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Opalescence's food very promising

Opalescence, a new restaurant in downtown Fredericksburg, has a few problems but a ton of promise

By LAURA MOYER

Date published: 7/22/2004

THE FREE LANCE-STAR

oPALESCENCE hadn't been open a week before people started telling me about the new place with a strange name and out-of-this-world food.

The restaurant fills Roma 52's old space, on the corner of William and Charles streets. But word was that its new owners had given it a chic update in appearance and a night-and-day overhaul of the menu.

So I eagerly went for dinner in only its third week of operation and returned for lunch this week, the restaurant's fourth.

Contrasting experiences reminded me that it takes any new, independently owned restaurant a little while to work out the kinks.

Dinner was just about perfect, with food, service and atmosphere beyond what one might expect from a place where several evening entrees are in the $10 to $12 range. (The highest-priced is a $19 steak, less than top prices at many restaurants of comparable ambition and tone.)

But lunch was marred by problems that suggest Opalescence hasn't fully hit its stride--slow service, a forgotten appetizer and a main course served cold.

On the plus side, Opalescence has more promise than just about any new nonchain restaurant I've reviewed in the past year or so.

Despite its subterranean setting, this tastefully redecorated space exudes warmth and intimacy. And from the first bites of the appetizers, it was clear that the owner-chef obviously has a creative touch, an eye for quality and a passion for food.

A salad of mixed greens, roasted red peppers and slices of fresh mozzarella ($6) worked on the eye and the palate, its colors promising a zest the peppers, especially, delivered.

At the same time, the vivid bowl of tomato-basil soup ($5) that appeared across the table was unlike any I'd ever tried--tangy, slightly spicy and dotted with chunks of shrimp.

Pasta dishes at Opalescence are served with all manner of good-sounding things, so tantalizingly described it's hard to choose---wild mushrooms, prosciutto, tomatoes and rosemary cream sauce, for one, and buccatini with scallops, sun-dried tomato and basil with roasted-garlic sauce for another. But a rigatoni dish ($11) was this night's choice. Perfectly cooked pasta came tossed with chunks of good sausage, tender mushrooms and sweet peppers, in a broth reminiscent of the delicious soup.

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Date published: 7/22/2004