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Pacifica78 Bridge St. Suffield 06078 Pynchon Lane 860-668-1291 By STEVE AND LISA ALCAZARI Hartford Advocate August 24, 2006 Suffield locals seem to have figured out Pacifica -- an all-things-for-all-people Japanese-Thai-Chinese place. Lisa and I ate there last week. We were the only people eating in the restaurant, but folks kept showing up to pick up or order take-out. The waitress seemed gruff when we strolled inside the small restaurant and held two fingers up in the universal two-for-dinner sign. The folks at Pacifica might not be used to many sit-down customers. They were flustered when we stood up shortly after being seated near the noisy front counter and (sort of) asked if we could move to a quieter spot in a corner of the restaurant. Like the menu, the inside of Pacifica is a little of this and a little of that -- a big poster of Jackie Chan on one wall, a Chinese ink brush painting of a mist-shrouded mountain on another, a bejeweled decorative Thai wall hanging depicting an elephant on another, ceiling fans, wood floors, a few plants. I wished I'd known that it was BYOB, because I'd had some of my recurring visions of sake-sipping or beer-swilling on the drive out. Feeling a bit overwhelmed by the profusion of multi-ethnic offerings on the menu, we tried to grab a representative smattering. We started with the scallion pancake, an order of seafood shu mai from the small dim sum menu and a few sushi rolls. It took a few bites to find scallions, and the thin pancake tasted more of the deep fryer than of the refreshing earthy bite of scallion. A thin sweet soy dipping sauce rolled off the little triangles of pancake without imparting much flavor. The dumplings were ruined by too much of the fishy stuffing -- a teaspoon of shu mai filling goes along way, but three tablespoons was overkill. And the sushi -- a tempura roll and a Philly roll -- was unremarkable. Since most restaurants tend to wow you with appetizers, we expected a let-down with our entrees after the unimpressive starters, but things picked up a little. A plate of Volcano beef arrived at the table giving off waves of sweet and vinegary steam; the batter fried strips of beef sizzled and hissed as they cooled. And there was a surprising arrangement of steamed vegetables -- broccoli, carrots, zucchini and baby corn -- to the side of the beef. A small cluster of candied walnuts sprinkled with sesame seeds served as a pleasing finishing touch to the plate. We were surprised by such picturesque presentation from a restaurant clearly focused on take-out. An order of a red Thai curry came in a lovely ceramic hot pot. Big cubes of fried tofu, spears of zucchini, onions, carrots and hunks of potato swam in a sweet coconut milk broth with hints of ground peanuts and basil. Like the beef, the heat of the curry crept up, asserting itself with a surprise after the sweet flavors receded. The one flaw was that the undercooked potatoes were firm and unyielding. Pacifica was uneven. If I lived in Suffield, I wouldn't sit down and eat at the restaurant regularly, but I'd be glad to have the place as a take-out option. Hours: Daily, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Map | Printer-Friendly Page | Email to a Friend
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