I”™ve long wanted to visit Croatia.
I edged a step nearer ”“ at least a figurative one ”“ when I recently visited Dubrovnik, the well-established New Rochelle restaurant named for its famed resort city. Opened nine years ago by Zelkjo Tomić ”“ known to all and sundry as Jerry, a proud flag-waver for his native country and cuisine ”“ this exceptional restaurant has, as I was about to discover, a devoted fan base, managing to flourish in the risky hospitality industry by staying true to its roots and delivering exceptional food, service and value for money even in the inflationary, post-Covid era.
Enter the premises through the restaurant”™s unassuming front door on an unlovely part of Main Street and you step into a different world. The handsome main dining room with well-spaced tables is flanked by a long bar and leads to two outdoor terraces on two levels, where two further dining rooms are used mostly for events. A creeping vine covers the balustrade of the upper terrace, while below, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants, tomatoes and a variety of herbs grow in the restaurant”™s organic garden.
Open seven days a week for lunch and dinner, Dubrovnik has added themed nights, such as a “Mediterranean Cruise” and a “Dalmatian” evening this month that will feature a groaning buffet and live music.
Our particular dinner, however, began with complimentary home-baked bread and a humus-like spread made with chickpeas and ajvar ”“ a roasted red pepper paste. With a newly opened bottle of Croatian olive oil on the table (about which, more later), we could have feasted solely on this warm, wheaty bread and dip and left Dubrovnik contented.
But, of course, it was barely the start. Tamara, our server, next approached the table with a vast tray of fresh fish displayed over ice for us to inspect. That selection included halibut, branzino and orada (sea bream), Tamara taking the time to point out which fish were wild and which farm-raised. Other options included fleshy Lucky Lime oysters from Prince Edward Island and more delicate, mildly briny ones from New Brunswick and there were scallops, too, along with octopus and jumbo shrimp. The seafood is grilled over charcoal, like many of the dishes at Dubrovnik, with “a pinch of salt and a drop of olive oil” being all the condiments these exceptionally fresh dishes would require, Tamara advised.
Fish aside, the Dalmatian platter ”“ prÅ¡ut (prosciutto) and smoked beef with cheese, olives and Croatian pickles ”“ is a good introduction to this most alluring of cuisines, which glances towards Italy and the Mediterranean with its olive oil and charming white wines, but whose soul is essentially Balkan. Pileća Juha, chicken broth with Croatian grits dumplings or Jardanski crni rižot, a deliciously inky Adriatic cuttlefish risotto (seafood again, I grant you), would be two others.
For non-fish eaters, entrées like lamb chops or filet mignon (again, grilled over charcoal,) are the way to go. But be aware, there are no default “European” menu positions at Dubrovnik, because this is a restaurant whose calling card is authenticity, with most of the dishes given their Croatian names alongside their English ones.
That olive oil and those wines? The olive oil, called Nona, is fairly viscous, fresh and grassy with low acidity and a hint of almond. You could drink it by the ladleful.
As for the wine list, it is international and fairly exhaustive,
annotated with intelligent tasting notes throughout, although I found the large Croatian selection on the list to be the most interesting. Advised by restaurant manager Matija Zarak, a cousin of the owner, we drank ”“ and thoroughly enjoyed ”“ PoÅ¡ip Ivan Tomić, a refreshing but elegant white wine, produced from the PoÅ¡ip grape in the south of Hvar, a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea.
Reflecting what I suspect is a national sweet tooth, desserts are sweet but still diligently crafted, with the beautifully light kremšnita, a cream-filled cake somewhere between a sponge and a mille-feuille, possibly the star of the show.
Like the desserts, service, you may have already guessed, is utterly sweet as well as diligent, your needs or wishes anticipated by a mostly Croatian front-of-house brigade clearly proud of its heritage and the restaurant.
He could have been speaking for all of us on the terrace that evening when the satisfied host of a table nearby announced, “We will return,” as his small party got up to leave. “Well, don”™t let us wait too long,” replied the server, the words as well-chosen as the sentiment.
For more, visit dubrovnikny.com.
