Recently went to Sam’s on Court Street and was pleasantly surprised to see that, overall, the interior really hasn’t been touched. I think they added a small half-wall that creates a few more tables and separates the bar a bit, but otherwise it’s remarkably intact. Honestly, I’ve never seen the interior looking so good. It was nice to see the place with some life back in it.
I also noticed they kept the same cheap red wine and the same glasses, although they’ve stopped pouring the wine all the way to the rim the way Lou used to.
We started with the Caesar salad. I actually enjoyed the croutons, but they clearly phoned in the dressing. It was very mayo-heavy, and I honestly couldn’t imagine them not using a bottled Caesar dressing.
Next was the cacio e pepe, mostly because my date wanted it. I don’t remember this ever being a dish there. It was a tiny portion and pretty forgettable—too thick, muted in flavor, with the pepper doing almost all the work.
But the most upsetting, and honestly unforgivable, thing was the chicken parm.
It was clearly a Sysco-type product. I’m a chef and I’ve worked in both fancy places and cheap places—I know processed chicken when I see it. The chicken was thin, hard and gummy. It looked beautiful: perfectly melted cheese, nice red sauce, everything presented the way it should be. And the sauce and cheese actually tasted like what I remember.
But the chicken itself was awful. It had the texture of a cafeteria chicken finger. We literally each took a bite of the hard chicken and just ate the cheese off.
That said, the room has never looked better, and it was genuinely nice to see some life brought back into the place. The sauce and cheese on the chicken parm were good enough that I’m curious whether the pizza is still on point.
Has anyone else been recently? I’d be interested to hear what other people have experienced there???
https://maps.app.goo.gl/3K6ayEW7NhjQozL29?g_st=ic