Russell House Tavern is a popular destination for 21+ college and grad students looking to enjoy drinks while mingling with their friends, as well as to eat some scrumptious bar food. It offers a friendly gathering spot for many occasions, ranging from casual lunch breaks on the patio to after-hour cocktails in the ground floor tavern to special events in the private dining room downstairs.
On typical weekend nights, the bar bustles with people catching up over drinks. It is almost impossible to squeeze in and find a spot to seat! I came with a group of about eight people, so it took a while to get seated. We originally intended to just get drinks, but the waitress told me that we can be seated in the island if we ordered some food. Why not?
This is the restaurant's signature House Charcuterie Board ($13), which consists of chicken liver pate, smoked fish rillette, smoked pork rillette, guanciale, lonza, bresaola, and prune & honey jam. I had no idea what most of them were when the waitress explained them to me. They all sound so foreign! The smoked fish rillette (the salmon-colored spread in the bottom left corner) tasted like more textured version of salmon cream cheese. The prune & honey jam was extremely sweet. I didn't try anything else on the board.
The Archer Farm Steak Tartare ($10) was served with Cavendish Farm quail egg yolk and a side of toasted caper brioche. The steak tartare also had chopped scallions, celery, and other vegetables mixed into it and shaped in the form of a burger patty. I am a huge red meat lover (literally, red), so I enjoyed the bite of the tartare. It's amazing how the egg yolk can hide the raw-taste in the meat.
The House-Made Cotechino Sausage Pizza ($13) with Linny's Tomato Gravy and housemade ricotta was really, really greasy. I didn't try the pizza, but it didn't even have crusts at the edge, which is my favorite part of any pizza (though most people would beg to differ...)
Russell House has $1 oyster after 11pm, but we got there too early to take advantage of the deal. We ordered 8 Island Creek Oysters ($2.50 each) with sweet pickle mignonette and old bay cocktail sauce. The oysters were juicy, but not as plump as I would have liked.
The final small plate we ordered was Chilled Jumbo Shrimp ($12) with avocado, honeydew, and serrano pepper. It had drips of olive oil on the plate as well. I honestly couldn't taste any avocado in the packed, can-shaped honeydew salad. The shrimps were, indeed, jumbo.
We definitely ordered too much food because some people left early even before the food came out. A feast for 5 people? I don't oppose ;)
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