When my birthday arrived, I knew exactly where I wanted my husband to take me for my birthday meal - Sporting Club. We don't go often, so for us it remains a special occasion place. The atmosphere is unique and the food excellent.
When you arrive at Sporting Club you choose a seat in the bar area. Usually you are greated quickly by the waitress to take your drink orders. We arrived at about 5:30 on the night we went so there weren't many customers yet and lots of seats including the couches in front of the fireplace. We sat in front of the fireplace.
Each table is given a number when they arrive and periodically, someone from the dining room comes in and takes orders from the new tables. When your food is ready and on the table she comes back and escorts you to your table.
We each ordered drinks from the full bar and we also ordered an appetizer of ribs. The ribs are amazing and we can't have a trip to Sporting Club without an order. I am not sure what is in the BBQ sauce recipe but I'd by it if they bottled it. While waiting for the ribs we picked up a basket of popcorn.
There are no menus a Sporting Club. On the wall is a listing of their offerings which include: steak, chicken, salmon, ribs, lobster and clams. There may be one or two more offerings but I never look much farther than the steak. It isn't mentioned on the wall but they do have more than one cut of steak. We both ordered the Porterhouse that evening. I ordered my medium and my husband ordered his medium rare. We also were given the option of baked potato or homemade french fries. I have had the fries before and they are good but I like to have the baked potato to suck up the juices of the steak. We both ordered baked potato.
Our ribs arrived and they were as good as we expected. We enjoyed a few more moments in front of the fireplace and then it was time to move to our table. Every meal comes with what you order for meat and potato, a spicy coleslaw that the Acadians call chef salad, and ployes which are thin buckwheat pancakes. Oh I forgot the piece of corn on the cob that I have never found to be edible. I have always assumed they put it on the plate for looks. My husband loves the coleslaw so I take a few bites and give it to him. I like it but don't enjoy it as much as him. Our steaks were cooked to our liking and we had everything we needed at the table.
After dinner we each ordered a cup of coffee and dessert. I had a cheesecake that was tasty but the best part of the meal was the steak. I am not sure what the secret is to the steak but I have never had a better steak anywhere.
Locals often go for the lobster on special occasions. They offer a 4 lb lobster and the price varies with the market. I have seen it as high as $68 dollars. There are no prices listed anywhere (remember no menus) so be cautious if you want the lobster. I have had it in the past and do find it to be tasty but I usually save my lobster feasts for trips to the coast.
The service was great. There was one waitress who seemed to be assigned to our table, however, all of the wait staff seemed to be watching out for us. It was a great evening and for drinks, appetizer, dinner, coffee, desserts, and tip we paid about $110.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Eureka Hall - Stockholm
Reservations are recommended at this restaurant in downtown Stockholm. If you can find downtown Stockholm you can find Eureka Hall. The upstairs portion of the building is their restaurant and the lower portion is the bar. My understanding is that the restaurant is closing for the winter however the bar will remain open with a limited menu. This review is for the restaurant that I hope reopens in the spring.
The sign for this restaurant reads Eureka Hall Home Cooked Food. I don't know many homes that have food like Eureka on a daily basis. The building isn't much to look at from the outside although the present owners have done a lot to fix it up (along with Anderson's Store across the street). The interior is decorated with items of interest to the local Stockholm/Swedish colony area. I find the decor to be interesting but I do live in the Swedish Colony.
We were met at the door and seated very quickly. The menu has a variety of items ranging from Pork Schnitzel to Rib eye to Scallops Frangelico. Price range is $10-$22. There are probably only about 12 main course options but it took me a while to read the descriptions of each and chose the option I wanted. I picked the Scallops Frangelico (my usual) and my husband selected the Rib Eye. We both opted for the sweet potato fries and broccoli. I ordered a Caesar salad (not included with the meal) and my husband ordered a shrimp and corn chowder as an appetizer.
The drinks we ordered arrived with Eureka's homemade buns. They make some of the best homemade buns around in my personal opinion. There are usually four varieties but since we were only two we only got the wheat and multigrain varieties. I was pleased, as the multigrain is my favorite. Our soup and salad arrived and we were both pleased with what we got. The shrimp and corn chowder was just that; it tasted like shrimp and corn. The Caesar Salad was good but nothing special.
They did not have all of the ingredients for the Scallops Frangelico so I had to select another meal. The waitress was very apologetic and handled the situation well. Remember that the restaurant is getting ready to close for the winter and this wasn't very hard to understand. I selected the Stockholm Skewers which was 5 shrimp and 5 scallops marinated.
Our meals came within a reasonable amount of time and we were both pleased with the meal we were served. The rib eye and seafood skewers were exactly what we expected. The sweet potato fries were great and a nice change from the regular white potato fries.
The second greatest thing (after the rolls) about Eureka Hall is the dessert. My husband was not planning to have dessert until he heard they had a raspberry pie, which he enjoyed. I planned to have dessert and selected the chocolate toffee torte, which did not disappoint (and my expectations of dessert are high).
Eureka Hall has always been a favorite restaurant of mine. Having to make the reservations in advance can be inconvenient but worth the effort. I hope that the upstairs opens again in the summer.
There is also a breakfast for the church going crowd on Sunday mornings. I have never attended but heard it is good. My understanding is that they serve coffee and pastries but I am not sure. I believe this will continue throughout the winter.
The sign for this restaurant reads Eureka Hall Home Cooked Food. I don't know many homes that have food like Eureka on a daily basis. The building isn't much to look at from the outside although the present owners have done a lot to fix it up (along with Anderson's Store across the street). The interior is decorated with items of interest to the local Stockholm/Swedish colony area. I find the decor to be interesting but I do live in the Swedish Colony.
We were met at the door and seated very quickly. The menu has a variety of items ranging from Pork Schnitzel to Rib eye to Scallops Frangelico. Price range is $10-$22. There are probably only about 12 main course options but it took me a while to read the descriptions of each and chose the option I wanted. I picked the Scallops Frangelico (my usual) and my husband selected the Rib Eye. We both opted for the sweet potato fries and broccoli. I ordered a Caesar salad (not included with the meal) and my husband ordered a shrimp and corn chowder as an appetizer.
The drinks we ordered arrived with Eureka's homemade buns. They make some of the best homemade buns around in my personal opinion. There are usually four varieties but since we were only two we only got the wheat and multigrain varieties. I was pleased, as the multigrain is my favorite. Our soup and salad arrived and we were both pleased with what we got. The shrimp and corn chowder was just that; it tasted like shrimp and corn. The Caesar Salad was good but nothing special.
They did not have all of the ingredients for the Scallops Frangelico so I had to select another meal. The waitress was very apologetic and handled the situation well. Remember that the restaurant is getting ready to close for the winter and this wasn't very hard to understand. I selected the Stockholm Skewers which was 5 shrimp and 5 scallops marinated.
Our meals came within a reasonable amount of time and we were both pleased with the meal we were served. The rib eye and seafood skewers were exactly what we expected. The sweet potato fries were great and a nice change from the regular white potato fries.
The second greatest thing (after the rolls) about Eureka Hall is the dessert. My husband was not planning to have dessert until he heard they had a raspberry pie, which he enjoyed. I planned to have dessert and selected the chocolate toffee torte, which did not disappoint (and my expectations of dessert are high).
Eureka Hall has always been a favorite restaurant of mine. Having to make the reservations in advance can be inconvenient but worth the effort. I hope that the upstairs opens again in the summer.
There is also a breakfast for the church going crowd on Sunday mornings. I have never attended but heard it is good. My understanding is that they serve coffee and pastries but I am not sure. I believe this will continue throughout the winter.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
The Castle Inn - Perth-Andover
We had seen many ads for The Castle Inn in Perth-Andover so when our anniversary arrived we wanted to try some place special. Reservations were recommended by the ads so I made a reservation 2 weeks in advance. We found the restaurant without problems as it is quite visible when you drive into Perth-Andover. With the reservations recommended warning we were surprised to find that the parking lot was empty at 7:00 PM Atlantic Time. Inside, the restaurant was very charming and reminded us of some of the restaurants we visited in Austria. It was a former house that has been converted to an inn. My husband mentioned that the contemporary style dinner music seemed out of place but later in the meal the CD must have been changed and we were treated to Ave Maria which seemed more appropriate. We were impressed by the atmosphere. There were about 12 tables in the main room of the restaurant and seating on the deck also. The night we went it was raining but we were seated next to a window overlooking the deck. We were the first guests for the evening in the dinning room. I began to wonder about the reservations recommended portion of their advertisement. I later heard the server tell another guest that reservations allow the management to determine if they need more staff.
The wine list was nice. All of the wines were available by the glass or bottle. Each wine was described and I overheard the server giving other diners recommendations from the wine list. There were about 12-15 choices with a lot of variety. Glasses of wine ranged in price form $5 to $10 and beer and mixed drinks were available also. While I was impressed by the wine list I found the menu to be uninspiring. They offered salad, pasta, chicken, fish, and steak. There was really nothing special about the options and the best reading on the menu was the story of the restaurant on the back.
We ordered an appetizer of deep fried mushrooms with garlic mayonnaise. Other options included jalapeno poppers, nachos, mozzarella sticks, and wings in a price range of $5-12. One particular strength to the menu is that it tells exactly how many of an item will be served with an order. There were 10 mushrooms which made a nice appetizer for us.
I ordered a sirloin steak because I was intrigued by the extras that are available with the steak which included grilled tomatoes and sauteed mushrooms. I ordered both tomatoes and mushrooms (about $25 with the extras). I was surprised that when I ordered the steak that the server did not try to up sell me the extras. My husband ordered 6 shrimp and 6 scallops in a cream sauce ($20).
We were served three slices of homemade bread that tasted a little like a Swedish Rye bread to us but the server told us it was whole wheat. It came with actual pats of butter but the butter was so cold we couldn't spread it on the bread. Oh, I forgot to mention the water. We were served water in a carafe which was left on the table for us to refill our glasses. It had a single wedge of lemon floating in it but we suspected they added some lemon juice to the water. I really enjoyed the water.
Our meals were served in a timely fashion and there was really nothing special about the meat. The sides on the plates were baked potato (we had a choice of baked, mashed, fries or white rice), red cabbage which was very good, and cooked carrot sticks. I also had my sides of tomato and mushroom which were very tasty which was good because the steak was disappointing.
Being our anniversary we decided to try dessert as well. My husband loves Key Lime Pie but decided to try the maple dessert instead because the server spoke so highly of it. I had a chocolate confusion cake. Both desserts were good but appeared to be something that was purchased and not made on the premises.
The service was not the best but it was good. We didn't wait for anything but we were left feeling like we were just another customer.
Our overall feel was that if someone asked us to go to The Castle Inn with them we would go but we probably will not go back on our own again. There are too many other good options in the area in this price range.
The wine list was nice. All of the wines were available by the glass or bottle. Each wine was described and I overheard the server giving other diners recommendations from the wine list. There were about 12-15 choices with a lot of variety. Glasses of wine ranged in price form $5 to $10 and beer and mixed drinks were available also. While I was impressed by the wine list I found the menu to be uninspiring. They offered salad, pasta, chicken, fish, and steak. There was really nothing special about the options and the best reading on the menu was the story of the restaurant on the back.
We ordered an appetizer of deep fried mushrooms with garlic mayonnaise. Other options included jalapeno poppers, nachos, mozzarella sticks, and wings in a price range of $5-12. One particular strength to the menu is that it tells exactly how many of an item will be served with an order. There were 10 mushrooms which made a nice appetizer for us.
I ordered a sirloin steak because I was intrigued by the extras that are available with the steak which included grilled tomatoes and sauteed mushrooms. I ordered both tomatoes and mushrooms (about $25 with the extras). I was surprised that when I ordered the steak that the server did not try to up sell me the extras. My husband ordered 6 shrimp and 6 scallops in a cream sauce ($20).
We were served three slices of homemade bread that tasted a little like a Swedish Rye bread to us but the server told us it was whole wheat. It came with actual pats of butter but the butter was so cold we couldn't spread it on the bread. Oh, I forgot to mention the water. We were served water in a carafe which was left on the table for us to refill our glasses. It had a single wedge of lemon floating in it but we suspected they added some lemon juice to the water. I really enjoyed the water.
Our meals were served in a timely fashion and there was really nothing special about the meat. The sides on the plates were baked potato (we had a choice of baked, mashed, fries or white rice), red cabbage which was very good, and cooked carrot sticks. I also had my sides of tomato and mushroom which were very tasty which was good because the steak was disappointing.
Being our anniversary we decided to try dessert as well. My husband loves Key Lime Pie but decided to try the maple dessert instead because the server spoke so highly of it. I had a chocolate confusion cake. Both desserts were good but appeared to be something that was purchased and not made on the premises.
The service was not the best but it was good. We didn't wait for anything but we were left feeling like we were just another customer.
Our overall feel was that if someone asked us to go to The Castle Inn with them we would go but we probably will not go back on our own again. There are too many other good options in the area in this price range.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Swamp Buck - Fort Kent
We went to Swamp Buck on Main Street in Fort Kent on Friday night. It serves lunch and dinner 7 days a week in a two story restaurant with a full bar. The atmosphere is casual with televisions throughout the dining rooms and a mix of booths and tables. On Friday night there was usually a line to be seated but most people didn't wait long (10-20 minutes) for tables.
There were a few specials on Friday night and we opted to try the County Nachos. They were basically nachos with fresh fried potato chips instead of corn chips. They had spicy ground beef and nacho cheese and we ordered a side of guacamole. We have had the guacamole before at Swamp Buck and we were not disappointed this time. I was pleased to have tried the County Nacho but would probably choose something else from the appetizer menu. There are many options including potato skins and my favorite a swamp lily (blooming onion).
The menu has a wide variety of meals so there is probably something for everyone. They serve fish, chicken, steak and pasta as well as some meal sized salads. For our meals we each decided to order the Prime Rib. I ordered the Doe cut and my husband ordered the Buck cut. The server told us that meat was usually cut to medium or medium well which was fine with me. My husband asked that they see if there might be a cut that was a litttle more rare and they were more than willing. We had a choice of baked potato, mashed potato, or french fries. I took the Baked Potato and was offered sour cream. My husband picked the mashed potatoes and was offered gravy. We each ordered the garden salad with the house vinigrette dressing which I highly recommend although there are other choices of dressing. The dressing is served on the side. We also could have ordered coleslaw or veggie instead of salad.
The prime rib was great. It was served with au jus and a creamy horseradish side. My was cooked medium and my husband's was more of a medium rare just as he requested. We both were very pleased with the meal. Our only disappointment was the gravy for the mashed potatoes which tasted like a poor canned gravy. I had high expectations for the meal as I have always enjoyed what I had at Swamp Buck in the past.
Although I was pretty full, I couldn't pass up the fried ice cream from the dessert menu. It is a ball of vanilla ice cream with a crisp crust sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and drizzled in caramel. There are other options but the fired ice cream is listed first and I just didn't finish reading the list. I was only disappointed that the server brought two spoons so my husband got to share it with me.
The service was excellent. My husband who dines out more frequently than I do mentioned that he felt our server was one of the best in Aroostook County. We both enjoyed the experience. We each had two drinks and our total bill was approximately $80.
There were a few specials on Friday night and we opted to try the County Nachos. They were basically nachos with fresh fried potato chips instead of corn chips. They had spicy ground beef and nacho cheese and we ordered a side of guacamole. We have had the guacamole before at Swamp Buck and we were not disappointed this time. I was pleased to have tried the County Nacho but would probably choose something else from the appetizer menu. There are many options including potato skins and my favorite a swamp lily (blooming onion).
The menu has a wide variety of meals so there is probably something for everyone. They serve fish, chicken, steak and pasta as well as some meal sized salads. For our meals we each decided to order the Prime Rib. I ordered the Doe cut and my husband ordered the Buck cut. The server told us that meat was usually cut to medium or medium well which was fine with me. My husband asked that they see if there might be a cut that was a litttle more rare and they were more than willing. We had a choice of baked potato, mashed potato, or french fries. I took the Baked Potato and was offered sour cream. My husband picked the mashed potatoes and was offered gravy. We each ordered the garden salad with the house vinigrette dressing which I highly recommend although there are other choices of dressing. The dressing is served on the side. We also could have ordered coleslaw or veggie instead of salad.
The prime rib was great. It was served with au jus and a creamy horseradish side. My was cooked medium and my husband's was more of a medium rare just as he requested. We both were very pleased with the meal. Our only disappointment was the gravy for the mashed potatoes which tasted like a poor canned gravy. I had high expectations for the meal as I have always enjoyed what I had at Swamp Buck in the past.
Although I was pretty full, I couldn't pass up the fried ice cream from the dessert menu. It is a ball of vanilla ice cream with a crisp crust sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and drizzled in caramel. There are other options but the fired ice cream is listed first and I just didn't finish reading the list. I was only disappointed that the server brought two spoons so my husband got to share it with me.
The service was excellent. My husband who dines out more frequently than I do mentioned that he felt our server was one of the best in Aroostook County. We both enjoyed the experience. We each had two drinks and our total bill was approximately $80.
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