By Lauren Otis / The Packet Group
KINGSTON — This sleepy colonial wayfaring stop is soon to gain a new identity: as a wine and food mecca.
After a year-long $3 million basement-to-rooftop renovation and expansion, Eno Terra — the most ambitious restaurant venture yet for Terra Momo Restaurant Group owners Raoul and Carlo Momo — has opened. Sept. 11 was the first day of business for the restaurant, located a couple of miles up Route 27 from downtown Princeton at the site of the former Winepress restaurant.
"My brother and I had no idea what we were getting into," said Raoul Momo last Wednesday as he, his brother Carlo Momo and executive chef Chris Albrecht attended to a litany of last-minute details prior to the restaurant’s debut.
The 135-seat restaurant is described by both brothers as a labor of love, made all the more so given the uncertainty of the economy it is opening in. It is also a paean to the greater-Princeton area where the Momos and Terra Momo Restaurant Group have operated for the past 26 years, showcasing both regional produce, meats and other food on the table and the work of local artists and artisans in its construction and on its walls. Environmental sustainability and buying local are critical principals, according to the Momos. The name Eno Terra is taken from the Greek "enotria" meaning "land of vines," appropriate for a restaurant whose inventory of wine includes upwards of 7,500 bottles.
The original structure, dating back to 1860, has been renovated into an expansive wine bar made of walnut capped by a two-story cathedral ceiling and featuring a glass-enclosed wine cellar descending into the basement. An addition to the original building houses the main dining area with its adjacent "salumi bar" showcasing artisan cheeses and charcouterie beneath an art wall-piece created by Princeton sculptor Robert Cannon.
The walls and exterior spaces of the restaurant are lined with the creations of local artists, including large black-and-white photographs by Clem Fiore and paintings by Viola Fisher. Outside, the front of the restaurant is marked by a stone sculpture, made of slate excavated from the basement, by Jonathan Shor, and wire-rope fire bowls created by Peter Abrams. Landscaping was done by Peter Soderman, and "Paul Browne did the incredible dry stack masonry" at an outdoor patio, Raoul Momo said.
Upstairs is a temperature-controlled storage area for white wines flanked by tasting and dining spaces for private events. Larry Bogdanow, with the New York City firm Bogdanow Partners, was the architect for Eno Terra. Designer of Union Square Café in New York, among other spaces, "Larry is famous for designing restaurants that last," Mr. Momo said. "We like that. We plan to be here for a long time," he added.
"Those timbers are about the only original detail left," Mr. Momo said, pointing to the network of beams beneath the roof of the wine bar. "They are mortise and tenon," he said describing the antique joinery.
"It was a nightmare," Mr. Momo said matter-of-factly of the process he and his brother had to go through to redo the space. Approvals had to be laboriously secured from state, county and local agencies. Unforeseen construction expenses and delays were inevitable.
One of Eno Terra’s signature features is a 3,000-square-foot prep kitchen in its basement for butchering, preparing and storing the fresh local livestock and other ingredients the restaurant features. Other Terra Momo restaurants’ menus are created from about 30 percent local, seasonal ingredients, but Eno Terra seeks to use 70 percent local ingredients, said Mr. Momo. "All the food here is seasonal, artisanal and local," he said. Ultimately, the Momos envision the prep kitchen serving their other area restaurants, including Mediterra and Teresa’s Café in Princeton, he said.
In excavating the basement, a large amount of slate was encountered. "We took out 70 truck loads of slate," said Mr. Momo. "The truth is: plan for the worst," Carlo Momo said. Some of the slate was recycled in the outdoor landscaping.
Mr. Albrecht, the executive chef, will preside over both the basement prep kitchen and the finishing kitchen upstairs, which features a large cooking island at its center, known as a "Waldorf range." Mr. Albrecht spent 12 years working with chef Tom Colicchio at New York’s Gramercy Tavern and Craft Restaurant, also opening Mr. Colicchio’s Craftsteak restaurants in Las Vegas and New York.
"It’s a great match for us," Raoul Momo said of Mr. Albrecht. "He’s from New Jersey, from East Brunswick, so is his wife, so he was happy to be back home."
Carlo Momo was in charge of selecting the wine for Eno Terra, a monumental task that "actually was a lot of fun," he said. Mr. Momo settled on about 380 selections, with Italian wines accounting for 50 percent, French and California wines about 20 percent and other regions the rest.
"We looked for a lot of smaller sustainable wineries," Mr. Momo said.
The depth of Eno Terra’s wine list is striking. "You’ll see typically a dozen Barolos here, Mediterra may have four," Mr. Momo said.
Raoul Momo said the wine storage space at Eno Terra enables "vertical tastings" of multiple vintages of a single producer, which isn’t a possibility in the tight spaces of the Princeton restaurants.
Difficult decisions had to be made by the Momos in order to open Eno Terra. Recently, the brothers made the decision to close Nova Terra Restaurant in New Brunswick in order to concentrate on Eno Terra, their two Princeton restaurants, and Witherspoon Bread Co. in Princeton.
"Corporate spending is way down, we feel that," Raoul Momo said of the current economy. "Our success in Princeton is because we cater to the locals," he said, noting that Eno Terra would continue this through special tastings and other events, as well as reasonable offerings. "You can come in here and not spend a lot of money if you don’t want to," he said. True to Eno Terra’s credo of "eat local, drink global," the restaurant intends to showcase the best local food, and wines of the world, at any price.
Eno Terra is located at 4484 Route 27 in Kingston. The restaurant will be serving dinner Monday through Saturday, and lunch Monday through Friday. Its telephone number is 609-497-1777 and Web site is www.EnoTerra.com.
