Thursday, May 15, 2008

The Coach House - on our anniversary - a review

Yesterday was my wife’s and my 16th wedding anniversary.  For years my favorite resturant in Lexington was The Coach House on Broadway/Harrodsburg Road.  A couple years ago it closed down.  Two weeks ago it opened with new owners.  So, my wife called, ensured they were open, called again and made reservations - which were appreciated, but no required. 

At 6:30 p.m. we pulled in to an almost empty parking lot - three vehicles.  There was a new sign out front.  It was one of those pointer signs (like they had on M*A*S*H*) that listed points of interest, and their distance - in this case race tracks.  My wife and both realized what was missing.  At the bottom they need a pointer and milage to ”Wall Drugs”, while it might not go with the theme of race tracks, it would certainly add quite a bit of humor for anyone who has travelled west of Chicago.  Also outside were four “life sized” concrete jockeys.  Not the 12-16 that used to be there, but the essence was there.

Some of the nuances of the wait staff were gone.  Historically the wait staff were older, more mature.  They would take my date’s coat then take mine.  They would pull out my date’s chair, and then put the napkin in her lap.  That wasn’t present.  The wait staff was college dropouts and former mexican waiters.  I’m not being judgemental or biased in any way.  They really were.  The mexican guy remembered me from when Bill and I used to go down to his former establishment and order fajitas with jalapino’s in them.  The whole place would fill with eye burning smoke, but the food was great!  The main server for us, went to UK for a year and a half, the dropped out.  Her father is offering to bribe her with a car to move back in and go back to school.  She’s considering it.

The inside was much how I remembered it.  The air smelled a little stale.  At least that’s what the wife says.  I thought it was fine.  The ambiance was nice.  They left the lights turned up (as they should be) and I could read the menus, look around, see what I was eating, see who I was with, and have a very pleasant conversation - be that with my wife, with the wait staff or whoever. 

The wait stass was fairly knowledgable of the menu items.  They had not, I was told by the girl, had the sit down and taste everything meeting yet.  However, she had tried several of the meals and had helped out in the kitchen, so she knew some about what was being made and served.

The owner, a woman in her 50’s, came by and welcomed us.  She also wished us a happy anniversary.  Very nice of her.  She also made visits to the other two couples having short conversations with them as well.  One couple, “Mr Miller” and his date - I presume wife, but who knows - kept talking about how the place was exactly as he remembered it and that the old owners would be pleased. 

A few minutes after the owner left, the waitress brought us two glass of ping champaign “on the house” complements of the resturant for our anniversary.  That was a nice touch that I am sure they can’t continue long term, but made a nice impression on us.  My wife and I have tried (cheap) champaign before, so we were gracious and thankful, but not very enthusiastic about our gift as neither of us really cared for the stuff.  However, we did try it.  First drink… didn’t taste like “bubbly dirt” to use my wife’s description.  In actuality, it was pretty good.  It actually had the “feel” that it had some alcoholic content.

The mexican guy - still talking about the mexican resturant and touching my shoulder (shut up Bill and Loren!) - brought us some bread.  The bread was rolled like cressants, but it was rye bread.  I am not much of a rye fan, but it was good.  It was fresh and warm and soft, and the outside was a little crisp (appropraitely so) from the oven.  The butter had herbs in it.  Over all it had a nice flavor.  My wife likes rye and thought it was just delightful.

I decided I wanted a soup.  They had a crab bisque.  I haven’t had a crab bisque since I lived on the west coast.  So, I thought I would try.  $6 for an order.  It was superb.  However, the bowl was only about a quarter of an inch deep (maybe 3.5 - 4 inches across).  I felt like it wasn’t enough for the price.  The crab was not salty at all nor did it have a strong smell nor did it taste “watery” - all things about crab normally found in a land-locked region I have learned.  It tasted fresh.  It tasted oh, so good.  In fact I wanted more, but I didn’t order it.

My wife went for a salad.  She ordered a fried green tomato, buffalo mozzerella, and salad with balsomic.  Basically, they took two slices of green tomato, put a breading around them and fried them.  They then put a pat of buffalo mozzerella cheese on them (about half the size of the tomato slice) and served it next to a little clump of rabbit food about the size of a tennis ball.  It was drizzed with balcomic vinegar.  I tasted it.  It was okay.  She liked it. 

I ordered “pork chops” and she ordered “filet mignon”.  The pork chops came with potatoes and mission figs.  I really decided on the meal because I didn’t know what mission figs were and I wanted to try them.  Ever had a fig nutin cookie?  Well, they tasted like the insides.  The french sounding potato things were basically a mashed potato inside a very light breading.  I got two of them each almost as big as a golf ball.  There were about 10 or 11 mission figs - each of them about the size of a dime.  There were also five or six green beans serving as artistic decoration.  They tasted good, but would have been nice to have had 20 or 25 of them.  I ate most ofone of the potato things and gave a couple bites to the wife.  She put the other one in her togo box.  My “pork chops” consisted of one pork chop.  Granted, it was about 1.5” thick and about 3” by 4” so it was a lot of meat.  However I don’t pluralize singles.  Also the meal was around $22 (didn’t include salad or soup) or maybe $23, and seemed like there just wasn’t enough.  The taste of the chop was good.  However they made it, it had excellent flavor, and was cooked all the way though without being burned or crispy on the outside. 

My wife’s filet mignon was also well cooked.  She got au gratin potatoes with her’s.  It came with about 4-5 green beans and a couple carrots.  They tasted good, but again, seemed more like decoration than a serving of vegetables.  The potatoes were about the size of a aluminum can across.  In fact, I could easily image that they took a biscuit cutter and “popped” them out.  They were stacked and cut very thin.  Very good flavor and au gratin on every one.  Not sure how they did that with them being stacked on top of each other like that.

The rest of the menu was shallow compared to my memory.  My memory tells me there were 5-8 salads to choose from.  We had three - all were “fancy” - no Caesar salad prepared for 2 at your table like they used to.  My memory tells me of “ham steak” and “fried chicken” and a few other “southern” comfort foods that were missing from the menu.  They did have a good selection - two beef, two fish, two chops (lamb and pork - I guess I should say two chop), at least one chicken, and maybe one or two others. 

Near the end of dinner the owner came by again and asked us about desert.  She mentioned a port she had tried that she thought was really good.  She did do a nice sell job without being pushy.  It came across as excitement for her new business and wanting to share.

The wife ordered a with made-in-the-resturant peppermint ice cream.  The was a chocolate cookie like thing.  Actually, it came with three.  Each were round, and about the size of a quarter or half dollar.  It was basically a chocolate cookie like thingy with a ball of white icecream - also about a quarter in diameter - in between.  There were three of them.  And, written in chocolate syrrup taking up most of the plate was “happy anniversary”.  It was a nice personal touch.

Oh, the peppermint ice cream… they put about 5x the amount of peppermint that it should have.  I said something to the waitress, who said something to the chef.  The chef tasted and agreed.  They brought her some vanilla bean ice cream and she mixed it to get it to a better potentency.  It was good, just strong!

I ordered a chocolate dessert - what is it called - its basically a chocolate cake with a molten almost pudding center.  I am thinking they called it crem brule, but I could be wrong.  I would have called it a Moelleux au Chocolat (Molen chocolate cake).  Bill has made this for me before… mmmm… good.

This is a much bigger and better looking version of it.  Mine had a sliced strawberry on the side not rasberries, and was about half the size. 

I asked them about the (lack of) business.  They said that they were doing a soft opening to work out some of the kinks.  They said that they did get slammed on Mother’s day, but other than that it had been pretty quiet.  More staff than customers.  They are going to start some advertising soon.

So, the question is, how would I rate this new old resturant?  Now, keep in mind, it used to be my favorite resturant in Lexington.  It has potential, but they definitely need to work on some kinks…

Pluses: 
ambiance (they left the lights UP where they should be so I could read the menus, see my date, and look around!), leather seats, cloth napkins and table skirting, etc.
decor
good tasting food
personalized service
excitement about being open

Negatives:
portions were not comprable with the price
selection was small in the salad and entree region.
wait staff was (very nice and pleasant and attentive) too young (and inexperienced for this level of dining) and did not do the little things that is expected both from the historic Coach House, and from other top quality resturants I have been to in other cities.

I think I will give them a few months to get the kinks worked out.  Maybe in November for my birthday we will try it again (or next anniversary), presuming they get some advertising and get some customers.  I don’t think three sets of two in an evening will keep the doors open.  Even with our $110.

I would give them an 85 out of a 100.  However, for the price, I expect a 99 or better.  So, time will tell.  My memory of my favorite resturant is enough to give them a second go around.