Piper's: Casual Elegance

Piper's, at 2130 W. Southport Road, is a casual-atmosphere fine dining restaurant.  It kind of puts me in mind of Eddie Merlot's but is a little less swanky (how's that for eloquent, articulate description, eh? eh?) My wife has a passing acquaintance with the owner, who has many years' catering experience although the restaurant itself is only about 15(?) years old.  I ordered one of the chef's specials, the Seared Duck.  I have a hard time finding duck at any of our regular haunts, so this was a real treat for me.  I reeeeally love roast duck, and I should have realized the implication behind the title "Seared" and maybe made a special request of our waiter to do more than sear it, but I didn't do either of those things.  My duck was tender and tasty, but it was a little underdone for my taste, but again, that was my fault and not the restaurant's.   Our meal was very good, and at a little over $70 for the two of us (including three glasses of wine), it was definitely a good deal for the price.  If I had more money than I knew what to do with, I would certainly eat here all the time.  www.piperscatering.com/restaurant   

Blue Agave - Traditional Mexican

Blue Agave, located (say it with me) in a strip mall at 8049 S. Madison Avenue, has opened in the space that for several years housed Los Picachos bar/restaurant/pool room.  BA is primarily a restaurant now, with the old pool room now a party/banquet area.  We stopped in for a light dinner and drinks, and we were unaware at that time that the previous night a party in the banquet room had been raided by IMPD and the Excise Police, who issued citations to 24 underage drinkers.  Hey, nobody's perfect, right? 

I had high hopes for the place since almost everyone in there appeared to be Latino, my logic being that people of the same ethnicity as the food served would seek out places where that food is the best. I mean, if I was an American in Paris and got homesick and wanted a good burger, I'd go to the best American-style restaurant I could find, wouldn'ja think?  Yeah, me too!  Anyway, we both had margaritas, and split a queso dip and a plate of nachos.  The margaritas were big, cheap, and tasty, but we didn't really taste all that much tequila in them. :-(  I had mixed feelings about the chips, as they had apparently combined a couple batches together-- some of them were crisp with a decent corn taste and others were either stale or had been over-fried so much they were kind of chewy.  Ah, but the salsa!  It was fresh, spicy, and had a lot of flavorful ingredients, cilantro chief among them (if you're going to a Mexican restaurant and don't like cilantro, you better stop off at Micky D's and bring a Quarter Pounder with you).  It was some of the best salsa I've ever had, and I've had quite a lot, beer probably being the only other substance I've ingested more often. 

The queso was billed on the menu as "Grandma's Secret Recipe" and I now must find this Grandma woman and give her a big ol' lip smack on the cheek.  It was the white queso you're used to but with a bunch of little tasty bits added (Little Woman said she thought most of them were minced tomatillas).  Whatever they were, they made the queso DEEEELICIOUS!  The queso and the salsa were proof positive that you can take matchbook covers and coat them with something delicious and make them edible....  The nachos came out, and they were a little different than what us gringos are used to.  The combo nachos ($7.95, I think) included seasoned and grilled chunks of chicken, flank steak, and ground beef piled high on top of a single-thickness bed of those less-than-stellar chips, then covered with lettuce, sour cream, and a smattering of melted white cheese, a meaty mountain quite unlike the gooey foothills of mostly chips & cheese that we're used to getting.  We actually had to eat down the meat & lettuce with forks a ways to get to the chips, which by the time we reached them had been soaked in the juices from the meat, cheese, and lettuce so that they'd lost most of their molecular integrity and had to be eaten with a fork, but they actually tasted better that way!  All three meats were really tasty and well-prepared.  Just as we were about to leave, the proprietor brought out a free slice of cake for me in honor of Father's Day, he said, and it was great, too, topped with about an inch of whipped-cream icing.  Soooo, Blue Agave was a mixed bag, but the good parts were so good that we'll have to go back and try some of their other stuff.  iSalud! 

Old McDonald Cafe: Basic Eats From A Bygone Era

One good thing about Old McDonald Cafe is that it is not, repeat NOT, in a strip mall!  It's in an old storefront on Exchange Street in "downtown" Acton, across the street from the Dinner Bell Market.  It's a pretty simple place, evocative of a lot of small-town cafes I've been in across the USA-- concrete floor, basic booths and tables, kitchen counter with table, griddle, and fryers along one wall, separated from the dining room only by a cash register counter and refrigerated display cooler like a meat market or deli would have.  OMC harkens back to the day when Acton was a little bit of civilization surrounded by farm fields.  Actually, Acton hasn't really changed that much from those days, although now it's mostly surrounded by suburban housing developments.  The closest food competition is in Wanamaker, which is only about 10 minutes away by car, but if you live out that way and have one of those days when you don't want to cook and don't want to drive any farther from home than is absolutely necessary, you wind up at OMC.  Pretty much everyone I know who lives in Franklin Township has been there more than once, for just that reason, if not just to look at the displays of the founder's WWII memorabilia on the walls.  I'm told the founder is 86 years old and still owns the place but doesn't come in much, so you'll probably never see him there unless you go there a LOT.

The food there is not stellar, but it is pretty good, and simple, and fairly cheap.  I've never had a bad meal there, but never had a really outstanding one, either.  It's just good basic home-style food, with one exception:  The last time we went, there was a sign in the window that said "GIANT TENDERLOINS ARE BACK!", and they weren't lyin'....   We had one, and it was HULKIN' HUGE, more than one person (even Karl the Hutt) could eat, and it was only like 6 bucks.  It was your basic tenderloin sandwich only it's obviously been hit with an overdose of gamma rays.   So eat hearty, my friends, but don't  make the tenderloin angry-- you wouldn't like it when it's angry!   

Teddy's Burger Joint: Burgers and Then Some....

Teddy's Burger Joint, 2222 W. Southport Rd, is on the back corner of a little strip mall, and if it hadn't been for a billboard I saw out on SR 37, I'd never have found out about it.  They've tried to put up little directional signs here and there, but you really have to look for the place, which is in the little mall right behind Piper's.  We stopped in early on a Friday afternoon, and at that time there was only one other customer in the place.  I thought maybe they just opened and hadn't had a chance to get a good start yet, but when we asked how long they'd been in bidness they proudly said since October of 2010!  As we got closer to dinner time, though, the crowd started rolling in....  It's primarily a family place, but they have wine, draft beer(!), bottle beers ranging from imports to craft beers to American standards, and draft root beer, too!  The decor consists of a  polished concrete floor, rustic wood, exposed duct work (think Hooters' without the girls), and a fireplace with a mix of regular tables and wooden picnic tables.  The little woman said to make sure I mention that the draft beer is reeeeally cold, something she prizes (along with blistering hot soup and steak so rare it moos when you cut it... but that's another story or two).  The burger prices seem a bit steep until you consider that they come completely dressed and include fries and sandwich-length pickle slices. I had the Bison Burger, which is offered at market price (ten-something dollars, that day), and My Love had the Philly Burger, which was $8.69 or so.   She had a 23-ounce Sun King Wee-Mac ale (see previous post about beer-tasting at the local breweries) and I had a big Flat-12 Amber Ale.  The burgers were really decent, but lacked the deadly greasy goodness of Five Guys' semi-homemade big sliders, I think in an homage to halfway healthy eating.  The Bison Burger is very, very lean, and you can also get a Vegetarian Burger, as well as healthy whole-wheat buns and such.  The grilled onions and green peppers on the Philly Burger were outstanding!  For the kids there are 3.99 burger plates and  a play room with chalkboard walls and floor as well as a big TV on a kid-friendly channel, and there is a sandbox on the outdoor patio, which also has a number of picnic tables for good-weather dining.  I liked it, overall, although I haven't had a favorite burger there yet, but they have a number of variations, so we'll be back!  Oh, yeah, they have a small stage, too, for live music on weekend nights. Whoa!  What's not to like?

Jack in the Box: Meh.

I don't generally like to review chain establishments since everyone's been to one of 'em, but I heard tell the line to get in Jack in the Box, 8950 S. US31, was outrageously long the day it opened, with new restaurant-starved Southsiders dying for a taste of the famous West-Coast based chain's wares. We went a week later, but the place is still buzzing with customers and they still need an off-duty Sheriff Deputy to direct traffic at the drive-thru....   We got there at about 10:00 AM on a Sunday, so we ordered a Sausage & Egg Biscuit combo, which included Hash Brown Sticks and coffee, as well as a smorgasbord of other stuff,  including a Sirloin Burger, some Jalepeno Poppers, and two tacos.

The sausage on the biscuit was totally foreign to my Southern sensibilities:  it was thin, pale, and not very well seasoned.  It was, in a compound word, flesh-colored: I was put in mind of a veggie patty or maybe something from Motel Hell or Soylent Green.  It did, however, taste a little like sausage, although Allen Purnell would laugh if he tried it-- he and the Tennessee Pride and Jimmy Dean folks have nothing to worry about from Jack. The Hash Brown Sticks were singularly uninteresting and the Kona coffee was just okay (weak in comparison to White Castle, the standard by which I judge all restaurant coffees), but the Jalapeno Poppers were very good, better than most other fast-food places', including Arby's. The tacos weren't bad but they were as un-Mexican as can be, with a weird if not unpalatable sort of corn/burger taste.

The best part of the meal by far was the Sirloin Burger, although at $4.59 I'm not sure it's worth the expense.  It had a big, square patty that had a definite charbroiled taste, kind of like Dairy Queen's Brazier Burger or Mickey D's Angus Burger (both of which are, I think, less expensive).  It really kind of put me in mind of Burger Chef's old Super Chef, which, for you youngsters, was the big-meat sandwich of a now-extinct burger chain that existed just after the Paleozoic Era, popular at the same time as the Brontosaurus Burgers available at the drive-in on The Flintstones.  All in all, though, I could eat there and at Jack in the Box again, although I'm not sure why.....

What's behind The Green Door?

Well Marilyn Chambers sure ain't there, but sometimes pretty wild stuff happens in The Green Door Lounge, on the backside of the strip mall at Thompson Road and Manker Street.  The Door is best loved by hardcore bar goers-- it kind of reminds me of a 60's bowling-alley lounge, certainly smaller than Marcus Schrenker's old living room but maybe only a little bigger than Bernie Madoff's prison cell, with a giant mirror on one wall to make it seem bigger, cheesy Wayne's World basement-type wood paneling, a small bunch of tables & chairs (no booths) and the bar along the other wall.  That's all there is:  no pool table, no stage or dance floor, no food, just a place to sit and drink and talk with your friends (or yell, depending on what song is playing on the juke box).  It does, however, have an unpretentious, undefinable ambiance that makes you feel comfortable there for reasons I have yet to discern. Especially during the day and to some extent all night, The Door draws people of all ages and from all walks of life, lured in by the cheap, stiff drinks, no-nonsense bartenders who git'r done, and the prospect of seeing old friends. The Door stays open later than most other bars and clubs in the area, so it's a place of last resort when you don't wanna go home.  Like Times Square, most southside party folks pass through there at least once in a while, in order to have that last drink, or make that last try to hook up with someone, or to have that last cup of coffee in a futile effort to sober up before trying to get back to the house....

UPDATE, 03/22/2013:  Green Door has been bought by Art & Tina, a couple of the partners who own the Gaslight Inn.  They've given the place a thorough cleaning (Geez, I always thought those wall sconces were dimmed on purpose!) and put in two big flat-screen TV's that were actually manufactured in this decade.  Art hates paying credit card fees, so like the Gaslight, the Door is now cash-only but with a $2 ATM available.  So far none of the good parts have changed, including the potency of the drinks!  Hopefully they won't go the way of the Gaslight's weak-assed wells.  The Door has already had a number of good beer and drink specials, though, so I'm hopeful!

UPDATE, 09/27/2013:  Happy Days!  They're once again accepting credit cards.  I believe they don't open until like 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon on weekdays, but they do open at noon on the weekends.  Credit card fee is now 50 cents per tab, better'n before.....

Old Meridian Pub-- A New Old Standard

The Old Meridian Pub, at Old Meridian Street and Epler, recently opened in the building that for years was Smith & Dale's, then SmithDale's, then Mann's Tavern, although you'd never know it after the complete update it received this time.  The old place was dumpy but small and cozy.  After many years, Smith & Dale's' owner fell on hard economic times and sold out, after which it went through a couple of new owners who each renovated it, but not in a good way as far as I'm concerned:  It went from comfortably well-lit to a dark and grungy little place that you only went to at the the end of your night (see a review of The Green Door for more on this phenomenon).

Now, however, I think I've found my new go-to place:  The new owners are somehow related to famous old bar owner Red Taylor (of several Red's Corner(s) and The Hideaway fame) but apparently don't suffer from Red's cheapskateness (cheapskatery?) and completely gutted the place.  They removed the drop ceiling, tiled the bar area, and carpeted the dining areas so it has a modern, comfortable, airy feel.  The bar area is lit by cool hanging light fixtures that resemble old radio vacuum tubes (ya see, boys and girls, before there were transistors, the radios all had tubes. Huh?  What're transistors?  Oh, never mind!  I'm old, okay?).  The old game room is now an extra dining/party room.  There are 6 big-screen TV's around the place, and the new sound system is GREAT!  They had one of DirectTV's music channels going, and it made the new computerized juke box seem for a time unnecessary.

I'd heard a nasty rumor that the drink prices were sky-high, but they were quite reasonable:  pints of domestic draft (which were good and COLD, other lesser bars TAKE HEED) cost $2.50 and glasses of Santa Angelita wines, of Chilean vintage, were $3.50 (Schneider's TAKE HEED!).  We'd just eaten so we didn't order a meal, but Jeanie the bartender shared her cheese balls & ranch dressing appetizer with us.  It was deeelicious, perfectly cooked (Yes, Virginia, you can screw up deep-fried cheese-- I've seen it done, but not here, thank Heaven).  I really can't say enough good things about this place, although it sure looks like I've tried given the length of this post, huh?  I just hope they advertise and get the word out so all those nice renovations don't go to waste....

UPDATE, 07/21/2014:  Old Meridian Pub closed, dangit, but it has been bought and rechristened The Corner Pub.  The old place had like 6 owners or something, one who was drunk all the time and as I understand it got barred out of his own bar, and as I understand it, the rest apparently couldn't agree with the managing partner on anything. There is just one new owner, so we'll see how she does with the place... fingers crossed!

UPDATE, 08/14/2014:  I'm happy to say the Corner Pub is basically the Old Meridian renamed.  Most of the same employees are back, including Steve the chef, so the food and booze is still good and reasonably priced.  Hallelujah!