Losing Small Plates is a disappointment, but it turns out the replacement isn’t so bad.

Small Plates has changed to Aster Pantry & Parlor, an American dining restaurant and lounge. The upscale restaurant is focused on borrowing bits and pieces from different cultures. The dishes include samplings from French, Italian, Greek and Spanish cuisines, just to name a few. The owners replaced their old idea of serving comfort foods like pizza and sliders to offering a classier dining experience to customers.

Aster Pantry & Parlor has been very busy since opening Sept. 10. Located at 116 Walton St., the restaurant’s concept is to provide fine dining with a casual feel for their customers. Aster balances being upscale and casual at the same time. The servers give you frequent attention, but you don’t need to come in with a suit and tie.

I went to Aster during parents weekend with a large party of people and tried a variety of dishes. For appetizers, we started with the tuna carpaccio, one-minute ceviche, fluke crudo and the creamery plate. The tuna carpaccio was very light and unfulfilling. The pieces of tuna were too thin and could have used more flavor.
On the other hand, the one-minute ceviche was delicious. I enjoyed the combination of mussels, top neck clams and octopus in the vibrant Thai basil sauce. It had just enough spice and zest. The fluke crudo is cooked in a very succulent orange-chili glaze and compressed with melon and sumac. The flavors in the fluke were just right and I thought this dish was tasty.

I highly recommend the creamery plate. This is a good dish to share to with a group of people and includes a selection of cheeses from local farms in Ithaca, Buffalo and the Seneca Lake region. The cheeses include goat cheese, Gouda, Buffalo bleu, Finger Lakes gold and Asiago. My favorite was the Gouda. The cheese was smooth and had a mild taste.

For my entrée, I got the Branzino. This is a Mediterranean sea bass with fennel over a clam-based couscous. I didn’t love this dish and thought that the Branzino was very bland.

I was very intrigued by the carrot side dish and had to try it. The server explained that the carrots were cooked in a mole sauce that contained 32 spices. The spices in the sauce gave the carrots a fiery taste at the beginning with a sweet taste at the end.

Small Plates transformed to Aster just to change things up. The former manager of Small Plates and current manager of Aster Pantry & Parlor, Aaron Labulis explained that Syracuse needed something it was lacking — the fine dining establishment that Aster is currently trying to be. Labulis had been managing Small Plates when it first opened until vice president John Gregory introduced concept of Aster Pantry & Parlor.

There are two parts of the restaurant: The parlor and the pantry. When you walk into Aster, you immediately see the parlor on the right side. The parlor has a cozy Victorian feel. There are couches, old paintings, a piano and a mouse head mounted to the wall. The parlor is very relaxed and comfortable, typically for people coming in for cocktails and appetizers. The pantry is the main dining room. It has more of a fancy feel. There are fresh plants all around, along with old teapots, pitchers and vintage mirrors on the wall.

Unlike most rowdy bars, Aster has a very relaxed bar in the center of their restaurant. All of the wines are either sustainably farmed, certified organic or biodynamic. Their most popular sustainably farmed wine is the Pinot Grigio, which comes from California.

Overall, Aster has a healthy menu. All of the ingredients used are locally-sourced. They do not have a lot of processed food and almost everything is homemade. The upscale joint is a decent replacement for what used to be one of Armory’s better food spots.

Published on October 4, 2015 at 9:14 pm

Contact Callie: caweinst@syr.edu