O'Connell's Wows During Restaurant Week | Restaurants

Our final meal of Local Restaurant week was a weekend dinner at O’Connell’s American Bistro, a long overdue visit to a restaurant that has been on our wishlist for years.  Both Alli and I were looking for an offering that was something really creative.  Normally the restaurants will offer a small selection of their normal menu but what stood out about O’Connell’s offering was how they really tried something different.

For this week you picked a 4 course meal that revolved around a certain type of “animal”, whether it was Cow, Pig or Sea. The courses ranged from the familiar (pork tenderloin, filet) to adventurous (pork cheeks, sweetbreads), many of which seemed to be items that weren’t normally served on the menu.  So after making reservations last minute, Alli and I visited their cozy little bistro on a Friday night.  We had heard some really great things from friends and had high hopes for their ambitious Restaurant Week menu, thankfully almost every dish we had was right on.

The first course for Alli was a bowl of braised short rib soup.  It was a wonderful start to her meal and the actual broth had a fatty beef gravy flavor and there were large pieces of tender short ribs throughout.  I had a sausage & escarole soup that reminded me of hyped up Italian Wedding with large pieces of sausage.  While the broth was a little watery, the sausage itself was juicy and flavorful and the herbs in the broth gave the dish some nice flavor.

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