Roots is a large place located down by the waterfront.  The fairly well spaced pedestal tables were covered by white cloths and appointed with bench seating opposite chairs.  The room is filled with art and signs with funny statements about food and beverage.  Music was in the background and the room was well lit but there were 3 sides full of windows.  You can watch the boats and joggers go by.  There is a patio but no one was out there the day we went.  They have been in this location for 2 years and already have one Michelin Star.  At lunch the offered a business lunch of 2 or 3 courses offering options from the dinner menu and a ‘rootilicious lunch’ of 3 to 4 courses.  They had specials on wines by the glass to go with the menus.   We chose the business lunch and some of their wine by the glass.  The pours were small.   Service was effecient and friendly and the chef did come out but he did not visit with every table.

 

Bread service was slices of housemade dark and light breads served with a cream cheese and herb spread.  The slices were moist with a semi crisp crust.  The cream cheese was mildly flavored.

 

For the starter there were you could chose soup or the “roots” salad which we got.  It was a nice salad of fresh greens with carrots, seeds and cabbage.  It was lightly dressed and very good.

 

For the main plate we chose Pork belly with brussels sprouts, dumplings and mushroom.  The dumplings were in a separate bowl and they offered to bring more if we needed.  They were crisp cubes of breadlike something that seemed soaked in something tasty and then fried.  However they were made, they were spectacular and I took them up on their offer to bring more.  The pork belly was topped with brussels sprout leaves and a great sauce .  There were some dots of intensely flavored goo under the meat that were wonderful and really brought the pork to life.  It was tender, moist and the plate offered a ton of taste and good textural contrast.

 

We split one of the dessert of the day which was sea buckthorn ice cream on cheesecake topped and sitting on cookie crumbs.  Sweet, creamy and crunchy I’d call it all right.