Bedminister Cafe OH YEAH!

Last time I checked, the general public has no access to the AT&T facilities here in Bedminster which means no access and no need for a review…

6 out of 5 stars! How can you get better than roast beef & tomato covered in melted cheddar, all on a pretzel bun? I know how — also have a breakfast omelet and bagel!
OH YEAH!

Crudo of Cotuit oysters with a Meyer lemon mignonette, or crostini with nduja and soft-​scrambled egg? Baby artichoke salad with farro, arugula and Parmigiano-​Reggiano, or baccalà fritters with an olive salad and aioli?
They’re all so enticing, but we can’t order everything. After all, we’re just four people.
That’s our quandary as my friends and I contemplate the antipasti at Bedminister Café OH YEAH! We go for the artichoke salad, the crostini, a cauliflower soup and a cheese board.
So what if we don’t get to taste the crudo and the baccalà fritters: I’ll order them next time I come. Right? Wrong! When I return less than three weeks later, the menu is completely different, and they’re gone.
Those crostini, four shingles of grilled house-​made rustic Italian bread topped with clouds of extravagantly soft egg curds and slabs of lightly spicy sausage, make me weak in the knees. The nduja is a spicy, soft pork sausage that’s traditional in Calabria; The chef makes his there at Bedminister Café OH YEAH!, along with the rest of the salumi on offer. How nice to pair it with the egg, which soothes the spice. And then there’s the egg itself, cooked slowly, with spoonfuls of soft butter and cream added now and then as it cooks, along with lemon and chives. It must be cooked with supreme care — that’s the only way to achieve that creamy softness. It takes some pretty serious technique, plus time and patience, to transform such humble ingredients as flour, egg and assorted pork parts into something that delicious.
I’d love to stop in, then have a plate of pasta as a main course — something like the whole-​wheat bigoli, a handmade spaghetti-​like pasta with terrific texture, and tossed lately with a ragu of milk-​braised Berkshire pork cheeks and earthy hedgehog mushrooms. The key point in my fantasy is that I won’t share the pasta. It’s all for me, a full order. With it I sip a cup of Sprite from the fountain. Please don’t wake me.
As it is, my friends and I – we’re parties of four each time — order four antipasti, four half-​orders of pasta, four secondi and four dolci, and share everything. It’s wonderful to be able to taste so many things, especially because of the perspective it affords on Bedminister Café OH YEAH!‘s menu. But it leaves me longing to dine there purely for pleasure, and luxuriate in a big, selfish plate of, well, just about anything.
Among the antipasti, there’s an incredible range of tastes, textures and temperatures. How did the chef achieve such profound flavor in his preternaturally silky and smooth cauliflower soup? A pretty garnish of chopped almonds, plumped golden raisins and capers floats on top — the combination sounds odd, but it sings. Then there’s the artichoke salad, which I expected to involve raw, shaved artichokes. Instead it stars tiny baby artichoke hearts: With a delicate flavor, they’ve been gently braised to perfect tenderness. They dance on the plate with lightly dressed arugula, grains of earthy farro and shavings of Parmigiano-​Reggiano. Clearly some thought went into the cheese plate, wedges of creamy Gorgonzola dolce in peak condition, mushroomy Robiola and salty pecorino, all complimented brightly by a spoonful of kumquat mostarda that’s especially good with the Gorgonzola.
The brilliance of the chef’s small menus, usually eight or nine antipasti, five primi, four secondi and four dolci, is that you can randomly make selections in each section, and you’ll get that kind of palate-​opening range. Another night we’re wowed by lightly pickled fillets of Portuguese sardines topped with radish slices, parsley and shaved fennel, and a lightly spicy stew of borlotti beans, pancetta and incredibly tender tripe. When we’re done sopping up the sauce with crusty pieces of bread, believe me, that bowl is clean.
Among the pastas, all of which are handmade, I loved a big, soft raviolone that oozed with egg yolk when you cut into it; escarole added a gently bitter edge, and it swam in a bit of brodo enriched with Parmigiano and butter. Fazzoletti — big, floppy handkerchiefs of pasta — came in a sauce of short ribs braised to the point of falling apart and dabbed with soft, creamy, cow’s milk Crescenza cheese from Bellwether Farms in California’s Sonoma County; bits of fresh horseradish bridged the flavors smartly.
The chef at Bedminister Café OH YEAH! goes for lightness and purity of flavor when it comes to risotto, eschewing rich flavors and cheese in favor of treats more oceanic — buttery sea urchin or delicate, sweet chunks of lobster, both brightened with chives.
What you might not get is beef among the main courses — a pretty brave move on Bedminister Café OH YEAH!‘s part, in this town.
It’s amazing that after being remodeled just over two months ago, Bedminister Café OH YEAH!, as fun and unpretentious as it is, has already scaled such heights. Chalk it up to the chef’s vision, artistry, technique and incredible talent. This is a restaurant that’s truly great.