Modest name, A-list food are Plan B's ingredients

ARIADNA

Restaurant Plan B. 705 Cookman Ave., Asbury Park. (732) 807-4710
Dinner: 5 p.m.-9 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays; 5 p.m.-10 p.m. Fridays; 5 p.m.-11 p.m. Saturdays. Brunch: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays. restaurantplanb.com. Area: Monmouth County. THREE STARS.

Restaurant Plan B comes to us in a thoroughly modern way -- the owner found the location online, and the chef got his job via craigslist. It's surely a testament to the way things work today, but the real testament for a restaurant is never how it came to be or how technologically advanced its process, but how the food tastes when it comes out of the kitchen.

At Plan B we discovered the food to be just as innovative. We always view it as a good sign when a menu offers limited choices -- it usually means each item is special, that the chef is focused and sure. Just eight entrees grace the menu at Plan B; our dinners clearly were well planned and well executed. The menu is seasonal and changes monthly.

Decor is relaxed and fun, in a mod, pop-art, IKEA-inspired sense. The walls are exposed brick, the chairs are plastic, the kitchen is open and the cartoon-inspired artwork is colorful and engaging. The place has a crisp, urban European feel. But the menu is creative American.

A special for the evening was butternut squash soup, which sounded so welcoming on a cold winter's night we just had to have it. What a treat it was -- a rich, thick and homey puree made with carrots, ginger and cream and served with caramelized apples, shitake mushrooms and oven-roasted cherry tomatoes. It was served with such flourish, as if we were eating at a hushed-toned, white tablecloth restaurant and not in a funky little city storefront.

Layered beet tart ($10) was not so much a tart as a tower of goat cheese sandwiched between red and yellow beets. The "tart" part was a thin layer of crust, which was a shame because this crust was kitchen-made, buttery and delicious -- we wanted more.

Proscuitto-wrapped scallops ($13) were generously sized and sweet. These came with polenta, which easily becomes bland and gummy but here, thanks to an infusion of orange and sage and to proper preparation, was hearty and savory.

Our waiter recommended the ribeye ($29), and this tricky cut of steak was more than robust, served with confit portobello mushrooms and fingerling potatoes in a port shallot puree. A great dinner on a cold night -- you'll feel rich, well fed, fortified against the elements. Pan-roasted chicken ($20), moist and served on the bone, was another rustic dinner, coming with a butternut squash puree, country fried leeks and huckleberry coulis.

Desserts ($8 ) were simple and good. The cupcake is cake served in a coffee cup -- how cute is that? -- and the espresso-flavored cake was simple and moist and homemade, a cake like Grandma used to make before cakes became all about decoration and not about taste. The tres leche cake was also simple, moist and good.

You leave Plan B with the impression folks here try really hard. Chef Matt Levine is young -- he's just 21 -- and clearly already exhibits talent. This is a restaurant that can easily evolve into a destination spot, and not, as its name implies, a fallback position. If you haven't been to Asbury Park lately, it's another in a growing number of reasons to go.

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