Many of the ingredients are familiar from other New American restaurants in central New Jersey -- lobster, exotic mushrooms, truffles, crab, mesclun, arugula, poached pear, Parmesan, risotto, double pork chop, pork tenderloin -- but there are intriguing surprises.
I come away with several varieties to take home, including an exotic black truffle cheese.
Last week an exotic guest — black truffles — shared menu space at the two-year-old restaurant with favorites like the slow-cooked pork sandwich ($8) and roasted tomato soup ($5).
Pumpkins and winter squash; exotic mushrooms and truffles; root vegetables, including sweet potatoes, turnips and beets; sturdy winter greens; tangy crucifers such as broccoli and brussels sprouts can be mixed with legumes, nuts, eggs and perhaps cheese.
And the less vital articles – exotic items such as truffles, rhino horn and works of art – are also on the rise.
Amenities include such innovations as a technology butler to solve problems without charge for laptop-carrying guests and a bath butler to draw one's bath and supply, at extra charge, Champagne and truffles or exotic scents.
Main dishes include wild mushroom and duck risotto with butternut squash and white truffle essence; exotic spiced squab with foie gras, savoy cabbage and date puree; and grilled filet mignon with daube of cipollini onions and garganelli with blue cheese.
I was sure I'd find some woodsy flavor what with "exotic" mushrooms and white truffle broth, or at least catch a whiff of the grill from the charred corn, but all these bundles tasted of was the sea, which in the case of crab, seemed fishy.
Aside from the usual fruit and veg stalls, there are counters piled high with meats, cheeses and baked goodies, as well as more exotic fare like foie gras, truffles and tokaj wine, though it is a little more expensive than elsewhere.
Ian Purkayastha, the twenty-four-year-old truffle wunderkind behind Regalis, tries throughout his new autobiography, "Truffle Boy: My Unexpected Journey Through the Exotic Food Underground," to affix the smell of truffles to the page: "cheesy, garlicky, explosive"; "the smells of the soil and the seasons"; "the complex and elusive scent of human desire".
