New Room, New recipes Make Jimmy's Cafe Even Better

To quote a friend, Jimmy's Cafe on the Park is a great restaurant for grown-ups, warm and welcoming and staffed by friendly people. Jimmy's has recently doubled in size, adding a lounge with a large fireplace and several cozy alcoves for diners who enjoy a sense of privacy. The new blends nicely with the old, and star gazers still may look for familiar faces among the 380 caricatures on the walls.

Owner Jim Kristo and Chef Kathy "Crash" Schmidt also have introduced several new dishes, including a pork tenderloin stuffed with apricots, mushrooms, walnuts and herbs, salmon coated in pesto bread crumbs, and a filet rolled in freshly ground amaretto-flavored coffee and baked.

On a couple of recent visits, I tried some of the new dishes and became happily reacquainted with some of the old. Either way, you can't go wrong at Jimmy's Cafe on the Park.

My favorite appetizer was a grilled portabello mushroom stuffed with sautéed asparagus, apricots, roasted peppers and smoked tomatoes. The mushroom was tender and delicious, and the combination of unusual ingredients inside worked well. A vegetable spring roll alongside was a little oily and not particularly flavorful.

Crab cakes were moist and delicious, a blend of fresh salmon, lump crab meat and scallops topped with a roasted pepper sauce.  Flash-fried spinach also was a winner. The scallops in the Italian-seasoned calamari and scallops were tasty, but the squid was a tad rubbery, even when dipped in the garlic aioli, a flavored mayonnaise.

Speaking of dipping, the bread was wonderful in all its incarnations (baker's white, wheat, and pumpernickel) and made for perfect dipping in the olive oil and balsamic vinegar mix prepared by the server. A word of caution: The amount of vinegar in the mix is so tangy that it literally takes your breath away, so go easy.

The cafe salad was unmemorable, but the pear salad Victoria was a refreshing mix of field greens, fresh pears, honey-roasted walnuts and gorgonzola, all tossed in a raspberry vinaigrette.

Among the entrees, the new java tenderloin was so spectacular that I cleaned my plate, which I seldom do. The beef was brushed with a bit of veal stock flavored with chipotle(a dried, smoked jalapeno) and the mashed potatoes were topped with caramelized onions and gorgonzola.  Wow! Schmidt has outdone herself on this one.

Salmon pesto served with garlic orzo (a rice-shaped pasta) was delicious. Apricots, ubiquitous at Jimmy's, were featured prominently in apricot chicken, sautéed to perfect tenderness with assorted fruits and porcini mushrooms in a sauce of white wine and chicken broth. Wild rice on the side, somewhat overcooked, arrived in a fried tortilla shell, which was an odd touch. Athenian chicken offered a delightful combination of grilled chicken, kalamata olives, feta cheese, tomatoes, artichokes, and fresh rosemary tossed with penne noodles in a light chicken broth.

Wine drinkers may choose from 20 reds and 20 whites by the bottle, ranging in price from $16 to $36. Four sparkling wines are available from $24 to $90 a bottle. And 16 different wines come by the glass, ranging from $4.50 to $7.50.