Volt-tacular!

I had the pleasure today of dining at Volt. For those of you who aren't aware, this is the restaurant in downtown Frederick that is owned and operated by that chef guy(Bryan Voltaggio) who was on Top Chef with his brother. Keep in mind, this is a restaurant I would never spend my own money to eat in…mainly because it's EXPENSIVE! But today my company picked up the tab because we were entertaining clients.

It really was an amazing meal…unlike any I have ever had. For lunch you have the option of choosing items from the 3 course menu($25) or the 5 course "Pre Fixe" menu($55). There is also a "Snack" menu you can choose from in the lounge.

Before I get into the food, let's talk about the restaurant itself. It is housed in a grand old mansion in downtown frederick that used to be a suite of medical offices and a pharmacy. Believe me, when it went up for sale I looked into it. Of course, it was way out of my price range and would have required major renovation. Oh well, I live in an church…good trade off.

The Entrance

We were seated in a private dining room, that I can only guess, used to be the sun porch of the house. There are large windows all around it with a beautiful view of the courtyard. Once Spring fully arrives I think it will be truly beautiful to dine in there.

The Menu & View

We were served by a total of 4 people. One guy kept our sparkling or still water glasses filled. Our waitress took our order, checked on us often and then when it came time for the food to be served or cleared all 4 of them would walk in at the same time to perform the duty. It was nice not having to wait for everyone to get their food or have it cleared.

Now, on to what I had to eat. I decided not to order a cocktail, although their cocktail menu is quite extensive. Work was paying for it and I didn't want to appear to be a Lush, even tho I am. They carry a line of natural sodas from New Jersey. I opted for the ginger ale, and asked them to add some pomegranate to it. Light, crisp and delicious

Boylan Bottleworks Ginger Ale with Pomegranate Syrup

From the menu I chose first, "cherry glen farm goat cheese ravioli butternut squash, maitake mushrooms, sage air". There is another dish I wish I had chosen, but one of my coworkers did, so I at least got to taste it.

Sorry for the lighting.

The ravioli was flavorful and stuffed with the most smooth and delicious cheese. The mushrooms were tender and the Sage foam added a finish to the dish that I wasn't expecting at all. I mean, how much flavor could a foam have??? The perfect amount!

My second course was the "pork loin brussels sprouts, braised red cabbage, creamsicle sweet potato, turnip greens". 

Presentation is EVERYTHING!

What cute little pork loins! I am no fan of Brussels Sprouts, but these were delicious. I was a little concerned that there wouldn't be enough potatoes to go around, but I was left with one dab for the final bite. The red dots are a red wine reduction that had a jellied consistency to it and really brought out the flavor of the pork.

Then came dessert! I selected the "honeycrisp apple mascarpone gelato, opal basil".

Those are Basil buds in the whipped cream. Yummy!

This dish had just enough sweet and savory to make it wonderful. The apple was tender, but not mush. The honey crisp was more of a biscuit, tender and flaky, while the gelato was spicy and sweet and soooo creamy. There are dots of caramel and a spicy cinnamon sauce around the plate.

All in all, a perfect meal. I didn't leave feeling stuffed to the gills, but satisfied and still not hungry for dinner yet. Oh, I almost forgot…you are sent home with a treat!

A lovely parting gift

Inside is a personal sized coffee cake. I am saving it for breakfast tomorrow.

Ok, I have raved and raved and raved. Now lets talk about the one thing I was disappointed by. The coffee. I'm sure it was delicious as well, but I never got a chance to taste it. We all ordered coffee with our dessert. First of all, we were almost done our dessert before the coffee came to the table. They prepare their coffee in a French Press at the table and forgot mine when they came with everyone else's. Then the waiter was so hurried in preparing mine that he pushed the plunger really quickly which resulted in a lot of the coffee grounds winding up in my coffee instead of under the plunger where they belong. I, unfortunately, didn't notice this Faux Pas until after he was out the door. Apparently, he also did not notice it. So I didn't get any coffee because I wasn't taking the time to spoon all the grounds out of the cup to do so.

So that is Volt. I hope you get a chance to try it. I'd certainly recommend going for lunch before splurging on a dinner there. Bon Appetite!