Pamplemousse Grille – ehh

Ehh. That was our response on the drive home. We had hoped for a bit more. Oh, sure, we were full, but, it seemed lacking. Best to leave this place to the rich grannies and grandpappies in Del Mar. In my opinion they rolled out the cheapest entrée’s possible. (For comparison sake, we didn’t feel that way at all at George’s last year.) Now, the restaurant might be great on a regular night – albeit pricy. But no more so, that say, a Donovan’s. And they pride themselves on their huge wine list. So, in the end it probably wasn’t the best choice for us this week. I’ll run through the items we had - the full RW menu can be found here.

Appetizers

• Sweet White Corn Soup with Maryland Crab Wonton: a large bowl of soup. Tastes like it sounds. I didn’t find the wonton too interesting – crab? Maybe.
• Braised Short Rib Ravioli with Wild Mushrooms: an oversized bowl with one large plump ravioli with a big amount of shredded meat. Tasty.

Entrées

• Kobe Burger with Truffled Cheese and Truffled Parmesan Fries: The fries were excellent and piping hot. My wife sampled many. Of course, this is American Kobe Beef, nothing overly expensive though I guess the term is prestigious. They didn’t ask how I wanted it, and it ended up being rare which was fine. Taste was very mild.
• Basil Roasted Salmon with Asparagus Risotto Cake: Good, unremarkable, but good.

Desserts

• Pear Tarte Tatin with Vanilla Ice Cream: Pleasant. I ate it all. Our waiter said it was a signature dessert.
• Semi-cooked Chocolate Truffle Cake with Raspberry Sauce: Delicious! How can you go wrong here?

Verdict?
If you can’t tell, I’d say pass on it for RW. The burger presentation was comical. It looked like a diner burger with a normal ol’ sesame seed bun, a leaf of iceburg lettuce, tomato and onion slice. The only thing missing were two pickle slices. Otherwise, the rest of the food was fine, ratings of 7 and 8’s

Thoughts?
The dining room is fairly simple. We were seated near the entrance, in an odd sort of booth with 2 tables that 2 separate couples could share. Service was friendly, but they hurried about. Waiter mentioned that they were expecting 2 to 3 times the normal business this week and he wouldn’t be able to spend the time he normally would with tables. My wife thought that the wine by the glass was overpriced – but we are in no way wine connoisseurs yet we do have an idea of what basic bottles sell for.

We did overhear another waiter mention that they were offering another entrée, a rack of lamb, for $10 extra. It was not offered to us, and oddly, they were ONLY serving off the Restaurant Week menu which I don’t think is typical for restaurants for this week.

And finally, what kind of value was it? Well, looking at the regular menu, that soup goes for $13, they have the burger on the lunch menu for $20, but there it comes with sautéed mushrooms, they do not have a ravioli appetizer so let’s assign a value of $10. Desserts are $10. On the regular menu the salmon is replaced with a sea bass prepared the same way, with rock shrimp for $35. So, that is the somewhat delicate balance in offering your customers an offering of your normal daily dinner menu and not losing money this week. So, I’ll make a guess and say the normal menu value might be in the $80 to $90 range for food though a direct comparison isn’t possible.

www.pgrille.com