Tranquil Bar & Bistro

Name: Tranquil Bar/Bistro
Location: 36 Pine St., Binghamton, NY 13901
Phone: (607) 723-0495
Cuisine: French/American
Price: $75+ for two

Review:
Tranquil Bar/Bistro represents the closest thing to a French fine dining experience in the Binghamton area. If you are a "foodie" like me and have never been to Tranquil, stop whatever you're doing right now and make a reservation. I guarantee you will find something to your liking.

Tranquil is located at the intersection of Pine and Fayette Streets in Downtown Binghamton, one block away from NYSEG Stadium, home of the Binghamton Mets. The restaurant occupies the former Player's Club Bar, an establishment I'd never been to, but it's an excellent spot for a restaurant, an older brick building that has a distinctly European-cafe feel inside. The space is divided fairly evenly into a bar and a dining room. We were seated quickly upon our arrival and we each order a glass of wine to begin the experience, along with the Spicy Cream Mussels appetizer. I elected to order Chicken and Andouille Sausage Jambalaya while Megan opted for the Shrimp and Wild Mushroom Risotto, hoping for a better risotto dish than that she had a couple weeks ago at Grotta in Vestal. We were presented with a small loaf of French bread ("authentic" according to Megan, who lived in Paris for five months last year) with a delicious sweet-cream butter. This was a fine start to what would become an excellent meal.


The mussels appetizer arrived after a short wait and were completely delicious. I was stunned at how tender the mussels were and how easy they were to pluck from the shells. The spicy cream sauce did indeed have a nice kick to it. I sat there trying to figure out the ingredients in the sauce....besides the obvious cream and butter, I am guessing either crushed red pepper or cayenne was what provided the heat, but there were lots of subtle flavors. Megan normally does not care for bivalves, but she was quickly converted by these mussels and ate half the generous portion with ease and enthusiasm. Next visit, I'll try the Mussels Vermouth to see how they compare.


Our entrees were next to arrive, and both were quite good. Megan's risotto was delicious and had a perfect consistency. As I've said before, risotto is a somewhat challenging dish. If undercooked, it's practically inedible, because who wants to eat crunchy rice? If overcooked, it's a gummy, starchy mess. This was spot on, perfectly seasoned and topped with fresh grated parmesan cheese. Megan was happy with the dish and is pretty jazzed about having the leftovers for lunch today.


My jambalaya was very tasty also, though it was perhaps a little too spicy for my liking. Don't get me wrong, I love spicy food of all varieties, but when I took a bite of this jambalaya, I initially found the heat to overwhelm the other flavors in the dish. With bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, chicken, andouille sausage served over Creole rice and topped with fresh scallions, this was a fine dish with lots of nice flavors once I got beyond the heat up front. I would order it again for sure, but on my next visit, I am excited about trying something different.


Time for dessert, and there was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to have the British Style Toffee Pudding, which I had on my first visit to Tranquil a while ago, and have said on a few occasions is my absolute favorite thing I've eaten in the area. Well, it was no disappointment on this occasion either. This English pudding is very much unlike what most Americans would think of as "pudding," and has more of a cake-like consistency. Whatever it is, it's completely delicious, and I highly recommend trying it out if you go to Tranquil. Megan got the chocolate pudding (also British Style) which was delicious, too. But I highly recommend the toffee.

I would be remiss in my duties if I did not mention the service at Tranquil, which I feel many people would perceive as "slow." In my opinion, there is a distinct difference between slow service and "paced" service, and I think that Tranquil tries to offer a complete dining experience rather than just trying to get people in and out the door. If you need to eat in a hurry, this place is not for you. I found that our waiter provided a nice pace to the meal and provided good recommendations.

Tranquil is the best restaurant in the City of Binghamton, if not the entire area. The atmosphere is nice and appropriate for the food that's served. The food was excellent from start to finish, with my only criticism being the slightly overly spicy jambalaya, but that is an extremely minor quibble. The Toffee Pudding dessert deserves special mention as a totally awesome dish and an excellent way to end the meal. As I said, service is not quick, but with an experience like the one offered at Tranquil, who really wants it to end, anyway?

Grade: A

Crepe Heaven

Name: Crepe Heaven
Location: 217 Main St., Binghamton, NY 13905
Phone: (607) 217-7188
Cuisine: Crepes/Coffee
Price: Less than $10 per person

Review:
For years, I have been interested in trying Crepe Heaven, but getting the wife to go always proved a challenge. You see, she'd been there once a few years back, around the time the place opened, and liked it, but found it to be more of a dessert place rather than a place to head for a substantial breakfast or lunch. Thus, we often passed right by Crepe Heaven en route to other dining locales downtown. The other day, I finally got Megan to agree to go there for a late-breakfast/early-lunch. We arrived at the restaurant, located near the Price Chopper Plaza on Binghamton's West Side, around 11:00 AM, and I hoped that Crepe Heaven would live up to its name.

I was surprised by the ambiance, decor, and size of the restaurant, which carries a European-cafe vibe (with far more room between the tables than you'd find in Europe, for sure). It's a charming and classy space that stands out by comparison to most area restaurants. We ordered drinks (a french press for me, a cafe au lait for Megan) and took a look at the menu, which featured a wide selection of sweet crepes, savory crepes, and some other specialty items like chevapi (Bosnian grilled beef served with onions and sour cream on a roll).


For those unfamiliar with crepes, a crepe is basically a very thin pancake, rolled up with various fillings inside. Sweet crepes have fillings like jelly, jam, Nutella spread, honey, and fruit fillings, while savory crepes feature meats, cheeses, and vegetables and are similar to omelets. Crepes are considered a French national dish, and I had the pleasure of enjoying a crepe when I visited Paris last year while Megan was living there. In Paris, it's most common to see crepes offered as street food, akin to an American hot dog stand. Thus, I was expecting Crepe Heaven to offer more of a fast food experience; I was pleasantly surprised that this was not the case. At any rate, I ordered a ham, egg, and cheese crepe, while Megan went the sweet route and got the Nutella crepe with strawberries.


Ten minutes later, we had our crepes. I admired the presentation of the dishes and was ready to dig in. Sure enough, my crepe was pretty excellent. Served with sour cream on the side, it was a great combination of flavors. I think it's best described as a more delicate version of an omelet, but definitely tastier than any omelet I could get at an area diner. I tried Megan's Nutella crepe, drizzled with chocolate sauce, which was also delicious. Our coffee drinks were an excellent complement for the crepes, and the $16 check did not exactly break the bank either.

My trip to Crepe Heaven was thankfully a far cry from purgatory. The restaurant offers a refined dining experience in a classy environment with delicious, well-presented food at an inexpensive price. Service was friendly and efficient. I regret not going to Crepe Heaven much sooner. This is easily one of Binghamton's best restaurants, and I look forward to going back to try more crepes in the near future.

Grade: A

P.S. Restaurant

Name: P.S. Restaurant
Location: 100 Rano Blvd., Vestal, NY 13850
Phone: (607) 770-0056
Cuisine: French/Thai
Attire: Upscale (not formal)
Price: $100+ for two

Review: P.S. is a restaurant I had long wondered about, having driven past on numerous occasions. I do math tutoring for a family on Rano Blvd. and have driven past this place every week for years. I knew it had a reputation for being one of the better restaurants in the area but didn't really know what to expect. Tonight, Megan and I decided to rally the troops and visit P.S. for ourselves. Our friend Tom came along and we had ourselves a good time.

From the outside, P.S. is nothing to look at. It's located in a small shopping plaza with a bank, a bar, an insurance office, a hairdresser, and a grocery store. Not exactly where you'd expect to find fine dining. But I was pleasantly surprised with the ambiance. In terms of appearance on the inside, there's no doubt this is one of the nicer places in the Binghamton area. Upon entrance there's a small bar/lounge area that looks like it'd make a nice place for a nightcap after a fancy night out on the town. The dining area is exactly what you'd expect of a nice restaurant, though some of the tables were a little closer together than I prefer. All three of us were impressed and somewhat surprised with our environs.

The wait staff was knowledgeable and made good recommendations throughout our meal. Our waitress was attentive throughout and really did a nice job despite her inability to pronounce "edamame" properly. Ah well, can't win 'em all.

Bread and butter were served to start, and we got a bottle of riesling. I decided to go with the Diver Scallop Risotto appetizer to start my dining experience, as seen below.



The risotto was advertised as containing "chunks" of scallops but the reality was there was but one scallop on top of the dish. A neat presentation for sure with cucumber surrounding the risotto making a "bowl." I didn't feel too strongly one way or the other about this. There was something slightly off-putting about the rice itself, it really didn't taste quite right. The scallop was well-cooked but there was just the one--I would've liked the flavor of the scallop to come through this dish a little bit more. The lobster sherry sauce surrounding the risotto was the best thing on the plate, with a rich flavor that certainly helped tie the dish together, much like The Dude's rug did for his living room. Overall, though, I was less than pleased with the appetizer.

With an entree you get your choice of soup or salad, and I elected to try out the Thai side of the menu with the Tom Yum soup with shrimp. The soup was OK but did not amaze me. Definitely a little too heavy on the mint. I would've liked a little more shrimp in there as well, but so it goes. Decent, but the best was yet to come.



For my entree, I ordered something entitled the "Caitlin & Penne" which was comprised of sauteed shrimp tossed with penne in a lobster cream sauce with mushrooms and asparagus spears. Here it is!



Now that's what I'm talking about. I was impressed by everything about this dish. The shrimp were perfectly cooked and had great taste, the penne was al dente just as it should be, but the lobster sauce was out of this world, a nice thick sauce kind of like a marsala sauce but creamier and with lobster. This dish was amazing, and I look forward to eating the rest of it for lunch tomorrow, as the portion they gave me was rather enormous. It takes a lot for me to need a doggie bag, but here's the rare instance when it was necessary. I would get this dish again in a heartbeat.

I also sampled Megan's entree, which was some variety of beef tips with bleu cheese. Also outstanding. The beef was so tender it practically melted in my mouth. Very nice. Here it is:



Certainly an impressive plate of food. I'll let her comment on how she felt about the meal, but I think she was extremely impressed, more than I was.

For dessert, I elected my usual Irish coffee from a rather impressive menu of after-dinner drinks. Good, but it left me pining a bit for the Lost Dog's counterpart that I had last weekend. Megan got the Creme Brulee and I snagged a bite. Quite good. She was pleased with it. Tom got the Apple Pie with maple and he said it was the best thing he had all night, though he was less than pleased with most of his meal. Admittedly, the tuna appetizer he ordered looked WAY overcooked especially for sashimi grade tuna, and he wasn't a big fan of the mayonnaise content of his entree (also tuna). He did say he'd definitely come back again though, so that's a plus.

All in all, P.S. had some very strong attributes that made up for a couple of smaller missteps. The ambiance of the dining area somehow is able to overcome the external surroundings of the restaurant, which is quite an achievement in and of itself. The waitress was friendly, attentive, and made good suggestions. The entree I got was superb in absolutely every way, which helped make up for the underwhelming risotto appetizer and the somewhat average soup. This was not the best meal I've had in the Binghamton area, but I think P.S. has the potential to deliver such a meal. I will give a somewhat conservative rating this time around, but I am hopeful I will be able to bump it up after my next visit, which I will eagerly await.

Rating: B+