Aster and Rose Restaurant was in an historic farmhouse near Camden Hills State Park.   The building not only houses them but also The Youngtown Inn.  The large building had a medium sized room dedicated to dining and some tables on a covered porch.  Just opposite the dining room was a small bar room and upstairs are the 6 rental rooms.  Wide planked wood floors indicate the age of the place but the beamed ceiling may have been added.  Lots of windows accent the green paint, nice sized tables and padded seating. The restaurant sources many local ingredients harvested nearby and serves dinner Wed through Sat.  Service was friendly and efficient, portions are generous and I would certainly recommend this place to anyone looking for a good meal in the area.

Set-up

 

Food

We started our meal by trying the Barrel aged negroni Blanco which contained Beefeater gin, Luxardo bitter blanco and Carpano bianco and my husband getting a tradionally made Negroni.  Both were good with the Blanco being less bitter.

 

Asparagus Salad also contained pickled fennel, yuzu remoulade, dill, radish and sunflower shoots.  The radish was sliced quite thin which went great with the fresh asparagus and dill dressing.  There was a bit of spice in the mix.  Call this one very good.

 

Marshall Cove Mussels were mixed with Calabrian style pork sausage, herbs, wine and cream sauce then topped with 2 slices of toasted bread.  Lots of sausage bits sprinkled around and a tasty broth below these large mussels.  Their size gave them a different texture than I’m used to but it really grew on me.  This was a fine bowl of mussels and the crusty bread was perfect to dip in the tasty broth.

 

Parisian gnocchi were mixed with mushrooms, leeks, chevre cream and parmesan.  The buttery dumplings were in a terrific sauce filled with tasty mushrooms.  Some tender leeks finished the dish to  great end but it was heavy.

 

Bone in pork chop was lightly smoked and smothered in mustard creamed greens.  This was recommended by the server and she was right – it was really smokey meat with kale-like greens in a creamy mustard sauce.  The meat was cooked to a nice pink to keep it juicy and tender.  A great dish.

 

Marinated Halibut on a sweet pea and spring vegetable risotto with a white wine dill sauce was also recommended by our server.  The generous piece of fish was thick enough to keep it moist and it went perfectly with the risotto.   Asparagus were with the peas in the risotto to produce a really lovely, tasty plate.

 

Hazelnut blondie was plated with banana ice cream, dulce de leche and Nutella magic shell.  The two pieces of brownie had great texture and the ice cream was very creamy.  The flavor of the ice cream worked well in the mix as did the chocolate shell.  Some sprinkled nuts were okay but I thought some had a strong taste however overall this was a fine sweet ending.