Salem’s Lyceum Restaurant Re-opens With New Menu, New Partners And New Name After Major Renovation

Oct. 22, 2009 - PRLog -- SALEM – Together with a new generation of partners and a new team of talented chefs, George Harrington, who opened the Lyceum Bar & Grill twenty years ago, launches his newest venture with a major renovation, a new menu and a new name: THE LYCEUM. This famous, historic lecture hall where ‘food for thought’ was the bill of fare has a long tradition of serving locals, business professionals and tourists in an elegant, traditional atmosphere.  Intent on appealing to diners both old and new, the new Lyceum, now open for lunch and dinner, embraces current trends in menu and facility design with contemporary updates that are sure to dazzle and delight.
Paying careful attention to historical details and structure, the design team successfully combined the beauty of the past with modern textures, tones and elements of today.  Dark mahogany dining tables are complimented by plush, tufted-leather banquets and oversized upholstered chairs. Exposed brick walls, restored fireplaces and etched windows grace each unique dining area, while the buttery yellow walls warm each room.  New plush carpeting in the dining room and dark hard-wood floors in the bar add a touch of elegance. Two massive wrought iron chandeliers in the dining room and other unique iron fixtures in the bar illuminate with exposed Edison bulbs below restored tin ceilings giving each room  a slightly medieval-yet-modern feel.
The Lyceum’s new cuisine, presented on sleek new dinnerware atop crisp white linen, features classic bistro style food with global influences from France, Italy, Spain and Greece.  Using fresh, sustainable seafood, quality meats and poultry, and other regionally-sourced ingredients, The Lyceum’s chefs introduce new dishes with wholesome accompaniments that complete each plate.  With a focus on serving vibrant, nourishing Mediterranean-inspired food, portion and price are considered carefully with each recipe – delivering dishes that guests will feel good about.
 First, The Lyceum’s raw bar offers jumbo shrimp cocktail, Cape Cod littlenecks and oysters on the half shell.  Appetizers include tuna tartar with gaufrette potato chips, steamed cockles in a Pernod broth and carpaccio with arugula and shaved Parmigiano.  Fresh salads of roasted beets or Belgian endive compliment house-made French onion soup with Gruyere cheese.  
New seasonal entrees feature traditional pasta, fish and meat dishes with subtle twists of trendiness.  Guests will enjoy pumpkin ravioli with sage brown butter, toasted pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries, or sole Meuniere with mashed potato and haricots verts, or diver scallops over a wild mushroom risotto.  In addition, the duck ’orange with French lentils and braised greens, or the Berkshire pork “ossobuco” with gnocchi and sautéed apples will become new favorites.  The grilled filet of beef tenderloin is paired with potatoes au gratin and fresh asparagus, available in 6 or 8 oz. portions, while the brick-pressed free-range chicken is served with potato puree and wilted spinach.  All desserts are homemade and dinner entrees range from $10 to $26, many available in half portions for smaller appetites.  Lunch and Brunch menus offer even more affordability, and chef’s daily specials add plenty of variety.
These exciting renovations to The Lyceum’s menu and facility usher in a conscious commitment to reduce, reuse, and recycle.  With new inspiration, The Lyceum presents an affordable casual-chic dining choice offering great food, elegant surroundings and a warm, friendly and inviting atmosphere.

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About The Lyceum:
George Harrington established the original Lyceum Bar & Grill in 1989 in an historic former lecture hall made famous by the likes of Thoreau, Hawthorne, Emerson, and Alexander Graham Bell. Twenty years later, together with a new generation of partners and a new vision, another chapter of the Lyceum’s storied past begins: a classic bistro in historic Salem serving Mediterranean-inspired favorites in a contemporary yet casual atmosphere.