This somewhat plain food is an ideal foil for an adventurous wine list — or at least one that’s adventurously written. “The aromas here are quintessential albariño, with pineapple, white peach, and a hint of ginger. Beautifully smooth, the wine is fragrant with papaya and alive with well-balanced acidity.” That was the description for our Burgans 2006 albariño ($9/glass; $30/bottle), a trendy Spanish white in which my increasingly conservative nose picked up, oh, pine-y and flowery aromas with a crisp finish. It made for good drinking, as did the 2006 Doña Paula malbec ($8/$29), an Argentine red that’s the perfect match for turkey-portobello meatloaf. There are also some choice microbrews on draft. A Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout ($5.50) is like Guinness, only bitterer, sweeter, and higher in alcohol. This is what Guinness tastes like if you’re a twentysomething light-beer drinker having it for the first time.
There was only one dessert the night we dined at Coda. (Sometimes they have two.) It was cinnamon cheesecake with crème Anglaise ($6.50). Since the thinned custard sauce is vanilla, I actually did order vanilla. On a table with chocolate and fruit desserts, I don’t think I would pay much attention to this or any cheesecake. But all by itself, it was rather rich and fascinating.
Service at Coda is excellent, in part because this is a small-ish, long room with a little kitchen that just turns things out. The space used to be the beloved, tawdry Tim’s Tavern, but it’s been delightfully and conservatively redone with one long bare-brick wall, the other broken up by wood, a bar, two TVs, and a beige stretch with modern abstract paintings. Despite some background music, it’s even decently quiet when half-full on a rainy night.
Is dinner at Coda memorable? Maybe not. Maybe in six months all I will remember will be the meatloaf or the cheesecake or the pot stickers. Or maybe all I will remember is the calm satisfaction at the end of the meal.
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Robert Nadeau: RobtNadeau@aol.com
