MADELINE’S
I have been frequenting Madeline’s Restaurant since 1997 when Lex Chutintaranond opened this wonderful eatery. In 2006 he sold it to his manager Teresa Miller and it remains one of the all around best places to eat in Ithaca. Madeline’s is my top recommendation when someone asks me where to have a special dinner. This restaurant has it all: ambiance, décor, consistently wonderful food, good service and reasonable prices.
Madeline has a casual yet elegant décor. It is one of the most beautifully designed restaurant in Ithaca. The jazz mural over the dessert counter is a wonderful original work of art by local artist
Bill Benson. The bar is classy and jazzy with colorful back lighting and the seating is comfortable and well designed.
I also love Madeline’s because on most nights I can call several hours before arrival and still get a table, although on weekend nights they do a brisk business. But of course the most important quality I look for is the food. Madeline’s has over the years been consistently outstanding. I have only had one night of disappointment which was immediately corrected by the management after sincere apology. The cuisine is a fusion of all the best flavors and cuisines of the world. The chef will offer sides of homemade kimchi or mango salsa or seaweed salad all which are wonderfully prepared and a nice compliment to the main dish. Korean, French, Italian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese and Indian flavors can all be had on this menu and often paired together in one dish. Regulars (me included) have their favorite dishes and often have difficulty passing over them to try some of the other enticing selections.
My favorite entrée is the shrimp in a roasted chili-coconut milk sauce which is Thai inspired and served with a cucumber-yogurt raita, a green papaya salad, soybeans and jasmine rice. I’ve included the recipe that I adapted after having been given the ingredient list by Teri. She only had a recipe for a large crowd and I wanted a family sized version. This is one of the only selections that has been on the menu since the inception of Madeline’s. I think if they took it off there would be an uprising of angry patrons.
My husband can’t get past the vegetarian Indian selection: sweet peas in a nest of potato and cauliflower kofta in an Indian vegetable curry which is also served with Jasmine rice and the cucumber raita and also a mango chutney. The lamb is a favorite of my fathers’. The generous serving of 8 chops is marinated with hoisen lime and ginger and served with a pomegranate demi-glace, potato dauphinois (a gratin style preparation) and seasonal greens. The meat is a wonderful cut of tender lamb, perfectly cooked.
Many Madeline fans come to share appetizers and desserts which for some are the best part of the menu. Again, everyone claims a favorite. The appetizer I order almost every time is the sesame encrusted tuna carpaccio served with wakame and a caramel soy sauce. The sauce is thick and syrupy, salty and sweet and a perfect compliment to the raw thinly sliced tuna. But in close second place are the steamed mussels served in a in a luscious creamy and spicy Thai coconut broth. The other close second place winner is the fried calamari served with two sauces: again a creative fusion of cuisines: a kimchi ancho chili sauce and a lemon caper aioli. And my husband orders, every time, the beef samosas for his appetizer, served with two sauces again: a sweet, spicy tamarind sauce which I could easily lick off the plate and a very interesting almond coriander sauce. That is not to say that the other appetizers aren’t equally wonderful. Our server told us that all are popular and they very affordably range in price from $5-$9.
I think the only criticism I have is that the focaccia is sometimes a little dry and I like it served warm. But the excellent olive oil helps to mitigate the problem
I haven’t yet mentioned the other qualities of Madeline’s that propel it into one of my Ithaca favorite places to eat. Most of the dishes come out beautifully presented. Since this is an expertise I sorely lack when turning out my own preparations (“you get what you get” in a serving bowl); I really appreciate the efforts a kitchen makes to serve the customer a meal that someone has taken some pains to construct beautifully.
And of course the final requisite for a top rate restaurant is good service. At Madeline’s we aren’t kept waiting between courses. I hate when this happens. My appetite evaporates after a ½ hour pause between courses and I get really grumpy. At our most recent meal at Madeline’s, on a Saturday night, the place was packed. There was a party of 25 people packed around a long table and every other table was full. The bar was packed with over a dozen people. But once again, no waits. Our waitress was calm and efficient, our water glasses were always full and our drinks came with our meals. I was quite impressed that the kitchen, maxed out as it must have been, still managed to turn out perfectly prepared meals…on time. Kudos to the experienced cooking staff: Head Shef Gary Heslin who has been with Madelines for 6 years along with his assistants who have been with him for 5 years.
I’ve saved the best until last. Many Ithacans will tell you that Madeline’s has the best desserts in town. They certainly have the biggest selection; up to 24 desserts which are all homemade. Here too, everyone has their favorites. And most of us have more than one. One of my top two is the bread pudding which has different ingredients on any given night; usually a fruit and chocolate and some kind of liquor.
The way it works at Madeline’s is that you get up after your meal and stroll to the dessert counter where you gaze in wonder for a considerable length of time trying to peer around the other diners who are also in serious deliberation. I’ve actually gotten quite friendly with perfect strangers standing before Madeline’s dessert counter discussing the virtues of one dessert over another.
So let me give you a small sampling of offerings. There are always some delicious looking individual sized fruit tarts such as blueberry with frangipane (almond paste). There is also always tiramisu and molten chocolate cakes and one or two types of crème brulé. My other all time favorite is the Marjolaine which is a layered cake of almond jacorde, chocolate ganache and hazelnut praline. It has a slightly crunchy and chewy texture and is a wonderful balance of nut and chocolate. The B-52 is a beautiful chocolate concoction which has three very creamy chocolate layers, each flavored with a different liquor: Kahlua, Irish Whiskey and Grand Marnier. One of the most popular and very chocolaty cakes is the Spyro Gyra which is layered vertically. This cake is a flourless chocolate mocha buttercream. The dessert display deserves a special viewing even if you don’t have room for dessert. Many diners come in just for the dessert and the espresso coffee.
Marjolaine
The pastry chef is no other than owner Teri Miller. She and her assistant Lindsay Pou single handedly turn out these wonders. In fact, before purchasing Madeline’s from Lex, Teri has worked in almost every department: bartending, waitressing, and managing. She has successfully kept the qualities that make Madeline such a top notch eatery. The menu changes slightly for different seasons and there are always specials. The entrees range in price from $17 to $26 (for the Filet Mignon).
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