Hundred Acres
On the corner of MacDougal and Prince lived the restaurant Provence for many years. The place was looking tired and change was bound to happen. The owners from Five Points and Cookshop took over the lease and the space. The space has good flow. They made a few changes and reopened quickly under a different name. It was open for such a brief time that I can't even remember the name. But, I do remember that the food was bad and it wasn't worth returning too. The owners realized their mistake and quickly got involved, rolled up their sleeves, closed the place down and reopened with a new name and a new look. It is now called Hundred Acres.
They changed the decor, the door you walk in, the menu and the furniture. All good changes. I particularly like how the door is on the left and not the right. Instead of walking smack into the bar, you walk in and get to visually see the room and the bar. Much better. The new decor is minimalist. Sleek dark brown bar and brown tables with simple leather and silver based chairs. Everything is angular. The back yard doesn't really work with the rest of the restaurant. The chairs are incredibly uncomfortable and the tables are a bit old and backyard like. That could easily be remedied as it is also very loud back there too.
The menu is simple and based on the looks of it, it will probably be changing seasonally or more often. I began with the sliced heirloom tomatoes. Simply cut into chunks with shaved fennel and a light dash of olive oil. 3 of us had the tomatoes. One person had the roasted cut beets, cabbage and something else. Very tasty and different.
For a main course, I went with the cobi fish. It is like a swordfish. Never heard of it before. Served alongside a delicious succotash of corn, lima beans and shallots. Very creamy and tasty. The fish was not that well cooked and very salty. I finished the succotash and left the fish. 2 other people had the bass which was pan-fried and served over a wilted cabbage. Interesting, simple and well done. One of us had the special of dark meat fried chicken, corn bread and cole slaw. The chicken looked delicious. I tasted the slaw – very vinegary and the corn bread was dry and not that interesting. This was all served with a very thin honey that was incredibly sweet.
We did go for the desserts. A apple tartin with a good crust and lots of tasty apples that been caramelized, and 2 others that as I am writing I can't recall. Hmmm.
All and all my take away is this. The food was a tad uneven and nothing omg, they should redo the back room after having done a nice job redoing the restaurant. I will go again and see if they get better as things become more seamless. My guess is like Cookshop and Five Points (although not 2 of my favorite spots) the restaurants are well done and have a loyal following and the food is not great but solid. You really can't go wrong with that. There is a place for restaurants like Hundred Acres in any neighborhood in the city. I am not sure I see people flocking from areas outside the local neighborhood.