The Dirty Thirty at Mesh Restaurant!

The Dirty Thirty at Mesh Restaurant

This past Saturday I celebrated my thirtieth birthday at Mesh Restaurant in West Chester, just north of Cincinnati. I have wanted to dine at Mesh for two years so my expectations were very high and my expectations were exceeded. Stacie, myself, Nick, Amy, Tommy, and Elizabeth were treated to a private dining room which at first threw me as I wanted to scope the beautifully appointed main room. As time passed I will say that the private room was really nice as the main dining area was very loud and busy. The private room allowed us to really enjoy the food and each other’s company.



The Chef, Paul Sturkey, sent out an amuse bouche of goat cheese mousse and a date compote on a crostini. This was a really elegant way to start our meal and set the tone for the meal to come. We ordered quite a few appetizers and shared them amongst the table. The appetizers included the daily foie gras plate of seared foie gras, red wine reduction, white wine gelee, and toasted brioche. The richness of the liver was in perfect balance with the dueling wine sauces and the crisp texture of the brioche was a way to keep my palate interested. Also we ordered “Sturkey’s Poppers” which are really deep fried potato croquettes infused with white truffle oil and a touch of spice. These were irresistible! I could have eaten twenty of these easily. Fried golden brown the richness of the potato hit you first, then the truffle oil washes over your palate lastly, a hint of Paul Sturkey’s signature spice hits the back of your throat which perfectly rounds out the taste of the croquettes. The last appetizer was something called crab trifecta. Crab served three different ways. Crab with drawn butter and a dijonaise sauce, crab cakes with remoulade, and crab risotto all served on the same plate. Both Tommy and Nick met this dish with favor. Stacie and Amy both opted for the Sturkey house salad, which come with his signature creamy balsamic dressing, the salads came in elegant cut bowls and were fresh and flavorful.

Next out of the kitchen were the entrees. I ordered the smoked beef tenderloin with blue cheese whipped potatoes, cognac demi glace, tasso and edamame succotash, and topped with fried onions. I will say that at a price tag of forty dollars I expected the presentation to be a little nicer. It essentially looked like something from Longhorn Steakhouse with all the onion straws heaped on top. The flavors were certainly bold and put together well. The smokiness of the filet was not too strong but it was certainly there. The potatoes were rich and creamy without being too blue cheesy. My favorite part of the dish was, not surprisingly, the pork component. Tasso is a spicy cured ham of Cajun origin. When rendered and mixed with the clean, crisp, snap of the edamame it was phenomenal. Finishing the dish was a deep, brown, rich, cognac demi glace. Stacie ordered the eggplant ratatouille pasta, which I felt, was a little undercooked. The mark of a good ratatouille is a richness and complexity that I felt this dish lacked. I think it would have benefited from a few more minutes in the pot slowly cooking down to create more depth of flavor. The pasta was expertly cooked and the dish was seasoned very well. So well in fact that I ate the leftovers the next day with no problem! Tommy ordered the crab crusted NY strip, which was served with Boursin dauphine potatoes and the same cognac demi that was on my steak. This thing was a monster! It had to weigh in at over a pound! Elizabeth got the pan-seared scallops with wild mushroom risotto. This dish was the best-presented dish of the evening. Four individual little scallops nicely seared and presented on beds of creamy risotto. The taste of this dish was really great! The earthiness of the mushrooms with the sweetness of the scallops and the richness of the risotto was in perfect balance and worked incredibly well together. Nick ordered the chicken saltimbocca. Saltimbocca is traditionally done with veal, Prosciutto, and sage but in this dish Chef Sturkey substitutes chicken to good effect. The star of this dish was the housemade gnocchi. Little potato dumplings, tender and light, boiled then pan fried in butter to crisp the outsides and give richness to the potato base. Lastly Amy received the chorizo and redskin potato ravioli. This dish while colorful was a little flat. I think the failing of this presentation was in the choice of service ware. Had the kitchen chose a different vessel for this dish instead of the long rectangle plate they chose they could have built up some height and made the dish more interesting visually.

Our final course of the evening was Chef Pam Sturkey’s famous desserts. In 1999 she won “best restaurant dessert” in the country I the USA Today poll with her Bailey’s chocolate cheesecake. The expectations on this course were high as well. Three desserts were ordered and shared among the table. They were apple and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, crème brulee with chocolate ganache, and a raspberry hazelnut tart. The one I enjoyed the most was the apple carrot cake. The cake was light and soft not dense and chewy like some carrot cake has a tendency to be and the frosting was tangy and sweet but not too sweet. The Chef has a menu of old standards a far as desserts go, but she really knows how to get the most out of simple, classic, flavors. Remember classics are classics for a reason!

Service at Mesh was really quite nice. As I mentioned before the private dining room helped lend a feeling of importance to the evening and our server was really at the top of his game and tended to our every need. If I had a criticism of the service it was that our server seemed to be a little too serious. Our little group was pretty low key and our server I don’t feel really caught on to that and kept the feel of the night a little formal considering our relaxed attitude.

All in all I would say that Mesh met my high expectations and that the meal was most everything I thought it should be. I would certainly go back for another special occasion. Mesh is not a restaurant that you simply go to without a proper cause, at least not as ling as you are in my tax bracket! 9 out of 10.