June 15, 2001
Bill of Fare
By Joan Belknap

With a take-off on his name, Will Mooney has opened The Brothers Moon, a scrumptious little restaurant on Broad Street in Hopewell Borough, just around the corner from the Off-Broad Street Theatre. The "Brothers" part of the name comes from his brother and partner, Sean.

Moon and stars and navy blue and luscious gold dress up the old storefront, which shares its space, divided by a tall blue wall, with a take-out deli. An adjoining building houses the kitchen in the rear, with plans for the front to come. The front walk includes tables for al fresco dining, so look for the blue umbrellas if you are new to Hopewell.

The food is glorious. The menu is short and sweet

The night we visited, the soup special of the evening appealed to us, but neither associate taster Carol, nor I wished to load up on a plate of soup before the delights to come, so we asked out server if we could share the soup. She returned with two half-filled bowls of a roasted egg plant, tomato and garlic soup, $5, very hot in temperature and luscious in taste. We were both satisfied.

Also satisfying was my homemade gravlax special, $9-many good chefs' answer to smoked salmon, this one being prepared by curing raw salmon in a salt-sugar-dill mixture. It was simply delicious served with a goat cheese layered with the salmon and then sliced to show the layers. Very attractive and unbelievably tasty. I might add it was just the right portion to whet one's appetite, served as it was with a lightly dressed mesclun salad of area greens.

Carol's appetizer of hearts of Romaine, wrapped in very good prosciutto, with a fresh grating of Parmesan and marinated shallot accompaniment, was delicious but enormous. (Loved the shallots.)

Main course were a hard decision from among the offerings of a roasted vegetable platter with mashed potatoes; fillet mignon with blue cheese; roasted chicken breast and drumstick with buttered carrots and garlic potatoes; a rack of lamb; and a penne pasta dish. The fish offering was salmon wrapped in zucchini.

We ended up ordering from the specials: seared tuna on a bed of white beans and Portobello mushrooms, $19 (my choice); and a lamb rack special for Carol, $28. I can't say enough good about the lamb, even with Carol's ordering it "medium." It came with a terrine of potato and goat cheese that also was mighty tasty.

The tuna was sushi grade and especially good, cooked medium rare. The greens on the plate, which I thought were watercress, were actually bean sprout leaves. (These had to be enormous beans!)

Our food was prepared this night by the new sous chef, Gilbert Hodge, and Mooney wanted to be certain he got the credit for our wonderful meals. Also to be credited is a marvelous pastry chef, Sharon Vecciarelli..

With our cappuccino, $3, and espresso, $2.50, we gloried in our desserts, each $6: I had a tarte tatin, an apple tart which gets its name two sisters from the Loire Valley in France who made them each day.

Carol's dessert included two very large cinnamon shortbread cookies, one in the shape of a crescent moon and the other an enormous star.

Those cookies appeared on the "other side of the wall" in the deli case for take home, along with meats and salads and cakes. There are breads, too, but they are not house made. Everything else is.

Mooney likes to offer vegetarian choices and uses local produce and producers, so you can be certain you are receiving only the freshest.

Don't miss this spot.


Copyright 2001 The Trenton Times