Seasons 52

Could a concept as enlightened as seasonal, healthful cooking possibly exist at the Cherry Hill Mall?

Yes, I know we're talking about the hallowed ground where the first climate-controlled indoor mall east of the Mississippi was born nearly half a century ago. I know we're talking about a town so thoroughly infested with big-box commercialism that any hopeful sprout of independently owned-restaurant spirit is often squashed by the cheesecake weight of the factory-size competition, which mesmerizes patrons into willing waits of an hour or more simply by giving out pretty blinky beepers to play with.

I'm as skeptical as you. But, hey, it actually says Seasons 52 right on the big marquee outside this latest addition to the landscape of shoppers' paradise. And 52 has got to be better than the usual four.

But, really - what does Darden Restaurants, the mega-feeder behind Red Lobster and Olive Garden, know about fresh food and fine dining?

Well, the latest branch of this BFC (Big Food Corporation), which also now owns Capital Grille, certainly knows how to make a good first impression, with a carefully calculated setting and a trendy concept. And this new Seasons was starting to work its persuasive magic as we settled into a booth in the handsomely trimmed Mission wood-and-layered-stone dining room. We inhaled the perfume of wood smoke from the kitchen's oak-fired grill and perused the impressive list of wines by the glass. I was even starting to bob to the surprisingly deft covers drifting over from the piano bar's main talent, Charlie Sleeth, when my eye caught the long planks of crispy flatbreads passing by. I'll want one of those.

And then our perky waitress upped the ambition ante one more notch with this tidbit: No item on Seasons 52's menu exceeds 475 calories.

With its grill and brick oven, the kitchen uses no butter, egg yolks, or oil, she said (incorrectly, because it does, in fact, use olive oil). This food is supposedly all about the freshest ingredients and innovative techniques, like the "silk" sauce used to baste the trout, which, according to our waitress, sort of tastes like butter but isn't butter: "It's magic."