Quick Write-Up – Home Restaurant

By CS Hsia, on June 24th, 2012

In today’s social media fueled, food obsessed society, many restaurants arrive with a bang, and goes out with a whimper. Just in the past few weeks we saw the demise of Isa, Mercato on Kent, Dolce Vizio, Hung-Ry. All ambitious establishments that got started within the last few years, but ultimately faltered under scrutiny.

Home Restaurant in the West Village.

Then there are restaurants like Home, which has been on Cornelia Street for almost 20 years. In this little corner of the West Village next to Pearl’s Oyster Bar, Home has been serving up delicious home-style fare with “fine wine, and fine ketchup”. The restaurant was originally put on the map by owners David Page and wife Barbara Shinn, who have since sold the restaurant and now run the Shinn Vineyard out in Long Island full time.

Fine wine, fine ketchup, says the website.

Although the previous silent partner has now taken over operating the restaurant, the theme has stayed mostly the same. There’s still a big focus on local, seasonal ingredients, and great local wines.

We stumbled upon Home on a busy holiday afternoon, and sat right up at the front of the house by the windows. Most other diners were filling towards the back, where despite the heat they wanted a seat outdoors under the sun.

The restaurant’s menu is fairly simple, something you’d expect from home. The home hamburger with New York Cheddar is a simple but delicious burger, and a good value at only $12 with cheese. The order came with a small dish of the restaurant’s famous home made ketchup. Think ketchup with a hint of spiciness.

The Home Burger, with a simple salad.

The whole clam chowder was quite unexpected. I was expecting bigger chunks of clams, but instead you have the full shell-on little neck clams. This added an extra layer of flavor depth compared to normal chowder, but unfortunately the clams had a bit of grit. A flaw in an otherwise wonderful dish.

Whole clam chowder, almost perfect.

Finally, the chicken truly exceeded my expectations. Sitting on a bed of wild rice and finely seared asparagus, the white meat was crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside. Cliche as that phrase may be, it’s the definition of good cooking.