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Thursday, August 6, 2009
Restaurant Week, revisited
The 2009 Summer Restaurant Week promotion is now history, of course, but what a history it was. Please share your Restaurant Week experiences right here by clicking on the “Post your comment” link below and telling us about your meals.
I’ll go first:
Duke’s Italian & American Restaurant
No way could I pass up the chance to eat at Duke’s, the new restaurant in West Carrollton about which I’ve written hundreds and hundreds of column inches of news stories about a lawsuit that places the eatery at its epicenter, but not a single word about actually dining there.
For Restaurant Week, Duke’s went above and beyond its competitors by offering a four-course dinner for $20.09, one more course than the norm. Each of the appetizers was a winner: Fried mushrooms were hot from the fryer, served with tomato sauce on the side rather than ranch, while chips and salsa featured house-made tortilla chips with a salsa filled with chunks of fresh tomatoes and peppers and a separate container of sour cream. Cheese garlic bread was straightforward and satisfying.
The delicious, fennel-laced, slightly spicy Italian sausage that comes as a choice with the Restaurant Week Pasta entree triggered a moment of nostalgia for restaurants past, as did the Baked Lasagne, a cheese-lover’s rendition that includes ricotta, Romano and mozzarella enveloping ground beef and sausage.
In addition to the two Italian entrees, five “American” dishes were offered as Restaurant Week options. We chose the Lemon Pepper Chicken, two properly seasoned and broiled chicken breasts served with broccoli.
Chocolate Lava Cake served warm was a slightly better dessert choice than the Strawberry Shortcake, which was a bit sweet.
The restaurant seemed a bit overwhelmed by the Restaurant Week surge, as two of our three appetizers arrived at our table out of sequence, after our salads were served. But generous portions of well-made Italian fare made Duke’s an appealing Restaurant Week choice.
Cafe Boulevard
The weather defied the forecast just long enough to make Cafe Boulevard’s back patio a fine destination.
Thoughtful and creative touches were evident from the start: The Bruschetta appetizer was served with two toppings, with a flavorful olive tapenade joining the customary tomato-basil relish. Even more impressive and satisfying were the Cheese-Stuffed Mushrooms, two large white mushrooms topped with melted boursin and bread crumbs served on a rectangular plate with a visually pleasing swirl of balsamic glaze. It was simply the best Restaurant Week appetizer of the week.
The Cafe Boulevard Caesar was robust and well-made, and the restaurant’s House Salad was enhanced by an excellent, well-balanced raspberry vinaigrette.
Entrees included a Portobello vegetarian dish that featured two medium-large mushrooms over whipped potatoes and asparagus, accented by a healthy pour of a creamy piccata sauce. The flavors melded well, and the portion was just right. The Beef Galette entree delivered some spicy heat with slices of steak, onions, mushrooms, sweet peppers and a smoky, citrusy, and appealingly zesty sauce.
Unlike most other Restaurant Week menus, Cafe Boulevard’s menu includes both salad and appetizer but not dessert. We paid extra to split the Cafe Boulevard Signature Chocolate Cake, with its multiple layers of chocolate in various forms and textures. It was rich, decadent and soul-satisfying, and it was well worth the extra $7.
Savona Restaurant & Wine Bar
Savona opened on Monday for Restaurant Week, and we snagged the last parking spot when we arrived for 6:30 p.m. reservations.
The Salad Savona, with pristine romaine and radicchio dressed with an herb vinaigrette, was a better first-course choice than the Caramelized Onion Soup with Parmesan Crostini, which was a bit thin.
Chef-owner Keith Taylor’s take on Paella was a winner, chock full of mussels, shrimp, chicken and a robustly spicy chorizo, as well as tomatoes, onions and peas. The saffron rice played an appropriately supporting role to the meats, seafood and veggies. The Grilled Mahi Mahi was cooked properly, still moist, and benefitted from the well-made red-cabbage slaw piled on top as well as the garlic mashed potatoes.
We opted for the vanilla gelato over the coffee-spiked flavor, and it was flat-out delicious — one of the best gelatos I’ve encountered.
One oddity: the butter served at the beginning of the meal, with a bread basket, is flavored with honey and garlic — only this particular garlic bulb must have been an especially potent one, since the butter was virtually aflame with essence of garlic. After the initial shock, I enjoyed the flavor blast, but I’m not sure others would share my enthusiasm.
Barleycorn’s Restaurant & Bar
Since I’d already written a story about the increasing number of casual restaurants and wine bars joining the Restaurant Week promotion, I chose one of those casual eateries for my opening-night sojourn: Barleycorn’s. Besides, it’s a safe bet that no other Restaurant Week participant in history has offered entree choices of lamb chops or snow crab legs. Ever.
The appetizers were excellent: a single Crab Cake put the focus on crab, not on filler, and was served with a shot-glass full of creamy, faintly sweet, and potently spicy Firecracker sauce. A Tomato and Red Onion Bruschetta served with lightly toasted ciabatta points tasted fresh and tangy with its splash of Balsamic-style vinegar.
The Grilled New Zealand Lamb Chops was a relatively generous portion of five chops of varying thickness served atop mashed potatoes with steamed broccoli. The rosemary-mint sauce thankfully was used judiciously. The Chicken Cordon Bleu was also a generously large baked breast stuffed with ham and Swiss Cheese, though the mixed vegetables served alongside seemed an afterthought.
Desserts were a bit of a disappointment. The blackberries and ice cream in the Blackberry Cobbler were refreshing but were served atop what tasted like raw dough. The Fried Raspberry Cheesecake stuffed cheesecake inside an eggroll wrapper which was then deep-fried and topped with cinnamon sugar. But the fried eggroll wrapper turned tough and chewy.
Overall, though, the appetizer and entree courses at Barleycorn’s made its Restaurant Week menu a fine bargain.
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TweetDuke’s menu challenged again by ex-Dominic’s owner
The former owner of Dominic’s Restaurant has gone to court to again challenge the menu being served at Duke’s Restaurant — not because it resembles the former Dominic’s’ menu, but because it has “grossly expanded” beyond the limitations set by a federal judge in an earlier court order.
In documents filed Wednesday, Aug. 5, in U.S. District Court, the attorney for former Dominic’s owner Anne Mantia is seeking a second finding of contempt of court against Reece Powers III, the owner of Duke’s Restaurant at 630 E. Dixie Drive in West Carrollton, and the restaurant’s chef, Harry Lee. District Court Judge Thomas Rose ruled in June that Duke’s Restaurant — which is at the center of a breach-of-contract and trademark infringement lawsuit filed by Mantia — would be allowed to reopen but must serve only the menu of the former Duke’s Golden Ox restaurant, at least until the lawsuit was resolved.
Powers and Lee have filed a notice of appeal of Judge’s Rose’s ruling, suggesting they will try to convince an appeals court that the menu restrictions go too far.
But Mantia’s attorney, James Morris, said in his motion that until the appeal is sorted out, Rose retains jurisdiction over the preliminary injunction that ordered Powers and Lee to serve only those items on the former Golden Ox menu as submitted by the restaurant’s owner (and Powers’ uncle), Raymond “Duke” Morris. Any deviations from the old menu were ordered to be submitted to the judge for approval.
Yet Morris claims that Powers and Lee “continue to ignore the injunction and, instead, have insisted upon utilizing a grossly expanded menu, incorporating numerous items that are simply nonexistent in the Duke’s menu … .”
Powers said this afternoon, Aug. 6, that Morris’ motion seems like harassment, especially since Duke’s current menu was hammered out during a lengthy conference among Morris, himself and his ex-attorneys. During that conference, Powers said he agreed to remove many Italian specialties from the Duke’s menu, including multiple entrees, soups, salads and desserts, in order to reach an agreed-upon menu with Morris.
“I’m trying to run a restaurant. I don’t know what more to do” to placate the plaintiffs’ attorney, Powers said.
Morris renewed his request that the judge order Powers to account for, then forfeit, “all gross receipts from the illegal operation of the restaurant.”
No hearing date has yet been set on the most recent motion for a contempt of court ruling. It’s not clear who will be filing the appeal of the menu restrictions on Powers’ behalf; his most recent attorneys have obtained the judge’s permission to withdraw from representing the restaurant owner, who has parted ways with at least four different sets of attorneys since the case began.
So far, the case has revolved around restraining orders and injunctions regarding Duke’s, while the requests by Anne B. Mantia for monetary damages for what she says are trademark infringement and breach-of-contract remain unresolved. Christie Mantia, granddaughter of Dominic’s founder and stepdaughter to Anne Mantia, is also listed as a defendant in the case, though she is no longer affiliated with Duke’s.
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