Review: Uncommon fare at Commoner & Co.

After all, P&P had dynamite breakfasts and lunches. And oh, those pastries.

It’s reasonable to expect they would please us at dinner, too.

Then it was announced that Ginny Wooters would be the chef at the new restaurant, which took over the space once occupied by The Abbey, which had been a jewel in the Metzger Family Restaurants’ business. Wooters knew the space — she had been the executive chef with the Metzger restaurants.

Mouths began to water.

The buzz is still loud. Literally: On a recent visit, the hostess could not hear us give the reservation name it was so loud. Bare wood floors, close-together tables and a space packed with people, make for dinners sans conversation.

Maybe that’s intentional: Studies have shown that loud translates to hip and fun to many restaurant owners. That, and if it’s so loud that lingering isn’t an enjoyable option, than your table will quickly be available for another diner. Though service was so gracious at Commoner, we can’t imagine they wanted to hurry us out.

So here is our suggestion: If it’s crowded, eat on the side or front patio. You’ll get a view of the parking lot, but the Catalinas loom not far beyond that. And the noise issues just seem to evaporate from the outside vantage point.

In the beginning

It starts with warm bread served with a side of chimichurri, a salsa with Argentine roots. Made with chopped parsley, lots of garlic, a touch of red pepper flakes and a squirt or two of lemon, it is a beautifully balanced substitute for butter or a simple olive oil. But eat wisely — portions are large at Commoner.

The Summer Salad ($8) is a crisp refresher — greens that crackle, sugar peas that snap, and a light buttermilk dressing that never overwhelms. And you can pat yourself on the back for selecting a healthy meal opener.

In a thin world, one might skip the appetizers. But we are willing to bet one would leave that world for Commoner’s mussels ($13), served with a side of the restaurant’s killer french fries. A dozen or so nicely opened shells swam in a generous pool of a velvety coconut Thai curry sauce with just a hint of heat and kissed with fresh ginger. The tender meat inside those shells mixed with that sauce, along with the not-necessary-but-so-glad-we-had-them fries, were enough to tempt us to order nothing but plate after plate of the mussels. But we’ve a job to do ….

The middle

Commoner’s entree selection is small and tempting.

On one visit, we went meatless with the Summer Gnocchi ($14), a bowl of tangy goodness. The gnocchi were better-tie-them-down light and quickly seared on one side. The broth was infused with lemon and loaded with fresh mushrooms, and a dollop of made-there ricotta sat on top. You have to love lemon for this dish. We do, we do.

There’s quite a buzz about Commoner’s Chicken Fried Duck ($17). And it is quite good — a crispy, deep-fried skin covered a leg and breast of moist, though overly salted, meat. The bed: blueberry waffles, which were a tad heavy and soggy, topped with bourbon maple syrup. Here’s the thing: duck is a tasty meat that doesn’t need that wonderful deep-fried skin. When Wooters was with the Metzger restaurants, she whipped up a fried chicken with a similar crust. We dreamed about that chicken. We aren’t sure we’ll dream about the duck. Still, we cleaned our plates.

On another visit, we went for the rib eye ($25). The steak was tender and seared to a keep-it-juicy medium rare. On the side were a generous serving of thinly sliced beets roasted with Parmesan cheese, a pickled horse radish salad with chunks of blue cheese, and a balsamic-raisin steak sauce. There were lots of flavors competing on the plate — too much, in fact. A good steak like a well-marbled rib eye doesn’t need the sauce, and the sides sort of overwhelmed each other.

There was a bit of that competition happening in the Flat Iron Pork ($15), too, but it wasn’t as demanding. Tender slices of the pink pork with a barely there smoky flavor sat on top of a generous mix of fresh corn and zucchini. The goat cheese soufflé on the side was practically inhaled it was such a smooth treat.

In the end

Our advice: Have the strawberry rhubarb pie ($6.50). The sweet strawberries and slightly tart rhubarb make an ideal couple. They sat regally on a buttery shortbread crust and were topped with vanilla ice cream and a scoop of whipped cream. That’s the kind of overkill we can live with.