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Tale of the Jenn-Air

Wednesday I had lunch with Sonya at Los Hermanos on Hugh Howell. After lunch, I proposed we go root around the Sears Outlet which is around the corner. Off the cuff, just for something to do. I always dream of finding the perfect stove there…

I stroll over to the stoves and what to my wondering eyes does appear but a screaming hot deal on a Jenn-Air downdraft stove w/ convection oven. It wasn’t $1100-1300, NO it was $923. The skies opened up and the angels sang: AAAAAHHHHHHH! I sent Nick a pic and we bought the $2640 stove for $923. BAM.

The lovely Jenn-Air.
My lovely new Jenn-Air!

This may seem like an extravagant thing to do, but it’s actually something I’ve bitched about since we moved in: the shitty stove. We’ve put off getting a downdraft because they are rarely below $1200 at the outlet store. Also, we are trying to do as many upgrades as we can to this place so we can unload it and get the hell out of here “one of these days”. ::sigh:: In any case, it will make me VERY happy for the time we are trapped here and that alone is worth admission (Nick agrees wholeheartedly LOL). Continue reading “Tale of the Jenn-Air”

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Whose job is it to protect diners?

I read this article in the AJC last week and it made me think of the harassment I took from a gang of gluten free women last month when I refused to advertise that the taqueria was a gluten free establishment. They got pissed because I wouldn’t make those statements and I told them to call the owner. Oh, but let me tell you, if one of them got sick from eating something verboten, you can be sure they’d be the first to sue. Bitches.

But anyway, the AJC food critic/blogger John Kessler published a point/counterpoint article about this type of silly crap that “advocates” think restaurants should be responsible for: calories, fat content, allergens, etc., etc., ad nauseum. The article WAS on the AJC food blog, but no more. [Dec 2015]

Of course I’m on the side of the restaurant. The only places you’re going to find full nutritional info is large chains. If you want that sort of information because you don’t understand that “al fredo” means heavy cream and butter, then I suggest you eat only at Chili’s, Applebees and the like.

If you are deathly allergic to peanuts, then perhaps you should eat at home?

If your brat requires no gluten, then ask the owner or manager about the menu, but don’t get all crazy on waiters (or admins like me) because we won’t guarantee anything.

The way I see it, if you like to patronize local joints, then you either educate yourself about how the kitchen is run and make friends with the owner/manager or you stick to safe bets like chains. Or eat at home.

DO NOT go out to a restaurant and bring your drama and bad attitude. The waiter probably does NOT know every freaking ingredient in every freaking dish. That’s not her job! It’s NO ONE’S job to fuss over you and cater to your specific needs. You are in a business not a daycare. If you need coddling and the like then please, just stay home. Small restaurant owners have better things to do than deal with your silly shit.

I’m not making light of medical conditions or allergies, but dammit, don’t expect the whole world to stop and cater to YOU. Small businesses are just that: small. Small budgets, small margins. It’s pricey to get nutritional analyses and no local place is going to do that. Get over yourself and cut your local joints some slack.

Nobody likes bitchy little girls. If you can’t act like a grown up and be responsible for your own shit, STAY AT HOME. This is just another offshoot of people wanting everyone else to be responsible for them. Isn’t the Nanny State up in our business enough?

[This is on behalf of all small local restaurants that have to put up with unreasonable people.]

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Nino’s Cucina Italiana

We intended to have our old skool Italian dinner at Alfredo’s, but their 45 min wait was too much. Luckily for us, Nino’s is next door, so we decided to check it out.

Nino’s is also an old restaurant, like Alfredo’s, that’s been on Cheshire Bridge since the 60s and is family run. It’s small and unassuming, yet still feels pricey when you walk through the door. Just like any good Italian restaurant should. But after checking out the menu, the prices were actually really good. In we go.

The place was hopping with lots of families, but we got sat immediately. I’m thinking that Nino’s and Alfredo’s has a symbiotic relationship: 45 min wait at the famous Alfredo’s? Go next door to Nino’s! I’m also thinking that Nino’s gets overlooked by reviewers who are enamoured with Alfredo’s.

Anyway, we got sat and ordered a carafe of chianti. Do you have any idea how happy a carafe makes me?? VERY. Nick had the Lasagna Al Forno (flat pasta layered with fresh ground meats and Italian cheeses with Nino’s savory Bolognese sauce and sprinkled with grated Parmesan $17.00) and I had the Fettucine Nino’s (Accompanied with special scotch-smoked salmon in a delightful pink cream sauce $17.00).

The lasagne was exactly right: meaty and cheesy with plenty of ricotta and sauce. My fettucine was cooked perfectly and the salmon was delectable. I typically don’t like fettucine because it’s too heavy, but this stuff was amazingly light. The service was OK; a little slow and no check back until we were more than halfway through, however, it was busy, so I can let that slide. I did notice that ordering apps slowed your meal down significantly and was glad we didn’t. A lady at the table next to us ordered the Veal Marsala and damn it smelled awesome! I want to go back for that dish!

Nino’s was a great experience. We licked our plates clean and left very happy. I’d highly recommend this lovely old Italian restaurant! It beats the shit out of the chains – like most family owned joints do. Alfredo’s is good, too, I’m sure, but I think I’ll just pull on into Nino’s for my old skool Italian.

I give Nino’s 4 out of 5 stars!

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Parkers on Ponce

Parkers is in the old Mick’s location in downtown Decatur. It’s run by two brothers, one who used to work at Mick’s and the other with even less restaurant experience.

I got a $50 Groupon a while back and we decided that this weekend is the perfect time to use it. I called and made a 7:30pm reservation. The fact that they prefer reservations to walk ins should tell you the level of frou frou these people are trying to achieve. The interior of the place has been updated with lots of muted colors and stone walls.

We arrived at 7pm and headed to the packed bar. We decided to try a couple of their frou frou overpriced cocktails. I had a pear something that was pear Grey Goose and limoncello (tasty) and Nick got a Pimm’s Cup which was their spin on a traditional Pimm’s cocktail. It had Pimm’s, ginger liqueur, ginger ale and too much mint. Neither drink was particularly pretty and for $9 each, I’d expect at least a garnish. The bartender seemed harried and not particularly friendly.

They came and got us at around 7:15 and sat us at a deuce near the kitchen door. Eh, not the best seat in the house, but at least the deuce was decent sized. The biggest problem with the dining room was the reek of the gas logs in the faux fireplace. It was so pervasive that it made the food taste slightly chemically. I asked the waiter about the reek and he said it “wasn’t too bad tonite”. He regaled us of a time when all the employees got sick from it – yet there it was, lit and stinking. I even spoke to the owner about it and he seemed vague and not really concerned about it. Even when I told him that it affected the taste of my food, he just smiled wanly and was clearly looking to leave our table.

WTF ever, dude, when you charge $33 for a steak, you might be a bit more concerned with your ambiance!

So, this place is trying REALLY hard to be Bone’s of Decatur. Bone’s doesn’t need to worry. The menu is very pricey and there are waitstaff of every stripe buzzing around. Bussers, waiters, food expos, managers. Too many, IMO. Makes for much “excuse me, excuse me” chatter in the dining room. They also give the waiters little name cards of the guests, which is cute, especially when I’d booked us under “Mizgala” and not a single employee could pronounce it. Our waiter was nice and the courses came out fine. He was very professional other than not being able to pronounce a 3 syllable name. :-/

The food. We skipped the appetizers and went straight for the Porterhouse for Two. It’s $52, but comes with 2 sides, so it’s not a bad deal. This menu is all a la carte, so sides will cost you $5 (the same as Bone’s set up). We ordered the Porterhouse cooked Med Rare with Creamed Spinach and Black Truffle Mac n Cheese.

A foreshadowing of the food to come was given with the breadbasket: unsalted butter. Look, if you made a herbed butter, maybe, but for buttering bread? NO. Bland, bland, bland.

The steak was undercooked (rare) and pre cut, which I found a bit disconcerting. What? I can’t cut my own freaking steak? Didn’t like that one bit. Besides that, if I had sent it back for a recook, it would have been overcooked in an instant thanks to being hacked up. This presentation does NOT work for me. The Prime meat was tasty, but there was no seasoning at all. Not a grain of salt or pepper, nothing. I’m all for letting the food stand on its own, but seriously? For $52 you can’t cook to temp and do basic seasoning? I ate it bare, but I won’t lie: A-1 would have at least given it some character. SEASON THE FOOD.

The sides were lackluster as well. The Creamed Spinach was just that: spinach and onions in a bland cream sauce. Again, no seasoning, no garlic, nothing. It was OK, but certainly not memorable. The Black Truffle Mac n Cheese was also nothing to note. The truffles did little for the flavour – I barely noticed. Could have been the strong cheese masking the delicate truffle and it needed salt, of course.

The dessert was the best part of the meal. It was a dark chocolate kahlua cake with a dollop of whipped cream and a caramel drizzle. Very good and perfectly portioned for two.

This place has the right idea, but they need to be more aware of the big picture. Stinking gas logs, employees running all over each other and a kitchen that doesn’t understand basic seasoning all conspire to mar what could be a great little steak house.

Don’t ask me $52 for a steak, then cook it wrong and cut it up!! I’m not THREE!!

I’m glad we tried out Parker’s on Ponce, but had I been paying the full tab, I’d have been LIVID with the stink and the mangled steak. As it was, I got the steak for $25 (Groupon $25 for a $50 coupon), so I didn’t bitch. Will I go back? Nah. Not unless someone else is picking up the tab or I can get another Groupon. This place is seriously not worth the prices they charge. If you charge a premium (like Bone’s) then you better, by gods, give a premium experience. If you want to send out unseasoned, undercooked and hacked up steak, then lower your prices to reflect that. It really doesn’t matter if it’s dry aged, premium high dollar steaks if you can’t cook and present them properly.

I understand that the two owners have no formal food training – and that is the main problem. They are local boys whose father was in local government. I am happy that they opened their restaurant, but honestly, waiting tables and being a manager does NOT an CHEF make. These guys need to get a chef in there that knows cuisine and can present food that justifies what they charge. Hell, at least get someone on the grill who can season and properly cook those high dollar steaks! I’m not sure who told them that “overpriced steak house” was the perfect choice for people with no food experience, but whoever did led them astray. They should have done something much more casual – then they could turn out half assed product and not be held to such a high standard. If this was a casual steak house, I’d give them a much better review.

Like many places in Decatur, it’s always packed because it’s in Decatur. Around here, local is what it’s all about, nevermind the actual quality of the food. This place is the epitome of that. I feel the same about Leon’s. It’s new, it’s in Decatur, it MUST be good!! I heard how wonderful Leon’s was and was underwhelmed when we tried it.

I give Parker’s 2.5 stars out of 5. And most of that is the fact that they are trying to be Bone’s quality and very chi-chi and failing at it. If they’d loosen up the concept and get a better kitchen, it’d be 4 stars.

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Leon’s Full Service

So we finally got to try out Leon’s Full Service in Decatur last night (congrats on getting a .com domain!). My overall grade is 2.5 stars out of 4. We enjoyed the company far, far more than the restaurant, which is a good thing, right? :-) Charles, thank you for introducing us to E and M. ::muwah::

So, the buzz about Leon’s has been crazy and the wait on weekends has been fierce, which is why we’ve not tried it yet. Even on a Monday, it was full with a small wait. The pub Frites have been rhapsodized all over the local papers, so we started with those. They are fine. Nothing special at all, just good ole fries. The sauces are the big deal, but even those could use some work, IMO. We had Horseradish Mayo, Masaman Curry and Peppercorn Gravy. The mayo had little/no horseradish in it (we found out later that they were out of horseradish – then WHY serve it? 86 it fer cryin’ out loud!). The peppercorn “gravy” that everyone raves about was very underwhelming. It’s more of a broth than a gravy and it’s far too thin to work for a dipping sauce. The flavor was ok, but the thinness ruined it. The Masaman curry was by far the best sauce we had with the fries. We later tried the Black Pepper Mayo and the Smoked Tomato Mayo which were excellent. Too bad we didn’t get those with the fries.

We had an Argentinian chardonnay (Astica) with the apps then I switched to Siskiou Terrace from Foris in Oregon. The manager was kind enough to comp this for me due to the service error (below). The wine was excellent, but they did not decant it, so I got a nice mouthful of sediment at the bottom. Epic fail!! Also, the server didn’t know SQUAT about the wines or how to serve them.

The menu is limited – which is fine, I’m of the opinion that tight and good is better than loose and mediocre. The dishes they offer do vary widely and seem solid for the most part. Nick had the Slow Roasted Beef Brisket sandwich and I had the Beef Bistro Steak sandwich and we both had the Sauteed Spinach side. The first error was that the server did not put my order in with the rest of the table for some reason and so everyone was served but me. Oopsie. My sandwich showed up quickly once the error was discovered. Getting the temp med rare helped with that.

My Bistro Steak was fair. The steak was cooked right, but the sandwich just didn’t have any punch to it. I subbed the pepper mayo for the horseradish because I knew they did not have the horseradish but it didn’t really help. It was supposed to have gruyère on it and if it did, it was VERY bland gruyère – tasted like plain ole Swiss to me. The sauteed spinach side was also very bland – all the food needed seasoning. The chef is apparently one of those arrogant ones who thinks his dishes don’t need additional salt/pepper since they are noticeably absent from the table. Once the food was seasoned it was a bit better, but honestly, you have to do that when you’re cooking it. The spinach was supposed to be dressed with egg, smoked pecans and sherry vinegar – all I saw/tasted was the boiled eggs that had no salt on them. BLAND.

Nick’s brisket was better than my steak but that’s mostly due to the brisket having the peppercorn gravy on it. In this use, the peppercorn gravy, although thin, is very tasty and works well. The thick bread under the brisket soaks up the sauce and is nom nom nom. He also agreed that the spinach was bland and needed seasoning.

I also had a bite of the Supah Secret Peanut Butter Bacon Burger. It was good – but even this off menu specialty item was not prepared with the right bun or condiments. I saw the Trout dish (crispy pan fried trout with endive & radicchio) and it looked very nice but I can’t attest to the taste.

The ambiance of Leon’s is really good and I hope that the staff hits their stride soon. There was a constant stream of wait staff circling like sharks (borderline ANNOYING) yet the service was still just ok. They could probably cut the circling shark staff by half and be fine. The kitchen seemed to be firing on all cylinders, it’s the recipes that need tweaking. They also need to not be afraid to 86 something if it’s not up to snuff. Serving horseradish mayo with no horseradish is just dumb.

If you want awesome fries, get thee to The Porter in L5P. The Porter also has a tight menu but they have weekly specials to round it out and a huhYOOGE beer selection. Granted, The Porter has been open about a year, but from the get-go their menu has been outstanding. The kitchen is really good and pretty adventurous (sweetbreads anyone?).

I’ll definitely return to Leon’s for a second try. I think it’s just trying to get its footing amidst being slammed every single day. The potential is DEFINITELY there. I look forward to its maturing into yet another excellent Decatur hang out.