FoodieCuisine.com

 By Todd Barron @ FoodieCuisine.com

Acadia Logo

My wife and I joined two of our great friends tonight at Acadia Restaurant in the Hillcrest area of Little Rock.  They have been open since 1999 and are open for Lunch on Monday through Friday and for Dinner on Monday through Saturday.  They are closed on Sundays which is pretty typical for the non-chain restaurants as Sunday is a rather slow restaurant day around here.

I called to make reservations earlier in the day but was told they do not accept reservations and that I shouldn’t expect much a wait with my planned arrival of 7pm.  We picked up our friends at 7pm and made it to the restaurant by about 7:15.  I really like the outside vibe of the restaurant and it has a nice wooden walk-way leading upstairs to the entrance.  It’s on a hill so this part is necessary. 

My first thought on opening the door was of dismay though as the host looked started to see someone show up.  I was further concerned as we were led to our table as I only saw three other tables with patrons.  Given Acadia has been around for eleven years I figured the lack of people was not due to the place being too new.  I was pleased to see more people show up as the evening carried on though and before we left about 90% of the dining room was filled.  It’s not a large place by any means but it is nice to see them at near capacity which generally means they are doing something right after all this time.  The decor is fine casual in nature with nice paintings and linens on the tables.  It does not appear outdated nor very pretentious which I appreciate.

We were promptly greeted by our waiter who was courteous and took our drink orders while we looked over the menus.  Acadia’s menu is what I would label as New American with items on the menu such as a Scallop Salad, Wild Alaskan Salmon with Red Onion Risotto, Blackened Beef Tenderloin with a Crawfish Compound Butter, and even a Smoked Gouda Mac and Cheese.  The soup of the day was French Onion Soup.  My wife and companions ordered the French Onion Soup ($5) while I ordered the Pan Seared Scallops with Mixed Field Greens ($11.75).  While we waited on our appetizers our drinks came along with warm bread and chilled butter.  The herbed bread rolls tasted nice although they did not appear to be freshly baked.

The French Onion soup arrived along with my scallop salad and we dug in.  This is the part where I am conflicted.  I respect any small business owner and understand how hard it can be to survive in the restaurant business for eleven years.  I wanted to enjoy my food and be excited about it.  Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to like the appetizers, I did not like them.  The French Onion soup needed salt and although they claimed it had Gruyere cheese on it, I couldn’t find it on my wife’s soup.  It just didn’t have enough flavor.  My scallops were brown from being grilled but did not have a nice crust on them.  They were cold in the middle and undercooked.  At $11.75 I expected a bit more in the scallop salad as I only received three scallops.  I had a generous portion of salad to go with the three scallops and some carrot sticks along with pickled ginger but the dressing was uneventful.  One of my scallops was grainy as well and should have been washed more thoroughly.  In the end, I didn’t like any of the starters.

When we ordered the starters (appetizers,) we also ordered our entrees.  I ordered the Blackened Tenderloin with Crawfish Compound Butter ($31.75 for 8oz) , my wife ordered the special which was a 12oz Rib-eye with Blue Cheese Grits ($30?), one companion ordered the Seared Tuna with Ginger Risotto ($18.75), and the other the Duck Breast with Mushroom Bread Pudding ($21.75).  The entrees arrived about ten minutes after our starters were taken away which put them right on time.  By this time the restaurant had started to fill up which put it at around 8:15pm. 

Acadia from Outside

Once again I find myself wishing the food was better than what I experienced.  I knew immediately something was wrong with my steak as it was hard to cut.  I ordered it Medium Rare and the side I cut into was definitely Well Done.  I had to switch to my steak knife to saw through the side of it to distribute portions to my dinner party (we were sharing after all.)  The crawfish brown butter had a nice flavor to it and my steak was seasoned well.  I couldn’t get past it being way overcooked.  I cut through the middle of the steak thinking maybe just the outside was overdone and was met with a Medium Well doneness.  It was still nowhere near Medium Rare.  My steak came with Jack Cheese grits which did have a nice flavor to them and were seasoned perfectly.  I was surprised that they offered a 4oz steak for $21.75 as I can’t imagine how tiny it would have been.  I’m not a huge food eater any more but my 8oz steak was about the right size for a restaurant steak.  A steak half it’s size would have been about five bites in size.

I tried the special my wife ordered, the 12oz Rib-eye with Blue Cheese Grits and it had a nice flavor to it.  I really liked the Blue Cheese Grits as I love a good Blue Cheese.  The Rib-eye was overcooked at Medium Well considering she ordered it Medium Rare.  It has a brown demi-glace reduction over the top which tasted good but could have used more salt.  I was also reminded of the steak sauces of the 1990s when trying it and felt that it was a bit outdated.  All in all it wasn’t bad but not something I would crave to order again.

Next up I tried my friend’s Duck Breast with Mushroom Bread Pudding.  The duck was cooked well and didn’t have too much fat on it which is always a concern.  Most places leave more fat on duck than I personally like but Acadia has this part down right.  The only problem was that I was met with an overwhelming rush of saltiness.  It was as if I was biting into a salt block.  I tried to taste the duck and focus on the texture of the bite but couldn’t get past the salt.  I next tried the mushroom bread pudding that came with the duck and it tasted good.  It did look like it had been sitting in a walk-in for a day or more though and wasn’t the most appealing thing I have ever seen.

For the last entree I tried the entree of the Seared Tuna and Ginger Risotto.  Once again I was wanting to enjoy the bite but it didn’t pan out for me.  The tuna was extremely fishy tasting which is an immediate red flag.  I cook seared tuna at home for my family and it never has an overwhelming fishy taste.  This tells me they served a less-than-fresh piece of tuna which then led me to be concerned about the rest of the food quality.  The tuna filet was nice in size and the risotto had a nice texture and flavor to it.  The fish was overcooked and not very tender as a result.  In the end I couldn’t get past the fishy taste of the filet and was put off by it.

After a few more drinks for most of the group we ordered from the dessert menu.  They offered a couple of creme brulees, a bread pudding, and a New York cheesecake.  The dessert items were not inspiring but I adore bread pudding and ordered it.  I also like chocolate creme brulee but after eating the one served at Terrace on the Greens I just can’t order it anywhere else.  Theirs is just too good.  My wife shared in my dessert while my companions ordered the chocolate creme brulee to share.

The desserts came out quickly and the chocolate creme brulee tasted very good.  It had a nice crust and was cool in the middle but not too cold.  It had a good chocolate flavor and was better than many brulees I have had.  It was not as good as the Terrace’s, but it was good.  My Pecan Bread Pudding did not have a Rum Sauce but did have a nice flavor.  I was served the corner piece of what looked like an older tray of bread pudding and it was scalding hot on the top but somewhat cold on the bottom.  Given the uneven temperature I would guess it was microwaved.  This is blasphemy in the food world as far as I’m concerned so I hope I’m wrong.  I liked the front edge of the pudding that wasn’t too crusty and enjoyed the caramel sauce dotted around the plate.

We ended the meal at around 9:15 after some coffee and after-dinner chatter.  My wife and friend’s wife were yawning a bit by this time given the busy work week so we decided to depart.  It was nice to see the place almost full on our departure and I really do hope the owners stay in business.  The food came out on time and the wait staff was very attentive with taking our orders, bringing out bread on a frequent basis, and refilling our drinks right away.  The quality of the food is what suffered though.  I don’t know if the chef is bored or maybe there isn’t one (just a line cook there maybe?)  After eleven years there is no way to know and I haven’t met with the owners personally to find out either.  I would like to get to know them and find out their passion for food and operating the Acadia someday.  I’ve always believed food should be about the people who prepare it.

When I first read of the Acadia after finding it linked from the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce website, I was excited about trying the place out.  The menu wasn’t super exciting but looked better than most.  In the end I was disappointed and it pains me to say so.  I guess it’s something I will have to get used to though as I’m not about to say something tastes good when it doesn’t.  The potential is there but unless they inject some serious passion into the place I don’t see how they can stay open another eleven years.  I will probably give them another try this summer when it’s possible to sit on the nice looking outdoor deck.  Most people do say to give places at least two tries before writing them off.  That seems fair to me so we’ll see how it goes the next time I write about them.  Until then, good luck in your own food adventures and let us know what you find out!