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Review: Niles ApartThe Essanay Cafe offers wine-country cuisine in a historic pocket of Fremontby Stett Holbrook on Mar 10, 2010FREMONT’S historic Niles neighborhood is one of Silicon Valley’s little-known gems. Most people think of Fremont as a place full of shopping centers and suburban congestion, but Niles is an island of quaint. The seven-block downtown district looks like a movie set from early-20th-century America or a setting for a Norman Rockwell painting. The East Bay hills touch down just a few blocks away and make for a striking backdrop. The tidy district parallels the Union Pacific rail line and is loaded with antique shops, quirky stores and a few restaurants. The railroad junction that connects the San Jose–to-Oakland line to the Altamont Pass was the last link of the first transcontinental railroad and served as the only Bay Area connection to the East Coast until the 1870s. On weekends, a tourist train runs from Niles through Niles Canyon to Sunol. Niles’ biggest claim to fame is its legacy as America’s “first Hollywood.” Chicago’s Essanay Film Manufacturing Company opened a silent-movie studio in Niles in 1913 and hired Charlie Chaplin the next year to help make movies. He stayed in town for a year and made seven films, including The Little Tramp. The city of Fremont has recognized Niles’ historic value and recently completed a great-looking plaza project that ties into the downtown district. Hats off to Fremont for keeping it real and preserving one of the city’s true assets. So where do you eat in Niles? A one-of-a-kind neighborhood deserves something as distinctive as the area itself. My first pick would be the Buddhanusorn Thai Temple. On Sundays, the grounds around the temple are transformed into a Thai food bazaar with a dozen or so food stalls selling some of the best Thai food in the Bay Area. More recently, I checked out the Essanay Cafe situated in the middle of Niles. The small restaurant is perfectly suited to the town. It has about a dozen tables and a beautiful stamped-tin ceiling. Chef Matthew Close, who worked at 71 St. Peter and the Firehouse Grill in San Jose before coming to Niles, calls the restaurant’s food “wine-country cuisine.” By that, he means a short, French-inspired menu of familiar dishes. In terms of execution, the results are mixed. The menu is pleasingly small, just six or so starters and appetizers. Roasted-beet salads are almost a given on Bay Area menus, so I can’t give chef Close any points for originality, but his version ($7) satisfied nevertheless. Golden chiogga beets are paired with creamy goat cheese, slivered almonds and a bright-orange vinaigrette. The almonds gave the dish a pleasing crunch. The “field of greens” salad ($6) impressed me with its simplicity and garden-fresh ingredients, including a handful of fresh herbs. The grilled hanger steak with pommes frites is a bistro classic, but here it came up short. The steak ($17) itself was cooked as requested but needed more robust seasoning or marinade to make it stand out as something other than a hunk of meat. The cold plate didn’t help either. By the time it arrived at the table, the fries and steak were tepid. The menu says that the beef is “natural” (as opposed to unnatural?) but doesn’t offer any details on the source of the meat. I say drop the term natural altogether, since it has no legal meaning. “Grass-fed,” “corn-fed” or “organic” would be more meaningful. Better was the hearty ragout of winter vegetables ($15), a jumble of roasted acorn and butternut squash, carrots, leeks and cabbage served on creamy and rich mushroom polenta. The dessert list is predictable and uninspired. I ordered the carrot cake ($6), which was serviceable but unremarkable. There’s also a small but value-priced wine list. On the first Wednesday of the month, Essanay Cafe offers a recession-busting “family dinner.” Twelve dollars gets you a three-course meal. Twelve bucks. I’ve had cocktails that cost more than that. If there’s a lower-priced meal deal at a midtier restaurant like this, I haven’t found it. On my visit, the special menu consisted of a green salad, a choice of the vegetable ragout or coq au vin and house-made raspberry-pineapple ice cream. The portions were a bit small, but at $12 it’s hard to complain. But complain I will. The salad greens were blackening at the edges and a day or two from being inedible. I liked the ragout on my previous visit, but the second time around, the vegetables were mushy and bland—a bad combination. Worse still was the flavor-challenged, strangely glutinous polenta. Even a liberal sprinkling of salt couldn’t bring the gloop to life. Yes, money is tight and times are hard, but no one wants to be reminded of it when they go out to eat. Fortunately, the coq au vin option—chicken stewed in red wine with lots of bacon—was better. I was so hungry, I asked for a second plate. The three-course meal ended better than it started. The ice cream was creamy and smooth, but best of all were the little pistachio shortbread cookies. Make more of these! In addition to the regular dinner and family menus, the cafe serves a good-looking weekend brunch and Sunday “farmers market” dinner menu that may pull me back. The Essanay Cafe has plenty going for it: an attractive dining room, an enthusiastic staff and a location in the middle of Niles. All it needs to become the distinctive dining destination the area needs is more consistency and quality control from the kitchen. Chef Close has a real opportunity to make something of his little restaurant, and I hope he does it. Essanay Cafe Address: 37533 Niles Blvd., Fremont. Phone: 510.792.0112. Hours: 6–9pm Wed, 5:30–9pm Thu–Fri and 10am–3pm and 5–9pm Sat–Sun. Cuisine: California. Price Range: Entrees $15–$18. Website: essanaycafe.com by Stett Holbrook on Mar 10, 2010 |
 SAVORY NOTION: The roasted organic chicken at Essanay Cafe. |
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