Sweet potato gnocchi - the only pasta regularly on the current menu (there is a pasta du jour) are, of course, made in house. Their brown butter and sage sauce brings out the sweet flavor, and shavings of Reggiano cheese and an apple confit add variety to what could be a somewhat monotonous main course. Do order the gnocchi with the tender slices of white-meat chicken, a very attractive option. (Your other choice is duck breast, which also sounds good.)
There are some traditional appetizers, like the sliders and fried oysters, but also dishes like the Pork "Pancita," with slices of pork belly arranged on cabbage braised with red wine and fried rounds of plantain, an entertaining interplay of ingredients.
If that sounds a little exotic for you, consider the seafood turnovers. The filling inside the tender pastry was too finely chopped for me to figure out the ingredients, but if I had to guess I would say shrimp, scallops and crab. A smooth roasted red-pepper sauce pooled around the two turnovers - excellent except it was cool and the turnovers were hot.
The current menu is clearly a winter one, with upscale comfort food as its mainstay. One of the best examples is the superb braised short ribs. The beef falls off the bone, full of flavor, and a subtly sweet parsnip puree instead of the expected mashed potatoes gives it some pizazz. Real baby carrots, not the kind that are cut to look like baby carrots, add more sweetness and color.
Domacasse has a way with seafood. It might be fat ivory scallops, arranged on a Nantua sauce, rich with cream and flavored with lobster. If you're lucky, the fish special will be Atlantic char, something like salmon but more delicate, perfectly cooked and perched perhaps on a round of soft polenta surrounded with spinach.
Desserts, such as the almond-pear strudel, are inventive and seasonal. A chocolate pot de creme is a less overwhelming but equally satisfying choice for those who have overdosed on the ubiquitous death-by-chocolate cake. The tres leches cake was as appealing and fresh as you'll find anywhere, but my personal favorite was the Busby's Orange Cake, actually two small sponge cakes, or babas, only soaked in orange syrup rather than rum.
There's a lot of wringing of hands in the restaurant business these days because of the recession. But when a place can produce food this satisfying, I don't think it has much to worry about. True, I ate there when Sabor was only half full, which might be why the meal was so well paced. And I would have liked to enjoy a meal this fine in more intimate surroundings. I also prefer not to bring my own bottle, especially when I'm not paying. But none of those things detracted much from my enjoyment of Restaurant Sabor's good food.
restaurant sabor
Address: 12240 Tullamore Road, Lutherville
Contact: 410-628-7227
Hours: Open for lunch Wednesday through Friday, brunch Saturday and Sunday, dinner nightly
Prices: Appetizers, $7-$10; entrees, $16-$28
Food: *** 1/2 ( 3 1/2 STARS)
Service: *** ( 3 STARS)
Atmosphere: ** 1/2 ( 2 1/2 STARS)
