After Two Weeks, Urban Picnic Still Trying to Find Its Voice

J. Birdsall

The Quinoa 'N Kale salad: Surprisingly, it works.

​Call it a work in progress. Urban Picnic is in week two of a soft opening likely to last at least another. Then again, Picnic is nothing less than a dramatic reconcepting by owner Trang Nguyen, who for the past year operating dessert café Chill in the same in the same FiDi space. Poleng Lounge chef Tim Luym is Picnic's menu architect, only apparently the changeover has required more tweaking (and perhaps staff training) than expected. Poleng cooks are working Urban Picnic's line for the moment, and equipment is in flux. On Monday, something that looked like a freezer was being hoisted through the front door -- in the middle of lunch.

J. Birdsall

No telling when the soft opening will end.

​The food suggests Luym's challenge as a consultant: devise salads and sandwiches with personality, and that also speak to the lowest common denominator of lunchtime customers who crave turkey breast on white.

The lemongrass chicken sandwich on baguette ($7) was a banh mi in two worlds, recognizably Viet (lightly pickled shredded carrots, cilantro, jalapeño slices), but with a whiff of hoagie, too. Another sandwich -- turkey honey guacamole ($8.50) -- seemed like a concept that'd drifted from the original. Roast slices of composite turkey breast mingled with small clumps of roasted jalapeño and super-thin red onion slices. But the guacamole turned out to be avocado slices drizzled with honey. The effect was only slightly strange, and the sandwich was barely different from scores of turkey-avo specimens for sale across the FiDi.

J. Birdsall

The lemongrass chicken sandwich, a banh mi that tries not to offend anyone.

​The Quinoa 'N Kale salad ($7.50) sounded like something you eat to stay regular, but it was tastier than that. Fluffy quinoa mingled with shreds of the same lemongrass chicken in the sandwich, jumbled up with almonds, little pear tomatoes, and satsumas. And while raw lacinato kale isn't exactly a party, the intensely dark-tasting sesame-soy vinaigrette made it work.

The good news about Urban Picnic's long, slow dress rehearsal? You get a 20 percent discount. The bad news, of course, is that you become an active part of the café's process of refining the menu and production line. Just make sure to dodge any kitchen equipment on the way in.

Urban Picnic 125 Kearny (at Post), 413-1233