OK, this place has arrived, and its on fire. My partner and I went tonight and boy was everything on point.
First, there's quite an energy in the room. It was packed; every table was filled, and people were obviously enjoying themselves. Despite the full house, I didn't notice any hiccups from the kitchen in terms of timing or execution.
And there's an infectious enthusiasm that seems to pervade the staff. Talk about hard workers! Terry, the GM, must have had eyes in the back of his head....he seemed aware of everything going on in the place, and was everywhere, being sure people were served properly and everything was working. Our server seemed happy to work there, and when we left, the original waiter we had when we first came a few weeks ago remembered us, and ushered us out, opening the door for us. "Dank U wel!" I said to him. Not missing a beat (but not really knowing dutch) he replied, "1,000 dank!"
The food is reformed. As you can read above, our first visit engendered some disappointments and mediocre reactions. This time, those reactions were set aside because the food was that much better.
The frites were SO TASTY this time. No longer limp and lying lifeless on a saucer; now, they're standing up in a rectangular ceramic vessel. They're crisp and so flavorful! My partner and I shared an order, and I'm embarrassed to say, I enjoyed them so much, I ordered a second order as my appetizer. It did not disappoint. I'd go back for the frites alone.
For my main course, I had the mussels which were very good (still a bit of work to do on those; the mussels at Hopleaf are better), but I also ordered a rookworst (dutch smoked sausage) on the side. Spectacular! I wish they would have a main course featuring the rookworst! Serve a ring (or half a ring) of it with whole grain mustard, dutch cheese and rooggebrood (sort of a dutch pumpernickel bread) and you are there! The smokiness is great in this sausage; it deserves its own main act, not a "warm up" appearance.
My partner had the chicken in buttermilk and thought it was excellent.
We had a fine 1997 German spatlese with the food....after a sparkling Alsace wine compliments of Terry and then a belgian beer.
De Quay is now a serious place. Not haute cuisine (no authentic dutch cuisine could be called haute), but "real" dutch style comfort food in a place packed with people enjoying every second and every morsel.
I'm now delighted and proud of this place. Count me as a to-be regular.