a taste of the season

in an effort to continue eating "healthy," we decided to try dinner at seasons 52 at king of prussia last night. i had heard some mixed things about this place - some of our friends had really enjoyed it, but craig laban had mercilessly blasted it as a tasteless, flavorless sham of a restaurant. with a range like that, clearly we weren't sure of what to expect here, but the menu looked interesting enough and i was very curious about the way food would taste "with every item under 475 calories."

:: seasons 52 ::

address: 160 north gulph rd, king of prussia pa (next to crate & barrel at KOP mall)

what we ate: steak and mushroom flatbread + chicken chile relleno + caramelized sea scallops + wood-roasted pork tenderloin

hmm, as expected of a mall location, the restaurant was very crowded/busy. we had made reservations for 7:45pm, but ended up having to wait until 8:10ish, which isn't terrible, but imagine what that wait would have been without reservations. the wine selection is pretty good here - they offered 4-7 brands of each kind of wine. i saw gascon malbec so was immediately satisfied with that. the beer selection, however, was definitely lacking. considering all the beers were $5-6 a piece, you'd think they might have some variety, but they only offered the suburban mainstays: bud, heineken, corona, sam adams etc. i suppose this was to be expected at a chain restaurant at kop, but still - disappointing.   

grilled steak cremini mushroom flatbread: fresh spinach + wisconsin blue cheese + caramelized onions

low calorie or not, this flatbread was really good. the crust was extra super thin, almost cracker thinness- like a lavosh. the portion size was really satisfying too; it's long and they cut it up into 8 good sized pieces. there weren't too many pieces of steak, but definitely enough that there was at least a bite of meat on each piece of flatbread. the mushrooms were sliced round and very flavorful. i think they use just the tiniest bit of blue cheese, but it adds the right amount of sharp bite to the dish. and the caramelized onions added a contrasting sweetness that really complemented the cheese. 

spicy chicken chile relleno: goat cheese + spinach + pico de gallo + polenta cakes

this chicken and cheese stuffed poblano pepper dish was one of the few things that craig laban had written kindly about in his review, so we were knew we'd have to taste this. personally, i feel like most stuffed pepper dishes never offer enough of the stuffing so the pepper often is thinner/flatter, but the one at seasons 52 provides ample stuffing in its pepper so it's almost bulging. both the chicken and the pico de gallo had a pleasantly surprising spiciness to them. this was the most flavorful dish of the night and it had a mix of flavors that were different (read: interesting) than any of the other dishes, so i can see why laban called this one out. 

the description of this on the menu didn't include the two polenta cakes, so we were surprised to see them on the plate. very pleasantly surprised, though. i love polenta cakes. yumm. i don't really understand how this dish is under 475 calories, because it includes 2 pieces of polenta, cheese stuffed IN the pepper, and cheese on top... however they did it.. it works. 

grilled caramelized sea scallops: with roasted asparagus + sundried tomato pearl pasta

a perfectly cooked scallop is like a unicorn. okay, maybe not, but it's really easy to mess them up. i wouldn't say these scallops were perfectly cooked, but they were very acceptably tasty. i really enjoyed the pearl pasta in this dish, but i'm a sucker for small pasta/rice type starches, like couscous, orzo, arborio rice, pearl pasta etc. 

this was a good dish, but i couldn't help comparing it the pan seared scallop and english pea risotto at mercato.  clearly, this is an unfair comparison, but the components are so similar that i couldn't stop. i guess i really wanted the seasons 52 interpretation to close enough to the mercato version. really, though, it wasn't even close. they are on two totally different levels, but that said, the scallop and pea risotto is one of my all-time favorite dishes and a really superb restaurant, so i should have expected it. 

wood-roasted pork tenderloin: on soft corn polenta + fresh leaf spinach + cremini mushrooms + sherry glaze

this wasn't very good. the recommended pork temp was "medium well" which supposedly would still leave a bit of pink color in the center. when we got our dish, there wasn't really too much pink showing. basically, it was bland and dry. the mushrooms were bland, the sherry glaze was bland. the only part of the dish that had noticeable flavor was the polenta, but it had a really weird consistency to it. the polenta here almost seemed gelatinous and the grains just weren't smoothly lumped. 

key lime pie mini indulgence

so aside from what i've said about the food thus far, i have to say that the service at seasons 52 is impeccable. it's the small things - like knowing the name your reservation was under and greeting you by that name when  you sit down, or checking up on you with a dish that you weren't convincingly enthusiastic about. but by far, what the waitstaff excels at is the elegant upsell. this is especially true for the desserts. 

before you can say no, they bring out the tower of "mini indulgences," and simultaneously place a spoon and a dessert place setting in front of each guest while telling you about each one. the dessert cups in the tower are refreshed each time they're presented so you can just pick one and they just give it to you - no waiting, no time to change your mind, etc. 

anywayyyyyy, we tried the key lime one and it was really really really good. i think this is supposed to be one of the head chef's favorites, though, so i would expect it to be excellent. perfect lime tartness and sweetness and i actually liked the texture of the key lime mousse. the graham cracker bits were also droolworthily tasty.

OVERALL, i'd go back to seasons 52 if

• i'm at the king of prussia mall
• i'm on a diet
• the wait at cheesecake factory is over one hour   

it's not a place i'd necessarily travel out to dine in again, but wouldn't mind if i ended up there.

OH! as a hilarious sidenote, one of the managers caught me taking pictures of all the food and he came over to talk to us because he was very concerned. i thought the taking-pictures-of-food revolution was common knowledge now, but apparently not. he was genuinely worried that we were upset about our meals and documenting it for some reason. hahaha. we had to assure him it was just because we love food and we love looking back to see all the tasty things we ate over and over again.

i don't think he understood. :)