VERO BEACH — Last Wednesday, we paid our most recent visit to Cobalt – the elegant restaurant at the Vero Beach Hotel and Spa.
The busiest season in anyone’s memory has been kind to Vero restaurants, and Cobalt – located on the second floor of the island’s best hotel – also benefits from the fact that its adjoining lounge attracts large numbers of locals to what is clearly the top happy hour in town.
When we arrived for our dinner reservation at 7:30, the fashionable dark-paneled grill – with a 15-foot-high glass wall that looks out on the firepit and the sea – was about three-quarters full.
The hostess showed us to a very nice table in the oceanfront room to the left of the main restaurant.
(The table next to where we were seated was occupied by a party of six, pretty clearly out-of-town guests, who were totally indifferent to their two small children’s desire to turn fine dining into playtime. Alas, that type of thing sometimes occurs in the restaurants of hotels.)
After we ordered a modestly priced bottle of Chardonnay from a not-inexpensive wine list, our waiter Kyle brought us a basket of warm bread and shared with us his views on the menu.
On this visit, I decided to go with a salad and the fish special of the evening, a red snapper.
My husband, however, opted for two of Cobalt’s “small plates” – a welcome addition to the restaurant’s menu.
For starters, he chose the butter basted lobster ($18) and was going to follow that with the braised pork shoulder ($12). But Kyle suggested that instead of the pork shoulder, he try the duck confit ravioli ($14) instead.
Good choice.
My first course, a spinach salad ($10), was a very attractive presentation of fresh spinach, crisp apple and prosciutto, topped with a warm sherry dressing and accompanied by two goat cheese “croutons.”
My husband’s lobster small plate consisted of several chunks of lobster, served with a parsnip puree, spinach, shitake mushrooms and pickled heart of palm. While some might view the lobster small plate as indeed small, the dish was very creatively constructed.
My husband’s second dish, the duck confit ravioli, was at the other end of the small-plate spectrum. This dish was entrée sized, the tasty ravioli served with sprout leaves, walnuts, and apple with a brown butter vinaigrette.
My lovely piece of snapper ($30) was served with a butternut squash puree, rutabaga, oyster mushrooms and grilled frisee.
We concluded our dinners with espressos and a shared dish of a delicious crème brulee ($8).
Dinner for two with wine, before tax and tip, should run somewhere around $150 (less if you partake of the small plates).
On other visits to Cobalt, we have enjoyed a variety of seafood dishes (seared scallops being a favorite), and the restaurant also features a variety of meat dishes including a bistro steak and braised short-ribs.
On a good night, Cobalt is a very good hotel restaurant – the kind you expect from Kimpton, one of the country’s best operators of fine hostelries.
I welcome your comments, and encourage you to send feedback to me at tina@verobeach32963.com.
The reviewer is a beachside resident who dines anonymously at restaurants at the expense of Vero Beach 32963.
