Last summer—and every summer for the past 8 years—my go-to salad spot was Caffe Phoenix. So when I started on my Salad Quest 08, I immediately began angling for a lunch here. I finally managed to drag my husband there a day before we set out on our infamous road trip to Maryland last week.
It's always been agonizing for me to decide between the Phoenix salad and the many other temptations. This time I went for the Mandarini because I remembered it as delicious the last time I ate there. I also seem to be on an unprecedented "fruit in salad" binge.
Well, I am here to report that something has gone woefully wrong at what was once one of my top 5 favorite restaurants in Wilmington. This salad—pictured—was a mess. I think making a mess when you intended a salad is actually sort of hard to do. It was murky, mushy, and flavorless. How can you make canned mandarin oranges worse than the ones I get out of a can at home? The dressing was cloyingly sweet and the chicken tender but bland—as if maybe it had been boiled. Say it isn't so.
Does someone know the inside scoop on what's gone wrong here? I know that Nate and Seth (do I have that right?) sold Phoenix a couple of years ago to run The Forks Café inside the Cameron art museum (now also gone!). But the food was good last summer. Wasn't it? Was I there on a bad day this time? Maybe there was some sort of explosion in the kitchen and they were doing their best in trying circumstances?
I had another very bad salad experience on Father's Day, which I will share once I get the bad taste out of my mouth. Meanwhile, I need the skinny on the Phoenix.
for what it's worth, my greek salad was subpar as well.
ReplyDeletemy theory is that phoenix has changed hands yet again, and not into a particularly skilled set of hands either. but that's total speculation.
where are nate and seth? those guys knew how to run a restaurant, even if Forks was saddled with a really bad location. I'd eat at another one of their places in a heartbeat.
- the dragged husband
It's a mystery as to what has happened. Caffe Phoenix was certainly a great place to go, but your salad looks really unappetizing.
ReplyDeleteAny other places to recommend for a great salad? I'm really curious....