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First Look: Trummer's on Main

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By Todd Kliman ,   Ann Limpert ,   Kate Nerenberg ,   Rina Rapuano   Published Friday, October 09, 2009

Trummer’s on Main aspires to bring big-time dining to Clifton. Photograph by Chris Leaman.

The people behind Trummer’s on Main, a new restaurant in Clifton, have serious foodie credentials: Stefan Trummer—a co-owner with his wife, Victoria—worked at Masa and Bouley, two of Manhattan’s best restaurants; executive chef Clayton Miller cooked at California’s revered French Laundry and at Daniel in Manhattan; and sommelier Tyler Packwood is a ten-year veteran of the Inn at Little Washington.

So it should come as no surprise that they’ve put together an ambitious offering: a restaurant with three levels, 210 seats, and a 4,000-bottle wine cellar. If there’s anything left of the building’s 140-year history—it was once the Clifton Hotel, then the Hermitage Inn—it’s the whisper of a farmhouse in the exposed beams of the dining room’s vaulted ceilings. The dark first-floor lounge, anchored by a marbled onyx bar, is more modern, just like Miller’s food.

His dishes are painterly compositions with striking colors—neon-red rhubarb shares a plate with a vivid spinach purée—but they sometimes result in a cacophony of textures and flavors. An appetizer of pine-nut-and-ricotta tortellini was complicated by the addition of lamb sausage, rock crab, Bing cherries, and a carrot/white-wine sauce. Offerings with the fewest ingredients—a bowl of spiced potato chips at the bar, a jar of warm brandade, coconut sorbet with a hibiscus foam—are the most rewarding.

 

Comments

Not sure when Fred dined there but we loved our anniversary dinner at Trummer’s last weekend. We had the tasting menu with wine pairing and were blown away. Some items sound strange when you read the ingredients, but then they go together so well. I highly recommend this restaurant. It gets a bit loud as the night goes on but we had a romatic table near the fireplace so it was worth it. I can’t wait to go back and try the bar food.

Posted by: Samantha, Nov 10, 2009 11:58:16 AM

Trummer’s doesn’t know how to cook rib eye to medium rare! They tried three times when we were there and couldn’t get it right. The FOH manager copped an attitude when I offered to go back in kitchen and give the chef and his staff a quick course on how to grill beef to desired doneness 101. Then Chef Miller came out. What a pretentious little fool. His attitude was even worse. Do I know what medium rare is? Yes I discussed it with our server to confirm we were on the same page punk. Red warm center little boy. And BTW the way punk you can’t cook fish either. My wife’s flounder was overcooked. So how many years did you spend washing dishes before you conned you way into working s a head chef.

Local ingredients please they wouldn’t no local if it bit them in the butt. Sietsema must have been high when he dined there to give this dump 2 stars or bribed!!! The place sucks!

Posted by: Fred, Oct 13, 2009 11:45:14 AM

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