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Midway's Black Tulip is pretty close to perfect

By Howard M. Snyder hsnyder@herald-leader.com

MIDWAY — I've always said that no restaurant will get five stars (it would have to be faultless, perfect, to get that). I'll stick to my guns, but The Black Tulip comes very close.

I've dined here a few times before, but always on the terrace, never inside. Last week, without reservations, I visited this classy Midway cafe. The terrace, partially hidden from the street by a wall of roses, was crowded. I got my first glimpse of the restaurant's interior. With lights on dimmers, the red-painted wainscoted walls made it warm and cozy. It was a feast of light and shadows. Our table was just inside one of the opened French doors. We had the best of both worlds.

Our server said they had just opened a Trefethen Double T Red, a Bordeaux-style wine made mainly of cabernet sauvignon, blended with smaller amounts of merlot, cabernet franc, petit verdot and malbec. That sounded good, so I got a glass ($14). This was a fantastic wine — heady aromas, chewy texture, ripe fruity flavors. I thought $14 was a bit much, considering that a bottle retails for $25, sometimes less.

Our dinner started with soups. I had tried the mussels ($10) on a previous visit, so I went for the she-crab ($8). This was a rich, cream-based soup made with lump crab, crab roe, sherry and mace. The folks at The Black Tulip added a dollop of caviar on the side. I've tried this soup in Charleston, S.C., where it was created. There, the soup sometimes gets a bit heavy with mace (the similar-tasting membrane that surrounds nutmeg). The flavors of this soup were cream and crab. It was a crab bisque at its best.

My dinner companion sampled the gazpacho ($7). This rich tomato soup was heady with cucumber, carrot and onion. It was a liquid salad and perfect for that warm night.

In the past, I had the privilege of trying The Black Tulip's coq au vin, but it is off the menu in summer. I was hoping we were far enough past summer that it would be back, but no such luck. If you see it on the menu, snatch it up, order two — it was that good. Since it wasn't on the menu, our server offered a couple of things worth trying — sea scallops ($26 and easy to ruin) and duck breast.

The scallops I got, three or four of them, were huge. They take only a minute to cook properly and a minute to ruin. These were perfect — seared on the outside and just warm on the inside. They were topped with a slightly spicy chili oil.

Our other entrée, Hudson Valley duck breast ($31), was one of the night's specials. Because duck breast is dark meat, it can be treated just like beef and cooked rare. That's how we ordered what the French call magrets de canard. It was wonderful — seared on the outside and red on the inside. It had a beefy texture and taste. We were dazzled by both entrees.

For dessert, we ordered espressos (oops, they forgot to charge us), panna cotta ($7) and the chocolate mousse cake ($7).

Panna cotta is kind of like Italian flan, but it isn't made with eggs. Milk, sometimes cream, sugar, vanilla and gelatin are cooked together, then cooled and set. This was a very light flanlike mixture — creamy and luscious — and served with a light fruit sauce.

The chocolate mousse cake was really a tart-size torte, and it was wonderful — rich ganache on the outside and heavy chocolate mousse on the inside. It was topped with a strawberry garnish. It went beautifully with the espresso.

Dinner for two, including one glass of wine and one bottled water ($4), and tax but not tip, was $110.24.