Last Friday, a friend and I headed down to Virginia Place to try out Scarlet’s eclectic cuisine after hearing some good things about the restaurant.
The atmosphere inside this renovated Allentown carriage house is very cozy. Scarlet was honored with a building beautification award by the Allentown Historic Society in 2007, and it’s easy to see why. The entire interior is brick-walled, with small, suspended lighting fixtures and a pair of stone fountains on the wall. There is plenty of seating between the two floors. There is a bar on the main floor that offers a great selection, including a variety of martinis, from classic versions to Scarlet’s own unique concoctions.
Our waiter, Russell, started us out with some freshly baked bread and three different homemade whipped butters. Both the bread and the butter are made freshly in their kitchen every day. The bread was a petite round loaf (perfect for two) that had a golden crust on the outside and that subtle yeasty flavor that good fresh bread has. The butters were a garlic-herb, a tomato-cheddar and a honey-flavored butter. All three were delicious, but the honey was by far my favorite.
We tried the Artichokes Francaise for an appetizer. This consisted of four whole pieces of artichoke that were breaded in a parmesan breading and lemon caper butter. The artichokes were tender and lemony. The capers gave a nice, salty bite to it and it wasn’t too heavily breaded. It was also the perfect size for an appetizer. Did I mention that Scarlet was also awarded for having the best appetizer menu by Buffalo Spree in 2009?
For my main course, I stayed with the lemon-artichoke theme and chose the Lemon Pepper Chicken. It consisted of sautéed chicken tenders served over a bed of angel hair pasta, with artichokes, roma tomatoes and a lemon-pepper cream sauce. This dish was great. I was a little on-the-fence about ordering this when I read “cream sauce” in the description. You never know how light or heavy they’re going to go with the cream, but this sauce was perfect. It was very lemony and lighter on the cream side. The tomatoes added a little sweetness and the artichokes finished if off perfectly.
The portion sizes were generous enough to leave us too full for dessert and with plenty of leftovers to take home. The prices were reasonable, with two entrees and an appetizer we didn’t even break $50. Check out their Facebook page for more information and links to their menu.
Scarlet Restaurant
26 Virginia Pl
Buffalo, NY, 14202
716-884-2630