes, each with maximum of eight points — a max of four from each of us, for a total of 40 possible points.
OG: The menu is broken down into sections: Main Street USA; The Latin Quarter; Asia Town; Little Italy; and Farmer’s Market. The menu offerings change often, so the items we reviewed may not be available every night.
We started out with Main Street — a lobster mac-n-cheese spring roll ($11) and cod fritters ($4).
The lobster mac-n-cheese is the quirky kind of dish I can’t resist ordering. It was served with a tarragon mignonette — or more simply, a vinegar and shallot sauce. I found the spring roll wrapper nicely fried, but a bit too thick, which detracted from the taste of what was inside it; once inside, the mac and cheese drowned out the lobster flavor, so the lobster — which is what you’re paying for — really didn’t add much. OG: 3 TDC: 3
TDC: The cod fritters were served with a very nice chipotle sauce and they were fried light and crisp as promised. The taste was mild. Good, but little more than glorified fish sticks. OG: 3 TDC: 2.5
We then ordered the mussels from Asia Town, prepared with green curry, coconut milk and Kafir lime ($9). The delicious flavor of the mussels was lost by the overpowering curry and lime, which zapped my taste buds for other items for awhile. OG: 2.5 TDC: 2.5
OG: We also tried the arancini, an Italian-style risotto ball stuffed with prosciutto and Provolone and deep fried to a golden brown ($8). The arancini were crispy and gooey with cheese, but they weren’t especially flavorful. This dish from the Little Italy section of the menu didn’t knock our socks off. OG: 3 TDC: 3
Finally, we ordered the pulled pork sliders ($10) back in Main Street USA. When they arrived I was taken aback by the fact the sliders were served on industrial style dinner rolls — the kind you buy in bulk and break apart then serve at a cheap buffet. The pulled pork was sweet and moist, but unexceptional. At $10 for two small sliders, I’d expect more. OG: 2 TDC: 2.5
Dessert: 16/20
OG: Jo’s flan ($4) was a sweet and creamy flan served with almond Chantilly cream and chopped almonds. It was flavorful and satisfying. 8.
TDC: I had the warm berry cake ($6), which was a grilled pound cake served with a sautéed berry medley finished with Cuarenta y Tres (a sweet Spanish liqueur made from a secret recipe that incorporates 43 — or in Spanish, cuarenta y tres — ingredients.) It was tasty and moist with a nice crunch from the grilling. 8
Service: 9/10
TDC: Our server was constantly running from table to table, but kept us in his loop. It took quite a long time for our desserts to arrive as the kitchen was starting to get very busy, but he comped the desserts to make up for it. TDC: 4.5 OG: 4.5
Value: 13/20
OG: Our dinner came in around the $100 mark – that included before dinner drinks, wine, dinner and dessert — not an insignificant amount. I don’t really consider this a place to go for dinner, but rather for snacks and drinks — and it’s a very comfortable place for that with its interesting drinks, nice ambiance and fine service.
However, the food pricing is a mixed bag that runs from reasonable to too high for food that’s a bit uneven as well. Stella Blu strikes me as a restaurant with aspirations it hasn’t quite met, but given a little more time, perhaps it will. 7
TDC: To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. The restaurant has all the pretense, but just doesn’t deliver. At the cost, I don’t believe it was a great value. 6
TOTAL: 74/100
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