Over this past weekend, my sister came to visit at Marist for the first time and we decided to go to the Culinary Institute for dinner on Saturday. However, because we left reservations to the last minute, the only restaurant we could get a reservation for was Pangea, a C.I.A. restaurant that I had never heard of. We arrived at the restaurant with low expectations, because usually restaurants at the Culinary Institute are booked months in reservations for weekend dinners, but we were pleasantly surprised!
The dining room was beautiful, and the waitstaff were all extremely attentive (our waitress literally refilled our water glasses every time one of us took a sip), but the most impressive thing about Pangea was the unique food and it’s gorgeous presentation. My sister took pictures of everything we got to send to my mom, and when we looked around, all of the other diners were doing the same thing. Most of the things on the menu we had never really heard of (seriously, when we first looked I had trouble finding anything that I had ever eaten before) but everything we tried was awesome!
For dinner, you choose from a menu of sweet and savory options, and pick four courses. Appetizers were also provided, we were able to try deep fried chickpeas and crickets (not as bad as they sound) and also had the restaurants homemade bread, crackers and flatbreads (pictured above). I had the Roast Rutabaga, Thyme, Bacon for my first course, the Goat Cheese, Wine Braised Carrot, Chestnut for my second, the Cast Iron Cornish Game Hen, Pan Juices for my third and the Constructed Lemon Meringue, Shortbread, Raspberry for my dessert course. The goat cheese with carrot and chestnut was my absolute favorite, but everything else was amazing too, especially the constructed lemon meringue, which our server prepared at the table in front of us! Overall, although our expectations weren’t very high going in, my sister and I had a great experience at Pangea and we will definitely be going back the next time she comes to visit!
Amy Lavigne Com 243 