Restaurant Review: 5 Unbeatable Yums at Ferry + Main (New Hope, PA)
By Mark McNease
Restaurant reviews are based on a 5 Yum scale, 5 meaning put it on your must list, 1 meaning eat at your peril.
Ferry + Main
10 W. Ferry Street
New Hope, PA 18939
Website: www.loganinn.com/
Tel: (215) 862-2300
Spend Meter: $$$$
Yums: 5+ (food and service)
Some food is so good it’s criminal, and that’s what you’ll be treated to at Ferry + Main, the restaurant inside New Hope’s renovated Logan Inn. The Inn was undergoing upgrades for several years as it was transformed from a well-known local inn to a luxury establishment where everything is meant to impress, and does. The decor, the staff, the atmosphere, and, yes, the prices: the Logan Inn is one of those places where you get what you pay for, in the best ways.
The restaurant is all wood and brick, with arched ceilings and a large working fireplace in one of the two main seating areas. The first time we went there, for Thanksgiving, the place was packed and we were seated in a raised area away from the thick of things. That was better for us, since the acoustics in this restaurant amplify the noise. There’s nothing to absorb sound, so if you’re seated near the kitchen and fireplace, be prepared for the echo of voices bouncing off the ceiling and walls. There’s also a popular bar in the space, which adds to the volume as well as to the ambience. Is that a criticism? Not really. Having lived in New York City for twenty-five years, I’m familiar with loud restaurants. But if they’re offering tables away from the main activity, take one.
Run with precision and excellence by Executive Chef Greg Vassos, the kitchen is open-style and extremely active. It was fascinating to sit near the central cooking hive and watch a large team of culinary experts prepare what is surely some of the best food in Bucks County, or anywhere within fifty miles of it. The more-than-I’d-like noise, the smell of burning wood, was all worth it once we took the first bite of the first course, and everything after it was just as superb.
Each server arrived with an assistant. I’m sure the second has a title (it’s not trainee), but I’m unaccustomed to being served by a pair and I don’t know what it would be.
The menu is not overwhelming and it was easy to make our choices. We both started with Jersey tomato soup croquettes, a delightful and delicious treat with croquettes containing tomato soup inside. You just break them open with a spoon and … yum! The dish also contains caramelized fennel, comte cheese and basil.
Following the appetizer, we shared a fried Brussels and arugula salad containing honey crisp apples, roasted peanuts, warm bacon and maple vinaigrette.
My husband Frank chose the coriander crusted swordfish with collard greens, saffron tempura Maiitake, yogurt carrot emulsion, and chervil mint aioli.
It may sound like a simple thing to order, but the burger I had was outstanding. Grass-fed beef on a brioche bun, with bacon jam, Barn Red cheddar, a sunny side egg, and duck fat fries!
And for dessert: pound cake croquants with honey crisp apple and sumac compote, oat struesel, whipped creme fraiche, and brown butter ice cream.
We love to eat out, and we love to eat well. At Ferry + Main you will do both. The prices aren’t out of line for dining at this level, and you won’t regret spending one penny of the final bill. It’s going to be hard to beat this meal, and while there are restaurants in the area that may equal it, for now I’d say none surpass it.
Mark McNease is the author of ten novels, two short story collections and miscellaneous fiction. He’s the founder and editor of LGBTSr.com, “where age is embraced and life is celebrated,” and a two-time Emmy winner as the co-creator of the children’s program Into the Outdoors.