Village Green Restaurant, Ridgewood, NJ

Restaurant link:

Village Green Restaurant

Lisa's Review:

It's official, after two separate visits to Village Green Restaurant, I can say with certainty that this is my favorite restaurant of any that I have visited in New Jersey. I might even boldly say that Village Green Restaurant is my worldwide favorite, but there is another restaurant that owns that title for me in Sydney, Australia called Otto.

But what is so good about Village Green?

Three words: mood, food and service!

The Mood

Village Green is a small restaurant in the heart of Ridgewood NJ. It is located near, but not on, the Main Street of Ridgewood. Consequently, as you walk to the restaurant from your car, there is a neighborhood feel that is punctuated by a steepled church with a beautiful stained glass window at its entry.

As you enter the restaurant there are several larger group tables, but since we were a couple, we were seated in a small nook by the front window. It was private, but not isolated and provided a romantic setting with large windows draped by soft curtains. The mood was completed with the sparkling wine we brought with us since Village Green is BYOB.
 

The Food ... Oh My, The Food!

The first time I visited Village Green, I decided to try their 5-course tasting menu. Everything sounded so good, I wanted to try as much as possible and the smaller serving sizes were perfect. This time, I thought I would order from the regular menu, but I was surprised to see that the menu had changed substantially since our first visit 3 months earlier and the 5-course tasting menu seemed the best option again!

Before any of our ordered food arrived, our waiter delivered an amuse bouche, a single, bite-sized hors d'oeuvres of Butternut Squash Arancini (stuffed rice ball). Wow! It was tiny, but full of flavor. The crust was crunchy and the interior soft and moist. I'm inspired to try and make arancini myself, but I fear I'll mess up ... they are so delicate.

Butternut Squash Arancini - packed with flavor!

The first two courses of the 5-course menu were both small servings of appetizers from the main menu. First I enjoyed a salad of Butterhead Lettuce, spicy pecans (although they looked like walnuts to me), blue cheese crumbles and julienned apple with a sherry maple vinaigrette. Soft, savory and perfect. The second course was Autumn Gnocchi with butternut squash, pine nuts, and sage beurre noisette (brown butter). This second tasting from the appetizers is one of the reasons that the tasting menu is such a great idea! The dish was nothing short of phenomenal, and I may have missed out if I could only pick one item.

Butterhead Lettuce Salad

Autumn Gnocchi - one of my favorite dishes

The second two courses were both small servings of entrees, again from the main menu. Usually I select a fish course for my entree, but with two choices, I chose a fish course and a chicken course. The fish was crispy sautéed Branzino (European seabass) with lemon risotto, blistered tomato and Sicilian eggplant caponata. I loved the crispy skin on the seabass and the lemon risotto was fantastic - everything risotto should be - creamy and flavorful, unlike the risotto I recently tried at Locale (see prior review). The tomato and eggplant caponata were nice enough, but mainly decorated the plate ... "It was all about that bass, 'bout that bass ... and risotto!" The next dish was something I would probably never order in a million years if it's the only entree I'm eating. It was fun, tasty, unique and probably way too many calories ... Buttermilk Fried Chicken with braised kale, quinoa waffle and thyme maple butter. I'm running out of adjectives here ... but mmmmmm ... comes to mind. While the rest of the courses were elegant, this course was pure comfort food ... and still incredible!

Pan-seared Branzino - crispy skin and creamy risotto

Buttermilk Fried Chicken - comfort food!

The fifth course was the dessert course and I ordered a Bavarian Apple Square with vanilla gelato. The pastry topped with apple and caramel sauce were subtly sweet and paired nicely with the gelato. I couldn't ask for more after the stunning array of flavors I enjoyed this evening.

Bavarian Apple Square - a perfect ending.

The Service

Our wonderful evening was topped off by waiters who intuitively understood when to offer help with the menu, when to clear plates and how to ensure our evening was a memorable one. Present, but not intrusive. The whole restaurant seems to run like a well-oiled machine. Having said that, it's far from a machine in terms of the quality and flavor of the food. They seem to have found a magical balance between mood, food and service. It's no wonder then that our first visit here was the trigger for Fred and I deciding to write a restaurant review blog. Thank you Village Green Restaurant for inspiring us, and for once again providing an amazing meal!

Fred's Review:

Driving to Village Green that rainy Friday evening, I was hoping for an otherwise uneventful night. Just a quiet dinner for two at this charming BYOB restaurant. But that was not to be. Little did I know that the green just across the street from Village Green would be the location of Ridgewood's annual holiday tree lighting ceremony, which was to begin about the same time we would be arriving for dinner. Or I should say, trying to arrive. So many roads leading downtown were closed that at first we couldn't get anywhere near the place. And once there, it was of course impossible to find parking since so many people were attending the tree lighting. Already I was wishing we had brought more wine with us. After this, I was going to need it.

As we drove off looking for a parking space, somehow I failed to appreciate what Lisa described as the "neighborhood feel that is punctuated by a steepled church with a beautiful stained glass window at its entry". To me it was 10 minutes of driving in the rain down dark, narrow, unfamiliar streets looking for some place to park, followed by a very long, cold, wet walk to the restaurant. My cheerful wife always has such a positive outlook, one of the many reasons I love her so.

Although it was an ordeal to get there, our determination and persistence were quickly rewarded. The impeccable service that Lisa mentioned began the moment we were seated, as our waiter immediately opened our bottle of sparkling wine and poured us each a glass. His assistance with this was fortunate since my hands had become numb with cold while holding the umbrella on our walk there. In fact, for my first sip or two of wine, I had to lift my glass by holding it between my two wrists, a bit embarrassing at such a fine dining establishment. Fortunately, my fingers had become more functional by the time the food arrived. I would have hated eating by placing my face down in the plate like our cat.

Since this was our second visit to Village Green, I already knew that, unlike Lisa, I would not be ordering from their tasting menu. It's offerings are a bit too refined for me, and I wouldn't be able to say what I wanted anyway since I find most of their names unpronounceable. I also don't like being teased with such small portions of food. It's like nibbling on a few appetizers while waiting for your entree, which never arrives. Instead, you're suddenly served dessert, handed the check, and ushered out the door before you realize that you never had your main course. So, no thank you. I'll take the full-size portion of Caesar Salad followed by the nice big Beef Tenderloin entree. And by the way, both were excellent. Lisa shared a bite of her dessert with me, too. It was tasty, but small of course.

Caesar salad - yes, Fred ate one of the anchovies!

Beef Tenderloin - from the "big boy" menu

So yes, I agree with Lisa that Village Green is quite a nice restaurant with a very pleasant ambiance, great service, and a menu interesting enough to appeal to anyone with culinary tastes as sophisticated as those of my lovely wife. And fortunately, they also offer a few very well prepared menu items that are simple and filling enough to satisfy someone with tastes as base as mine. (Yes, it's all about that base ... ) I'm sure we will be returning often, but in the future I'll be checking Ridgewood's calendar of events beforehand.