Firefly... An American Bistro

My wife and I went to the opening of FireFly “An American Bistro” last night. It is a new restaurant that has opened on the bottom floor of the Inn on Main Hotel in Manasquan. First impressions were great. The location is beautiful and the decor in the restaurant is whimsical and inspired. The walls were painted with textured paint, the fireplace was roaring, candles were lit on each table. The service was very nice and we were immediately seated.

Now for the best part, the menu. The menu is aboslutely to die for. New American cuisine, fresh ingredients, and menu items that usually only available at established, higher end restaurants backed by celebriy chefs. The food that we tasted was fantastic. We were brought ‘Pretzel Bread’ and a spiced honey mustard dipping sauce, which quickly was gone. It was BYOB, so that paired well with the bottle of white that we had brought… Next, my wife ordered the ‘Lobster Mac and Cheese’ for our appetizer. Presentation made the cake look as good as it tasted. It was perfection.

For our meals, my wife had the Ahi Tuna, perfectly cooked, seasoned and presented, laid in a red curried pumpkin sauce with quiona. I had the “Delmonico” steak, marbled, cooked and seasoned to perfection, with chimmicurri, and paired with roasted potatoes and fresh seasonal vegetables. The Delmonico came out on a sizzling hot plate with butter. We ended our first trip to Firefly with ‘Bebe cupcakes’ and coffee. I am assuming ‘Bebe Cakes’ are cupcakes that are made in house. They were very, very good.

I love food, and not knowing what to expect when we went in, I will certainly be back. It was is about time this area has a restaurant that is taking food to this level. Now I will not have to go to the city (NYC) to get a high quality meal. Welcome to the neighborhood Firefly. It’s about time.

Never have written a review but the places in this current location (see Mixx) seem to come and go so hopefully this will inspire someone to try the place. The decor was cute; overall the place seemed very inviting with a gorgeous stone fireplace as the centerpeice of the dining room and plenty of window seats for people watching. The exterior is eye catching and is matched by an almost whimsical interior. I would suggest losing the mustard yellow napkins though, yikes! The place is very new so I came with somewhat limited expectations while they worked the kinks out. Here goes.

Service was exceptional and I felt my patronage was truly appreicated as the chef came out to check in and numerous others were on top of keeping us content. We ordered the crab cake starter ($12) which had plenty of flavor and was pretty good (although a little watery for our taste.) I ordered the “cheese steak” which is a filet mignon dish with a gouda cheese sauce which was incredible. It was the best steak I have had out in months, if not years. My fiance got sea scallops which were just ok, nothing wrong with them per se, just nothing too special about them either. She agreed though that the steak was the kind you chew slowly and let the miles of flavor run through your senses. For dessert, and we NEVER order dessert, we got the ring ding for two which was probably made for four people but was 1 part large and 5 parts delicious. Basically a hard chocolate shell housing a layered choc cake and mousse. Worth it for taste though a tad pricey at $10. On a side note, it looked like a child from the family next to us got chicken fingers that were set up on sticks and arranged in a bowl which really caught our eye. That might be enough to drag my 6 year old with us next time.

All in all, we agreed it’s nice to have a NYC quality establishment within a short walk from our front door. For $77, this BYOB offers good to exceptional food for fair prices. To be honest, we were kind of rooting for the place so please take that into consideration but I can assure you this is a place worth trying. And best of luck to Chef Lou and his staff, you’re off to a fine start!

My husband and I made resevations to celebrate our anniversary at Firfly. This was our third visit and we ran a little late but they held our reservation. They also had the table set special for us, including whimsical “firefly” napkin rings. The owners and Chef Lou wished us a happy anniversary. We were presented with a tasty amuse-bouche as well!We both ordered the filet mignon and words cannot describe the deliciousness.They were cooked to perfection and was perfectly portioned and beautifully presented. Our server Danielle was pleasant and friendly. We overall had an amazing time. Firefly is definitely a great place to eat!