The Blue Bottle Cafe, Hopewell, NJ:
A Restaurant Review

The Blue Bottle Cafe
101 East Broad Street
Hopewell, NJ
(609) 333-1710
Website


Restaurant Highlights

Fare: New American

Price:  Expensive

Food Quality:  3 Stars

Service:  2 Stars

Decor: 2 Stars

Overall Rating:  3 Stars

Note: Four star Rating System from 1/2 Star = poor to Four stars = Best in Class

Food is well prepared using fresh farm to table local ingredients sourced. Meats and poultry are 100% antibiotic and hormone free.

Value:  Good

Noise Level:  Moderate

Dress:  Casual

Recommended For:  Diners who enjoy a BYOB and an eclectic New American menu with fresh, farm to table ingredients

Not Recommended For:  Diners who prefer traditional American food in a larger casual style family setting.

Recommended dishes:  When available, The Hudson Valley Duck, Roasted Breast & Corned Duck Leg with Sweet Potato Hash, Caramelized Brussels Sprouts, Bourbon Cider Glaze; The Pan Seared Day boat Sea Scallops with butternut squash, Raisin and apple chutney, sautéed turnips, toasted pumpkin seeds and sage brown butter sauce; and The Roasted Red Pepper Gnocchi with Japanese eggplant, wilted arugula, toasted pine nuts and goat cheese cream.

Liquor: BYOB



Restaurant Review

This eclectic, contemporary American BYOB restaurant is one of the top restaurants in the Hopewell NJ area having established a solid reputation for serving well prepared dishes with bold flavors and sauces, using local fresh (and organic) ingredients whenever possible.

Operated by co-owners Aaron Philipson, who oversees the kitchen, and his wife Rory who oversees the desserts by day, and the the wait staff and the front of the house during dinner, they have teamed up to create a top, fine dining experience.

Aaron attended the Culinary Institute of America and has honed his skills at while serving as an apprenticeship at La Cote Basque in Manhattan, a charcutier at the Ryland Inn, Whitehouse, NJ, a saucier at Rats, Hamilton NJ, and as the chef de cuisine for Piccola Italia, Ocean NJ.

Rory also attended the Culinary Institute of America. and honed her skills at Bistro Bis, Todd English’s Olives, and Kinkead’s, in Washington, D.C. Despite her brassy personality and resonant, often smug tones, she does an outstanding job of running the front house and ensuring that the dining patrons are pleased.

The exterior of The Blue Bottle Café is a fairly nondescript cape cod style house, though as you enter the interior you will be pleased to see an attractive eclectic bistro-like, Mediterranean setting with white walls and blue bottles of Saratoga Spring water.

The restaurant seats 65 people in three small dining rooms. The main dining room, the Blue Room connects with the two smaller dining areas, The Terra Cotta and The Trellis room, an enclosed greenhouse overlooking a stream and tree line.

The food is prepared with the freshest ingredients and imaginative combinations, blending local fare with menus that change seasonally. Local ingredients come from NJDA Certified Organic Terhune Orchards, Blue Moon Farms, Griggstown Quail Farm, and Cherry Grove Farm.

From the beginning, with their serving of three varieties bread, – a crusty French/Italian, a multi grain, and the Irish soda bread with caraway seeds and dried fruit --- to the conclusion of your dinner with the made in house dessert, the creativity of the preparation and flavor of the dishes are outstanding.

The service at the Blue Bottle Cafe is warm, attentive, and knowledgeable.

(updated October, 2016)

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