The Armatage Room - CLOSED

• Cuisine(s): American, Small Plates, Wine Bar
  Hours: Mon-Fri 11:30am-2pm, Thu-Sat 6pm-12am
  Price: $$
• Payment Types: All Major Credit Cards
  Features: Patio/Sidewalk Dining, Private Party, Family Style
  Serving: Dinner, Lunch
• Alcohol: Beer/Wine
  Reservations: Accepted, Recommended
  Parking: Lot Available, Street

Description

CLOSED. Push your way through the Armatage Room's thick velvet entryway curtain, and the first thing you'll notice is the room's intoxicating smell. It's fragrant as a cedar-lined sauna, a woodsiness mixed with coffee and wine, as if the scruffy guys in the J. Crew catalog were scratch-and-sniff. Long, hefty tables - their reclaimed timbers stained nearly black - anchor the room, looking capable of feeding a threshing crew. If not for the curved banquettes, the wine glasses and bottles lining the back wall, and the window into the commercial kitchen, Cafe's annex could almost be mistaken for a private home. On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, if it's not booked for private parties, Armatage serves as a sedate wine bar, with simple-yet-sophistcated small plates, ranging from things like thick-cut French fries with a tart, harissa aioli to an elegant pairing of seared scallops with roasted cauliflower and pureed butternut squash. The best way to experience Armatage is its tasting menus (reservable at two seating times each evening), which allow Maude's kitchen staff to flex its fine-dining chops--something they don't really get to do at the always-slammed Maude.