Author: jean komatsu
Last saved by: ENU

River Tavern
23 Main Street Chester CT
http://www.rivertavernrestaurant.com/River_Tavern/Menu.html 
Review date: May 2012

We had enjoyed our dinner at River Tavern with our friends Bob and Shirley on our first trip here eight years ago. It's their favorite restaurant, and we were pleased to find that again it was a lovely, creative meal. 

Carlos and I shared the Caesar to start with. It was excellent, with small tender romaine leaves, a tangy lemon Caesar dressing and a snowfall of grated Parmeggiano-Romano.

After the Caesar, I ordered the arancini with crispy bacon. We were surprised to find them made of potatoes rather than rice, but the frying was expert and the lemon sauce tasty. They had thin crisp shells and rich flavor. I shared them with the table, and we all approved of them. 

Then I had the duck breast, served agrodulce style with roasted fingerlings and plumped golden raisins. This Italian style sweet-and-sour is probably my least favorite method of preparation, but Chef/owner Jonathan Rapp's kitchen carried this off very well. The duck was a little tough, but very tasty. I finished it off with pleasure.

Carlos' entree was a bit disappointing. He had to choose between the monkfish and the sea bass. I steered him – incorrectly, as it turned out – to the Italian-style fish preparation instead of the Thai-influenced sea bass. The sauce with the monkfish was good, but a little too strongly flavored.  It was, as Carlos remarked later, a difference in style. He liked the monkfish very much, and the sauce was an interesting concept. But both of us thought they were a mismatch. The menu description was "braised in red wine, with celery and artichoke, and black olives." The sauce was on the heavy side, and although he liked it by itself, it didn't seem an optimal match for a mild white fish.

Shirley loved her raw salmon sandwich on a tasty baguette. It was quite large so she took half of it home. Bob had a squid pasta that he enjoyed very much. Being still full from lunch at Back Porch, Carlos and I skipped dessert and finished with cappuccinos. Both were well made – as usual, Carlos had a regular and I had the decaf. 

River Tavern is a labor of love. It's good to see they're surviving the current economic tough times, and the service is cheerful and well-trained. This is not a 'cookie cutter' restaurant content to rest on past achievements. Chef Rapp is branching out into new directions and trying to introduce different tastes to the locals. For the most part, he succeeds, and you can't ask for more from a good chef than that.

Four people, dinner, with wine: five starters, three entrees, one dessert, two beverages, with tip was $307.