Green Land Café: A cherry on top!

Hi - Matt here!
A couple weekends back Jen and I went out to celebrate her birthday with two very special guest diners – Jack and Debbie, Jen’s parents.  We picked Green Land Café, which is located right in downtown Salem. It is very convenient from the train stop – just 200 yards down Washington Street.  Greenland takes pride in “fresh thinking”.  They have shaped their restaurant around sustainability and organic ingredients, grown and harvested locally. Their commitment to sustainability shows throughout the restaurant – including the bar constructed from the building’s original oak doors that were found in the attic when the restaurant was being built.

(photo courtesy of greenlandcafe.com)

Before heading to dinner, we first stopped off at The Lyceum for a quick drink and the opening of birthday cards. Now I have a birthday five days before Jen, but she won’t allow us to lump it into one night out – hers HAS to be separate, it’s her birthday.  She may act coy and pretend otherwise – but we all know the truth. Anyway, we sat in the new comfy lounge area in the bar by the front windows.  It used to be an older crowd there, but this night it was a lot younger.  We will definitely be back for dinner sometime soon!

(photo courtesy of thelyceum.com)

Ok so Green Land… first we got the shaft.  After having made a reservation over two weeks prior to Jen’s birthday, they still seated us in the backroom of the restaurant. The room is set up for separate functions and has no décor. You could be in any square room, in any restaurant. We were a little bummed out. The main dining room, we were envying, has a wall full of windows, beautiful high ceilings and gorgeous exposed brick walls  - all centered around the great bar.

Greenland has a great drink menu – notice another Choo-Chew trend? Some crowd-pleasers are the “Fig-A-Rita” and the “Caramelized Lime Caipirinha” - which you can add Szechuan buttons (they call them buzz buttons) which are tiny flowers that give your mouth a numbing feeling, not something I’ve seen anywhere else.  The reason I love this place though is the beer.  Duvel, on tap, not something you see every day, along with Allagash Tripel, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Aged Ale, Blue Point, Chimay, Pretty Things, Troegs, Cisco Grey Lady and Whales Tale, Laguinitas, Weihennstephaner. These are just some of the beers on tap - not to mention the bottled beer. It sure felt like MY birthday! 

Greenland has a well versed tapas menu. We started with the Lemon-infused Edamame which Jen can’t get enough of,  the garlic and lemon hummus plate and the olives marinated in garlic, rosemary, thyme and citrus.

For dinner Jen started with the Baby Arugula Salad with dried Bing cherries, goat cheese, walnuts and a honey and sherry vinaigrette.  I had the Caesar Salad, surprise surprise, which was loaded with shaved Parmesan .  Jack had a bowl of Clam Chowder with fresh Ipswich Clams, cider brined bacon and chive oil.

Entrees included Quinoa Pilaf with asparagus, sweet peas and roasted red peppers for Jen (a great vegetarian option) - it didn’t have the best presentation, but made up for it with its flavor.  Jack and I had the Grilled Berkshire Pork Chop topped with a brandied cherry relish and accompanied by whipped potato goodness and garlic and lemon sautéed spinach. Debbie had one of the specials which was Flounder stuffed with Crab over a bed of farro.   Once again we left no room for desert - just a round of coffees.

After emerging from our cave, on the way out we noticed Greenland also has live music. We will definitely be back to check this out. Green Land is definitely a cherry on top of the ever-growing restaurant scene in Salem. But the true cherry on top - Greenland is part of Restaurant.com – so grab a discounted gift certificate and try it out!