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What do you get when you cross two corporate executives from New Jersey with a long-lived French restaurant in Lauderdale? It's not a trick question, and the answer isn't: "a disaster." A quick survey of savvy Fort Lauderdaleans will give you the correct response: Victoria Park, one of the best restaurants in Broward. Tucked away on a quiet side-street near Gateway Plaza, and housed in what looks like a charming old-Florida cottage, Victoria Park is easily missed if you haven't been clued in--and in fact, I suspect the locals are trying to keep this little jewel a secret. Husband and wife team Gary Boylan and Patricia McDonnell bought the 20-year-old restaurant about three years ago. They scoured recipe books for new dishes, revamped the menu, gradually hired a new waitstaff, and put Patricia's brother, executive chef Michael McDonnell, in the kitchen. They kept the best of the old French menu: veal Marsala and escargot, plus the island influenced Jamaican pork. And they added inventive new dishes: beautiful fresh fruit and vegetable salads, melt-in-your-mouth fish dishes in delicate sauces, creamy home-made soups. They opened their doors on weekend mornings for breakfast and light lunch, serving French toast baked with custard en casserole and grilled pear salad. The result is what Boylan, a former senior executive at Revlon, calls "eclectic American." Despite its small size (only 36 seats), Victoria Park has a great big heart. Guests feel like old friends at an intimate dinner party. "Our focus is on the customer, who they are," Boylan says. "It's like having people in your own home. When we get a good group of people in here who are really enjoying themselves, the excitement and happiness is contagious." Boylan says the staff even takes notes on customers so they'll remember you when you come back-and you will come back. If they can't get your name, you could be remembered as "the tall blond lady in the dark suit"(we like to think we'll be remembered as the "Edgy Broad and the Maria Callas lookalike"). In such an intimate, relaxed setting it's exactly right that the food tastes like a very fluent chef cooked it at home, just for you (in fact, one of our party remarked as we went in that the restaurant smelled like "home cooking"). The flavors are delicate, the aromas refined. There's a calming absence of frou-frou fuss: no balancing-act appetizers, balsamic designs, entrees sculpted from mysterious root vegetables. A bowl of shrimp bisque is just that (How long has it been since you've had a good one? It's made of a robust shrimp stock and heavy cream, and it's divine). The veal Marsala is classic: delicate veal cutlets contrasted with a rich mushroom and wine sauce. A marvelous plate of enormous shrimp are stuffed with lobster and crab meat, an excellent complement to earthy warm wild mushroom salad over field greens. Arugula salad with strawberries tastes as fresh as if it was picked minutes ago, and tiny mussels served in a spicy, wine-laced red sauce are a knockout. We spent about a C-note per couple with tip, including a couple of glasses of excellent house wine. We're going back for breakfast this weekend, to make up for the luscious dessert we didn't have room for. I'm torn between the Belgium waffles coated with chocolate and topped with berries and cream, or the crab cakes Benedict with Dijon beurre blanc and asparagus tips. See you there? Victoria Park |
