Is The Maple Room NoVA’s Gramercy Tavern? When chef Cameron Cousin first walked into the space that was once Amphora Restaurant, he thought of the beloved eatery in New York’s Flatiron District. That’s because, like Gramercy Tavern, The Maple Room is divided into a moody lounge and a more formal dining room. His aim? To create a pair of menus that would match the two-sided, forest-inspired setting.
Cousin says that his goal for the restaurant, which opened last November, is to provide something for everyone. That ranges from burgers and flatbreads on the bar menu to seafood towers and high-priced steaks in the main dining room. The executive chef shows off his elevated culinary cred — honed at the Culinary Institute of America as well as restaurants like New York’s Aureole — with specials such as a swordfish tomahawk steak or weekly Beef Wellington Wednesdays.
But across a trio of visits, The Maple Room didn’t live up to the promise of the ambitious chef. I was routinely forgotten by servers who (eventually) brought me fare that mostly didn’t inspire as I hoped it might.
An exception is the housemade pasta. The single best thing to eat at The Maple Room is the fluffy little pillows of ricotta gnocchi. They’re served as a starter, but I would happily dive into an entrée-sized plate of the truffle emulsion and meaty mushrooms that surround the dumplings. For even more cheesy delight, there are crunchy squares of crisped Parmesan scattered across the plate. Garlic prawns are served over midnight-black squid ink angel hair pasta, while vegetarians can get in on the carb-filled act with a seitan Bolognese that dresses sinewy lengths of fresh tagliatelle. Get it with an extra basket of warm bread, which comes with sweet, softened butter. Unlike many restaurants these days, the rolls at The Maple Room are gratis.
Grilled dishes compose a large portion of the menu. Most of the “Prime Steaks & Chops” section is served à la carte. Craving beef? Choose from a 7-ounce filet mignon, 14-ounce New York strip, or 16-ounce boneless rib-eye. Each steak I tried was seasoned masterfully and cooked precisely to the requested temperature. Double-cut lamb chops receive a similar treatment, though I found the mint-fig preserve on the side off-puttingly sweet. Perhaps thanks to the restaurant’s name, the menu leans sugary at The Maple Room. Though crisped to a tee, the worst offender is the adipose Korean barbecue pork belly appetizer, which is so cloying that it can be difficult to finish.
But back to the steaks — I recommend that if one person chooses to partake, the entire table should join them. The side dishes are sized to be shared (they’re labeled “for the table”), and it makes sense to order a few. The potato purée is under-seasoned and gluey, but the rest of the options I tried were safe bets. The best of those are the crispy, subtly earthy truffle fries and the broccolini. The latter is layered with crunchy chunks of Serrano ham, which turned out to be the most luxe replacement for bacon bits I’ve ever experienced. Meanwhile, pieces of fennel give the dish a licorice-like zip of natural sweetness.
Steaks and chops are served with an oversized pile of microgreens that left me befuddled in terms of eating what was presented to me, though it does dress up the otherwise-empty plates. For a more composed meat dish, it might make sense to order the American Iberico pork chop. The fatty, bone-in chop is grilled to medium for a bit of pinkness that accentuates the meat’s natural tenderness. It’s the kind of cut that invites you to gnaw on the bone when you’re done, but the rest of the plate lacks pizzazz. There’s more of the lackluster mashed potatoes, and the chop is covered in greasy fried kale. The halves of apple, filled with apple butter, on the side were mostly raw when I tried the dish, which made for an awkward textural contrast. If I were to order the dish again, I would likely add the mildly spicy coconut curry sauce that comes with the grilled whole branzino but is also available on its own.
Desserts, crafted by Cousin’s wife, pastry chef Maria Ayala, are worth saving room for. That holds especially true for the white chocolate and raspberry bread pudding. I would happily sink my spoon into the tender treat more than once a week. It’s served with a white chocolate gelato, freckled with chocolate chunks, that melts over the soft pudding. Raspberry coulis adds fruity frisson to the generous dessert, along with a handful of fresh raspberries.
Cousin says that eventually, as he builds relationships with local farmers and purveyors, he hopes to change the menu four or five times a year to make the most of the bounty of each season, including both early and late summer. So far, the dessert menu capitalizes on seasonality better than the savory offerings do, with of-the-moment options like a strawberry vol-au-vent. Featuring a jammy strawberry gelato as well as a glut of fresh berries and chiffonaded mint, it’s almost the kind of dish I’d like to see more of at The Maple Room. I say “almost” because, ironically, the whipped cream is nearly devoid of the sugar that’s so plentiful among the other offerings.
So, maybe The Maple Room isn’t quite our region’s Gramercy Tavern. Though it’s unlikely to get the Michelin attention of the New York restaurant and its tasting menus, it’s best to ask the throngs of locals who fill both sides of the restaurant. This critic defers to the neighborhood diners at whom it’s aimed. Their presence makes it clear that Cousin’s “something for everyone” ethos is working just fine.
The Maple Room
See This: The former Amphora Restaurant has been elevated to a two-pronged dining experience; pick either the bar-dominated, darkened lounge or the brighter, wood-filled dining room.
Eat This: Ricotta gnocchi; prime boneless rib-eye; white chocolate and raspberry bread pudding
Appetizers: $14–$85
Entrées: $29–$69+
Dessert: $10–$14
Open for dinner Tuesday through Sunday. Lunch is served Wednesday through Friday, with brunch served Saturday and Sunday.
377 Maple Ave. W., Vienna, mapleroomrestaurant.com
Feature image of ricotta gnocchi at The Maple Room by Rey Lopez
This story originally ran in our August issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.
