Dining: Solid Pairings
Meals at Pairings Food & Wine Market include a gratis side of déjà vu. The cheese counter. The prepared-foods selection. The showy pizza oven. The point-and-serve salad bar. The adjacent wine and beer store. The dessert case. The small grocery selection. The meeting room, booked solid with events. The moderate prices. The swarms of staffers. The gigantic patio. Heck, even the communal dining table. Where have we seen all of this before?
Nowhere, and everywhere. When forging their contemporary canteen, owners Holly Damiani and Mark Peregory clearly pinched popular elements from a few familiar ventures, then cut and pasted a business plan together until the result suited the demands of its convenience-minded target audience.
Pairings' something-for-everyone menu isn't revolutionary, but behind its fast-casual formula lies an obvious commitment to consistency and quality.
The pretty plate-sized pizzas are a definite highlight, notable for their crispy-chewy crusts and attention-to-detail toppings (duck confit-butternut squash-arugula, chicken-pesto and red pepper-spicy pork sausage are three combos definitely worth eating). Salads are fresh and abundantly portioned.
Pastas are fairly boilerplate, but they do the trick. There are nearly a dozen hearty, well-stuffed sandwiches, and my only complaint is that the breads could be more distinctive.
Because Pairings aims to be a one-stop shopping and dining destination, grazers will enjoy the generous cheese and cured-meats platters. They're best during happy hour, when they're $5 cheaper.
To enliven the menu's test-marketed vibe, chef Carlos Olivar spices things up with a few daily specials. After a few not-bad stir-fries, I struck gold in the form of an updated lunch-counter classic, an open-faced sandwich made with thick cuts of roasted turkey that actually tasted like turkey and a swipe of mashed Yukon golds, comfort-food heaven.
The kitchen really springs to action during the "Today" show's time slot. Why put up with a humdrum Starbucks coffee-and-sandwich combo when Pairings does it better? There are also decent omelets, an ever-changing quiche, tender scones and cinnamon-packed, caramel-glazed breakfast rolls. Sunday brunch goes much more glam, including a swell potato cake Benedict, a fine eggs Florentine and decadent brioche French toast.
The adjacent -- and very nicely stocked -- wine shop acts as the restaurant's wine list. On its own, the shop would rate among the region's better wine-buying destinations.
But paired (yeah, that's where the name comes from) with the restaurant next door, it's even better.
Even after some much-needed tweaks, it's not readily apparent -- at least to first-time diners -- how to successfully navigate the order-and-pay system. Two qualities worth crowing about: Pairings is a no-tipping zone, and the small but well-stocked fancy-foods inventory places an admirable emphasis on locally produced goodies.
Would I be a regular if I lived or worked in the area? Oh, yeah. Do I not-so-secretly wish that Damiani and Peregory would open a clone in my neighborhood? Absolutely.
