Here’s the thing about eating in smaller cities: some of them will surprise you, and the dishes will stay with you. You might not get what you expect in bigger cities like New York, San Francisco, Hong Kong, or Paris, but you’ll get something else, perhaps just as good, or perhaps better, and it will surprise you. Who doesn’t like surprises, especially where you least expect them?
That’s how I feel about the Glass Light Restaurant inside the Glass Light Hotel in Norfolk, Virginia. The food was the best part of the experience, as one would expect or want. I began with the Schuyler Farm Baby Lettuces. It reads like a deceivingly simply salad made of asparagus, snap peas, radish, sunflower seeds, aged gouda, with a champagne vinaigrette. These dishes though simple are not easy. Salads are some of the hardest things to get right because there is no room for error; no hearty steak or duck to hide behind; rarely is there a flavor bomb to alleviate the impact of any technical errors in the kitchen. You need this dish on a summer evening with the asparagus and snap peas: perfectly crunchy and sharp. The snap peas retained their underlying natural sweetness that complimented the dish as a whole. Each bite released a new flavor I was not expecting. The vinaigrette rounded out the dish perfectly and excited me for what was to come.
Here is where I am biased against eating in smaller cities. For whatever reason, restaurants in some cities have yet to provide meaningful vegetarian options. Gone are the days where your staple pasta or some modification will suffice to appease diners, particularly if one is trying to tout the restaurant as one of the best in the respective city. Out of the seven entrees on the dinner menu, not one is vegetarian. Glass Light Restaurant does not hold itself to be some specialty barbeque or seafood joint either, where a diner would go and not expect vegetarian options. The move towards adopting at least some vegetable focus or vegetarian adjacent dishes is a move many restaurants, from the best restaurant in the world to small mom and pop restaurants are doing and should be embraced.
Nevertheless, I asked our server what the Chef would recommend or what the team could modify to make a vegetarian option. I ended up ordering the ricotta cavatelli with vegetables as opposed to serving it with the rabbit ragout, as it was listed on the menu. It was divine. And, it is easily the best pasta dish I’ve had in Norfolk. The cavatelli was soft and pillow yet retained a bite. The baby radishes and snap peas were an excellent touch to add some freshness and crunch to an otherwise rich dish. The pistachios were unnecessary. They got lost amongst all the other elements and didn’t add anything. I frankly forgot they were a part of the dish at all.
Unlike the entrée section, the dessert portion of the menu illustrates the strength and finesse of the Chef. I ordered a panna cotta with strawberries and mini corn-bread crisps. I am not a dessert person, but I would eat this every single day of the week. The panna cotta was luscious. My spoon glided into it, as is the hallmark of a great panna cotta. The seasonal strawberries provided just the right amount of tart and satisfied the juicy element we are all seeking in the warmer months. The unrivaled element was the corn-bread crisps. So soft yet somehow still crispy around the edges. It complimented the smooth texture of the panna cotta impeccably.
The restaurant’s other aspects left me wanting more. I am appreciative of its modern aesthetic. However, the way the dining room is currently structured, makes it feel like simply a hotel lobby and not the “Michelin star designed restaurant” it holds itself out to be. The choice of chairs perplexes me. They are too deep for one to be able to sit upright and lean over a table to eat. I wish the team took into consideration the actual eating experience and functionality over emphasizing aesthetics.
Service could be improved. Our appetizers came out before our cocktails. This wasn’t a big deal but throughout our meal, it was evident that our server’s lack of attention to detail would be a reoccurring theme. When I asked her if there were vegetarian options the Chef would recommend for entrée, she said there was only one which was a plate of vegetables. I had many questions: what kind of vegetables? How will they be cooked? Is it, in fact, just a plate of vegetables? Should I order the salad again? Should I go straight to dessert?
I politely asked her if she could check the details of the dish with the Chef. Our server described the dish more fully when she returned. It was vegetables with farro, basil, and another vinaigrette! How lovely it would’ve been for her to tell me these details when she offered ‘a plate of vegetables’ to me the first time. I took a second glance at the menu and noticed she was simply describing another appetizer. In the age of even when some of the best chefs are paying attention to the ramifications of overemphasizing meat and sea food, it is simply abysmal that the option they thought to offer me was another appetizer. That is until I asked if the Chef could do the ricotta cavatelli with vegetables.
A restaurant of this stature certainly ought to be paying more attention to their menu and who they are able to accommodate, if only for their bottom line.
The Eating House 