Visited Stella of New Hope for the first time as an early New Year’s Eve dinner. Opened by Iron Chef Jose Garces in 2019 and featured by Eater, situated right by the Delaware River and next to the Bucks County Playhouse. This looks like a place for a celebratory occasion, right?

*If you sit on Stella’s patio and choose not to look at the river, this is your view.*

Dining party: 3 pax

Order summary: 1 bread basket, 3 appetizers, 2 entrees, 1 alcoholic beverage

Final bill: ~$170 USD

Overall verdict: 3/5 “Was a nice night, but not in a rush to return.”

Service was adequate, as in: everything was done properly, staff were friendly, small incident recovery was well-handled (regarding the wine that was returned), nothing too remarkable. We didn’t order dessert because none of the three options on the menu were particularly exciting.

What was slightly less than ideal was the initial host-stand experience regarding parking. Upon arrival, you’ll find yourself in a parking lot with prominent ParkMobile zone numbers (1310 in New Hope, PA). No problem. I pull up my app and start getting ready to pay. As I climb to the host stand (restaurant is on the second floor), I make casual conversation to confirm that I should park via the app. Both hosts immediately froze and started sounding hesitant: did I not see the valet downstairs when I parked? Uh, not really; I saw a valet sign that said $30 valet parking, but I presumed the public parking was just the self-parking option. Apparently not so. Someone had to go downstairs to confirm with the valet that it was okay for me to have skipped valet, etc. because the usual procedure is that everyone will have to pay for valet because the parking lot is owned by the Playhouse… After standing awkwardly waiting in front of the host stand for five minutes, we were finally told that the valet were going home early and “we were probably fine.”

I guess we got lucky to have free parking to dine?

We started with two beverages: a cocktail and a 9oz wine. The wine came in a little carafe, and the server poured 6oz into a wine glass and left the remainder on the side.

For the cocktail, we chose “The Perfect Pairing” with “vanilla vodka, apple cider and chai, egg white, cinnamon” ($17).

It was a sweet cocktail. Deliciously, dangerously sweet. For a vodka cocktail, it was remarkably not spirit-forward…at all.

I personally have a much sweeter palate for alcoholic drinks (hence not really caring for them most of the time), so I found this concoction very tasty. However, I admit that’s only because it wasn’t really a balanced creation, and that it should have presented more complex notes than just apple cider.

We also (made the mistake of) getting a Pinot Noir. On the menu it says it’s by Iris Vineyards, from Willamette Valley, OR ‘20. If it wasn’t quite so paltry an experience of a Pinot Noir at the restaurant, I’m almost tempted to track down a bottle of this in retail just to taste it again and make sure what we were served was the real deal. The wine itself has fine online reviews and this ‘20 vintage supposedly “ranks better than any other year for this wine.” It was the lightest-bodied Pinot Noir we’ve ever tasted; so much so that I started checking its legs (as if I could tell if it’d been watered down that way). It was very smooth, though, I’ll give it that.

It wasn’t my drink, but after sipping around the table we all agreed it wasn’t quite ideal. Recovery from the restaurant when we flagged the matter was prompt and well-handled: the wine manager came by, introduced herself, explained it was supposed to be a lighter Pinot, offered to let my companion try a Cab instead. She brought a small sip of the Cab, came back later to see how my companion liked it. We opted not to get a replacement, and the wine was never reflected on the bill. Pretty straight-forward open-and-shut recovery, as far as that was concerned.

Let’s talk about the bread basket.

First of all, yes, Stella charges for their bread basket. You better be bringing some Really. Great. Bread.

Second of all, our main negative experience with the whole meal unfortunately started and ended with this bread basket. More specifically, the “cold-pressed olive oil” that was curiously not extra (or regular) virgin.

*Stella Bread Basket ($14): daily house-made breads, seasonal spread, cultured butter, cold-pressed olive oil*

The three breads were: cornbread, rosemary focaccia, and sourdough.

The three spreads were: “cold-pressed” olive oil with balsamic vinegar (very little, which sat at the bottom and could not be mixed up into the oil at all), butter with sea salt (creamy and very spreadable), and a white bean dip (very savory, almost too salty, and runnier than hummus).

The cornbread was fine on its own and paired very well with the butter, which had sea salt granules beyond the top layer. The focaccia was soft, the sourdough spongy.

All of that was quite lovely. But the olive oil. The olive oil was tasteless - not rancid, not sharp, not even mild. Just tasteless. But it was heavy. It soaked all too readily into any bread you dipped into it, leaving you with a piece of oil-soggy bread. Worse: the oil was just viscous enough that it coated your throat and tongue with a staying-power that was uncomfortable.

We had gotten the bread basket because one of us is a bread fiend. Not too long after tearing into the basket, said companion started to physically choke. It was alarming to say the least, because they said they felt that their throat was closing up. After quickly downing about five glasses of water in rapid succession and taking an extended breather outside, they started tentatively nibbling at our other appetizers after taking a Zyrtec, evidently nervous about eating at all.

Eventually we all got over the incident. Hurray! Not so fast. Right before we leave the restaurant my other companion is finishing up the last bit of cornbread. And they…well, you guessed it. They dipped it into the olive oil, soaked up much too much oil, and also started coughing and feeling as if their throat was seizing up. Another Zyrtec and twenty minutes later, they were finally feeling normal again.

Appetizers: Prince Edward Island (PEI) oysters, beef tartare with bone marrow, and a fig salad. All really tasty, but all slightly unbalanced in small ways.

*Oysters on the Half (MP): lychee granita, wasabi-green apple mignonette, seagreens salad*

The oysters were fresh and briny. You wouldn’t really know, however, if you topped it with the lychee granita and tiny cubes of apple, because then you just get a very pleasant sweet mouthful of oyster and slush.

The lychee granita was a standout by itself; they should sell that as a scoop for dessert! It’s brimming with lychee flavor, fragrant in its clean sweetness. After we all tried it on our first oysters, we all opted for a topping-less second oyster, and I ate the rest of the granita straight. I repeat: this really should be on their dessert menu.

Tiny cubes of apple were a mystery at the table. We had forgotten it was described as “wasabi-green apple mignonette” on the menu, and it certainly presented no bite, no kick of either wasabi or acid. It was actually fairly sweet, and tasted like a finely diced apple chutney, just a grade more solid than applesauce.

Didn’t eat the seagreens salad because wasn’t entirely sure the kelp strips (underneath the fennel shoots) were edible. The fennel microgreens were tender and tasted exactly like a pure dose of licorice: no mistaking the anise for anything else. Good palate cleanser, and probably a breath freshener too.

*Black Mission Fig Salad ($16): house-made lemon and rosemary stracciatella, puffed farro, truffle honey, red shiso, mint oil*

Figs were sweet and soft, with thin skins that cut easily. The stracciatella was fresh and creamy, very mildly sweet in the way lactase is sweet (but not sure I got either lemon or rosemary from it). The hint of truffle really enticed you to keep coming back to it. The shiso leaves were tender, and mostly just unobtrusive. The puffed farro was a great way to add crunch and a touch of toastiness. I didn’t get any indication of the mint oil until my very last bite at the bottom of the plate. Overall, this dish was pleasant, but felt unbalanced since both the figs and the cheese were on the sweeter side. Just a small sprinkle of salt could have really lifted the flavors.

*Beef Tartare ($18): roasted bone marrow, capers, mustard seed, fingerling potato chips, pickled pearl onions*

Contrary to the fig salad, this dish was all savory and saltiness. The potato chips were all salt, concentrated and crunchy, melting away like the thin wafer it was. The marrow was warm, mixed with capers and mustard, punchy, strongly umami and deeply satisfying. The combination of the marrow mixture and the crispy potato chip was almost too salty, but the chips went quick, and I was happy to finish the remaining marrow with the small salad bed.

We originally got two mains thinking we’d save some room for dessert. A fair number of entree options were attractive: the rainbow trout, the “Jail Island Salmon,” etc. Our choices were tasty, though there were elements of disappointment stemming only from our own hopes and expectations conjured by the menu descriptions.

*Hay Smoked Berks County Pekin Duck ($41): creamy farro risotto, winter greens and gooseberry salad, fresh chevre, honey and eiderflower gastrique*

The duck breast was fabulous, no question about it. It had a deeply seasoned and well developed crust, and the duck breast meat was tender and juicy. Mmm. It was not, however, anything reminiscent of Pekin Duck, and that’s really the only letdown.

This was a beautiful dish. The highlight for us was actually the farro risotto. Someone teach me how to make farro taste this good, and I’ll trade farro for rice any day. Creamy is an understatement for this farro risotto: it was smooth and luscious. The goat cheese crumbles blended right in. The farro was soft but chewy, with farro’s characteristic nuttiness. Honestly, regular risotto with arborio rice can step aside, because the farro just made the risotto that much more engaging to eat.

*Berkshire Pork Chop ($38): black-eyed pea stew, collard greens kimchi, sugar snap pea relish, ‘nduja butter*

Confession: I was really curious to see what “collard greens kimchi” would be like. As opposed to regular “napa kimchi,” you know. Of course, I should have guessed it was going to be collard greens mixed with kimchi, but oh well.

The pork chop was hefty, sturdy but not tough. Not hard to see it had a great sear! Collard greens and kimchi gave the dish a good bit of gentle acidity for balance, though there was no spiciness to be found. The snap pea relish was honestly more part of the “vegetable blend” that the pork chop sat upon. All in all, an interesting combination and a good-tasting dish, but not compelling enough that I’ll give it any thought in another week.

And that was it. Dinner was a good enough experience, though two out of three diners ended up throat constrictions and had to take anti-histamines. In hindsight I’m really glad we got free parking, because I certainly wouldn’t pay $30 as the mere price of entry to the establishment again.

Decided to make our own surf and turf for New Year’s Eve, after this, with lamb chops and scallops, and eat in.

Review: Stella of New Hope (PA)

Cornell: my retrospective