The caramel balsamic gelato ($7) was ok ice cream, but it was not nearly as interesting as the description made me expect. It seemed like the sort of ice cream you could get at any store and tasted almost entirely of caramel and with barely a hint of balsamic. The fortune cookie like cup was very enjoyable though.

The Berkshire pork prime rib special ($18) was a large portion of tender and slightly fatty pork. It was well wonderful meat on a bed of butter beans an a balsamic sauce. For anyone who complains about the portion sizes here, they should definitely get this dish. While not a very novel dish, it was really good through and through.

I started with the heirloom tomato salad ($12) which was one of the best salads I’ve ever had. The tomatoes were amazing and full of flavor. They had a smoky yet sweet quality and were ample in size and freshness. The cress was a very interesting green a little reminiscent of mint. The smokiness of the cheese worked really well with the tomatoes and was on a really interesting tomato based sauce.

The air dried pheasant was the special when I came to Mandaloun last night. Usually I find most fowl options (chicken, pheasant, game hen) to be to gamy to find terrific and don’t live up to other meats. But this pheasant was terrific, ample, and had lots of interesting touches. The meat was very moist and tender and very hot in a good way throughout the meal. You get a large portion of meat with a cherry chutney sauce and small cherry slices. Its on top of a bed of what seemed to be wienerschitzel (the menu said fingerling potatoes, so I guess that’s what this was). Definitely a great choice.

Churros always remind me of amusement parks and how great they taste right out of the cart. Since they are so inherently good, I figured Mandaloun would make their’s great. But while my dad thought they were much better, I can’t say with confidence these would win in a blind taste test with amusement-park-cart churros. They were good, but I expected better. The chocolate dipping sauce could have been better as well. The chocolate was both too fruity and too bitter.

The chocolate mousse was very tasty, though for chocolate, it could have been better. It was a hard mouse that supported itself on a plate. The vanilla gelato was particularly good though.

Salads at nice restaurants are generally exactly that: nice. This one was no exception. It was enjoyable, with quality lettuce, enjoyable candied walnut and strawberries, though not extraordinary. Its a nice healthy addition to the meal, but like many restaurants, not necessarily worth $9.

The dates wrapped in pancetta were packed with flavor and the sweetness of dates combined with the savory pancetta and cream cheese made for a great combination. You get three large dates on a long plate filled with a small amount of cream cheese and wrapped in crisp pancetta.

The prosciutto wrapped asparagus with aoili got most of its great flavor from the meat. The aoili was good, in the typical way aolili is, but the asparagus was cooked to perfection.

The mushroom bruschetta was the best small plate I had. It had a potent oily flavor that struck me most as sensual, since usually dishes rich in oil flavor feel too heavy for me. The chewy mushrooms were wonderful.

The meat was very tender, but I thought the steak itself didn’t have much flavor. It seemed like it could be called beef sashimi. You get a good number of slices and it comes with a small salad and a tasty dipping sauce. The log cabin plated fries tasted like eating a baked potato cut into rectangles and nothing more.

I’ve had this wine twice and was very happy with it. Slightly fruit-forward, but not too fruity or sweet. My favorite of the reds I’ve tried here.