Pheasants Landing Restaurant and Pub

The highpoints of this newly renovated Hillsborough restaurant include a skillet-size potato pancake, Swiss fondue and authentic game dishes.

By: Pat Tanner

   After months of delays, a newly renovated, newly owned Pheasants Landing opened in Hillsborough in October. At its helm is owner-chef Heinz Keller, who made his name at Auberge Swiss in Berkeley Heights. Both the menu and the style of the dining room reflect Keller’s Swiss roots, although neither is limited to them. Ditto for the short wine list, which includes some fine choices from California vintners such as Stag’s Leap and J. Lohr but also includes a Swiss Fendant ($24). Wines by the glass are limited to those current American favorites, Merlot and Chardonnay.
   We opted instead for two interesting beers and were delighted with the Climax Octoberfest and Bitburger Pilsner, which were served in attractive pilsner glasses. A glance around the room, which filled up as the Friday evening progressed, proved that many patrons had the same idea. For those wishing a true rathskeller experience, a separate entrance leads down to Pheasants Landing’s pub.
   Tables in the main dining room are well spaced, and the overall effect is uncluttered spaciousness. However, virtually the only colors in the room are cream, white, and the browns of medium and dark woods, the latter on the floor and wainscoting. While this lends an air of middle European authenticity, it is a bit stark, and sound bounces mightily off all the hard surfaces.
   The menu comprises favorites from Auberge Swiss, such as escargot in puff pastry, Wiener Schnitzel, fondue for two, and spinach dumplings coated with melted cheese. A weekly menu of game dishes has been added since our visit, and choices include wild boar, venison, buffalo and ostrich. I can only imagine Chef Keller’s expertise will shine with these.
   Our meal at Pheasants Landing was a roller coaster ride, with wild highs and unexpected lows. A starter of one generous crab cake came on a good, fresh mesclun mix ($8). The crab cake was flavor-packed but too wet. Also good, if plain, was a starter of sea scallops surrounded by a ring of decoratively piped duchess potatoes ($8). Although the menu states the scallops are pan seared, I could have sworn they were poached. Furthermore, the potatoes seemed more like mom’s homemade mashed rather than the egg-rich, over-the-top spuds that "duchess" connotes.

TimeOFF photos/Frank Wojciechowski
Tables in the main dining room are well spaced, and the overall effect is uncluttered spaciousness.

   Interestingly, I enjoyed the dish for its straightforward plainness. This dish, like much of the menu, seems a bit retro, but it works. Another example of a successful, charming nod to the past is the cinnamon toast topped by melted gorgonzola, a lush indulgence of sweet and salty. One backward-looking dish that doesn’t work, most surprisingly given Chef Keller’s background, is the spinach dumplings coated with melted "Alpine" cheese ($7). The homemade dumplings were heavy, tasteless blobs of dough and the "Alpine" cheese a thick, somewhat greasy lid. (I asked our server if Alpine differs from Swiss cheese. She shrugged her shoulders and said, in this case, no.)
   How could we pass up pheasant at Pheasants Landing, especially that which is raised locally at Griggstown Farm? I couldn’t and am happy to report that it was a high point of the meal, more for its flavorful dark meat and coating of thick, slightly sweet Port wine sauce than for the accompaniments, which included ultra-sweet crescents of raisin-studded polenta and a doughy dumpling ($22). The base of mashed sweet potato that the dumpling rested on injected another sugary note.
   I plan to return to the restaurant to try the Swiss cheese fondue for two ($14 per person). (Note that in this instance it’s not Alpine cheese.) But anytime I find myself here I will surely indulge once more in the special side dish: a skillet-size potato pancake of Swiss farmer-style hash browns ($6). Flecked with bits of bacon and sautéed onion, this is perhaps the best potato pancake on the planet, or perhaps in the universe. On the other hand, Wiener Schnitzel ($17) disappointed, mainly for its oily, overdone coating and dryish veal (actually, one piece was tough and dry, the other more moist). Especially disappointing are the accompanying spaetzle, those boiled bits of noodle dough that are always subtle in flavor but here evince no flavor whatsoever. Marinated cabbage, which rounded out the plate, was sweet and good.
   Again, contrary to expectations, a dish of six large shrimp ($19) was light and flavorful, having been brushed gently with garlic-scented olive oil and grilled to perfect toothsomeness. The shrimp were accompanied by a mix of white and wild rice that is retro but not especially interesting. Perhaps most retro of all is flounder almondine ($17). Nice, fat capers perked up its lemon-butter sauce, and its two generous fillets were flavorful but, like the crab cake, the fish was way too watery.
   If I couldn’t pass up pheasant at Pheasants Landing, would I pass up house-made apple strudel ($5.50) by a Swiss chef? Our expectations were crushed by soggy pastry and mushy, overcooked apples. But rich, ultra-creamy homemade rum raisin ice cream ($5) hits a home run (to inject a little American vernacular) and I bet the hazelnut ice cream with honey-Grand Marnier is just as good. The cakey part of chocolate mousse cake ($6) is rich with dark chocolate taste and is wonderfully light in texture, while its Swiss chocolate mousse center provides the perfect complement. Happily, good coffee caps off a meal here.
   In sum, although both highs and (most surprising) lows characterized our meal here, the highs are enough to bring me back, especially the memory of that potato pancake and the promise of Swiss fondue and authentic game dishes.
Pat Tanner’s reviews can be heard on Dining Today, Sat. 9-10 a.m. on MoneyTalk 1350 AM.
For directions to Pheasants Landing, click here.