Filling the Void in Medford...

Zinc Café

679 Stokes Road

Medford, NJ 08055

http://www.zinccafenj.com/ 

I  have recently decided to put in my own sort of rating system. It will be based on my opinions solely, and it will work on a scale of one to five pints of beer. One pint is for places with poor to fair service, poor to fair food, and a poor to fair atmosphere. Two pints is for places with fair service, fair food, and a fair atmosphere. 3 pints is for places with good service, good food, and good atmosphere. Four pints is for places with excellent service, excellent food, and excellent atmosphere. Last but not least, five pints is for places that blow me away with a flawless meal from start to finish in all aspects of the meal. This will be my first review with a rating, so I hope you enjoy and that it adds another dimension to my blog. Cheers!

Since one of my favorite places in Medford closed over a year ago, my family has been having trouble finding a go-to spot like the one we used to have. I really like one of the new places that we have found in the mean time, but my aunt and uncle don’t really seem to be as fond of it as my cousins and I are. That being said, I really think this place is great, and my cousin and his wife went with my girlfriend and I one weekend. We all decided to order different things and try a bit of everything.

We started with a spicy potato soup, the likes of which I had never tasted before. It was spicy, cheesy, hearty and delicious. There were bits of bacon mixed in as well as chunks of perfectly cooked potato. It was really quite fantastic. We also ordered the baked brie with apples and almonds to share. I had never had baked brie before, and it was really quite refreshing. The breading was really crunchy, and the salty/sweet contrast of the honey and cheese was really inviting. The acidity of the apple mixed with the nutty flavor of the almonds really made this appetizer flavorful and well rounded. 

My cousin decided to order the burger and I ordered the shrimp with black pepper Alfredo pasta, and we split them in half. The burger came topped with Irish cheddar and applewood smoked bacon. It was really a nice combination of flavors. The Irish cheddar was really powerful, and the crispy bacon added a nice bit of smoke and salt. The pasta was fantastic! The pasta was cooked perfectly, and the shrimp and sauce that it was served in was creamy and comforting. 

We decided to split a dessert, but I was thoroughly disappointed when it came out to us. I love bread pudding, but this combination of chocolate and bread pudding simply didn’t work for me. The chocolate was overwhelming and it just didn’t wow me the way the rest of the meal did.

Three pints for Zinc from me. Not only was this a delicious meal, but I have dined here many times and gotten take out many times, so many times that I have eaten almost everything on the menu. The food is always spectacular, even when you get it as take out. The service is always pretty good, and being a BYOB is always a nice feature in my book. The slip-up in the dessert course almost warranted a drop to two pints, but the consistency that they show with their savory food time and time again really warrants the three pint rating.

Zinc Café is really doing it right. They are making everything from scratch and they are really putting some incredible food out on the tables in their restaurant. You don’t want to miss this one, so give it a try and let me know what you think! Cheers!