The Cascade Room at Bates Technical College

The new fine dining experience at Bates met most expectations and exceeded some. What it definitely met was the feeling one gets at a dining experience run at the average culinary school… something about widely-​spaced tables covered in traditional colors uncomplimentary to the carpet, formalities for their own sake, fluorescent lighting and white drop ceilings. Perhaps in time they’ll learn to soften the effect, to balance the formalities they need to teach with the context of their audience (lunch only now) and ultimately their menu.
Because the menu is somewhat progressive. I ordered the stuffed lamb chops and the chord met was nice: a pomegranate demi-​glacé (sweet, tart but savory), lamb (lamb!), and what was basically a coarse mole of cashews and i think crimini mushrooms (very savory). It’s my tendency to go overboard with the sweet/​tart in working with lamb but this dish shows competent layering of the base savory tones and an important but tiny tip of the hat to sweet/​tart.
The meat had a bit of a crust on the exterior edge as just a bit of fat was left untrimmed and it provided a great bit of moist flavor and a really nice mouth feel. A technical error: the two chops chosen were of sufficiently different size that as the largest one was done to perfection (medium rare) the smaller one was medium well.
My dining partner had the chicken breast and he remarked that it was dry. I’ll definitely try a few other things on their small menu, but I bet I’ve already had the best. The desserts looked godawful huge for lunch but I guess they have to get the pastry chefs some practice. The Cascade Room is open Tues-​Thurs 11:00AM to 12:30PM – possibly the worst hours on earth – but getting there is worth it for some good flavors at a low price.