Suzanne and I went to a fragrance launch at Diptyque on Maiden Lane. We’d planned on finding dinner somewhere downtown or in SOMA afterward. So we wandered around for a while looking for a restaurant Suzanne had heard about and seen but hadn’t been. And we eventually did: Town Hall.

It’s a nice place. Good wine list, a handful of cocktails. The menu has a strong southern influence: cornmeal, okra, and lots of deepfrying.

We started out with cocktails, which were nice but not overly noteworthy.

The obigatory basket of bread was quite nice, though.

We selected a couple appetizers to kick off the meal.

First up was tuna tartare (cornmeal fried green tomatoes, garlic chips, Tabasco green onion vinaigrette). The tomatoes were nicely fried, the tuna was good, with a nice kick contributed by the tabasco.

We also had the crispy stuffed zucchini blossoms (spicy tomato sofrito, basil cream). Neither of us had had zucchini blossoms before, but we had been looking for a chance. And this was it, after checking that it was goat cheese free as I’m not a fan of the goat. We were both thought they were great.

Suzanne’s choice for an entrée was the Liberty farms duck confit (white corn, farro, blackberry jus). Suzanne loves the duck. I had a couple of samples and it was very tasty. I find Duck delicious but generally a bit too rich for me. With the corn and farro, the dish fit together very nicely.

One thing I love about Southern cooking is blackening. Also, I’m a big fan of salmon, so it was only natural that I opted for the blackened Atlantic salmon (white corn maque choux, okra, red wine sauce)

We both like okra, so I ordered a side of crispy okra (cilantro Tabasco aioli). Crispy batter, gummy okra goodness inside. Really nice aioli.

As a final touch, this is how the bill came: tucked inside a book.

All in all, we were impressed. Not cheap, but good.