"I was a big Jesse Shenker fan. My husband and I both loved the food at Recette, where we dined on a number of occasions. The menu was creative, the presentation outstanding and the food delicious. I was disappointed when Recette closed, but had high hopes for The Gander. I had dinner there a number of months ago, and basically enjoyed it, without being wowed. Last Saturday night my husband and I dined there with a friend. We sat in the Bar Room. We ordered an array of dishes to share among the three of us. The charred cauliflower was delicious, but the anchovies that were to top the dish (which we mercifully asked to be served on the side were awful (and we are anchovy lovers . They were oddly fishy and did nothing to complement the cauliflower. We ordered the salt cod fritters, which we ordered almost every time we ate at Recette, where they were always presented in a small cast iron pot. They were served in a bowl (ok and just weren 't as good as they have been in the past (I had ordered them the last time I ate at The Gander. . Something seemed different about the lamb ragout and it was really disappointing. It wasn 't as flavorful as usual. The beef tartar was tasteless a tremendous disappointment. It seemed to be a jar of chopped meat, with no visible quail egg and no other added seasoning at all, as traditional beef tartar generally has. The fork and knife Caesar was also disappointing kind of flavorless. The bucatini, which I expected to love was not very good the bottarga, which usually adds a slightly salty taste to pasta was fishy tasting rather than salty. The Bronzino was not bad, but again was a rather bland preparation. Our reservation was for 9:30 on a Saturday night. The Bar Room was almost empty and the dining room was only partly filled. Maybe The Gander does better on weekday nights, with an afterwork crowd. If not, it doesn 't look as if it will survive much longer. Jesse needs to be true to his talents. He can do much better than this!"
