Post by ssmynkint on Jun 8, 2011 17:45:52 GMT -5
Blacksmith’s Bistro & Bar
3914 St Elmo Ave
Chattanooga
Blacksmith’s continues to morph. Perhaps in preparation for the tourist season, there are some welcome new tables and banquettes and the warm maroon room seems brighter. The wait staff, predominately college students in the past, now has more…mature waitresses, some of whom have had experience in family and meat & 3 establishments, one apparently a veteran of Biker Bar serving. The menu is new, and still subject to change. The only on-line copy I’ve found is on Dinner Delivered.
Appetizers include Chicken Drummies, 4/$5 and Cornbread Waffle, $8. The Kobe (Waygu, really) Beef sliders, 3/$10, had been over-cooked on one side (o.k. on the other half) was bland and had lost the juiciness that is the essence of Waygu. The condiments, except for the cornichons, were hard to detect. Fried Green Tomatoes, 3 mini-stacks w pimento cheese, black bean sauce and Booyah (?) sauce, were so uniform in size, thickness and coating as to suggest a commercially packaged product. They had the texture of edible wooden checkers, and little if any tomato flavor. They had not received their initial cooking recently. The pimento cheese could have been Cheeze Whiz, the bean sauce, the dominate flavor, was like Mexican black beans, and the Booyah sauce a dribble of orange-red. Sweet and Crispy Shrimp 5 or 6/$10, were tender 4” shrimp, uncurled as if on skewers, breaded with a very fine rice-noodle product, fried and served with dip. Tasty and crunchy! The next day’s Sunday restaurant insert had a picture of exactly the same dish being served at a local Japanese establishment.
Salads start with a $6 Green Salad. The Blackened Salmon Caesar Salad, $14, was served, as requested, on a spinach salad. The salmon, while properly cooked had no herb/spice rub and was not at all blackened. The fried green tomatoes served with it were clones of those previously appearing as an appetizer. Similarly the Black and Blue Caesar, $16, with “Kobe” sirloin was not blackened, the “Blue” was provided by cheese crumbles, and the anchovy in the Caesar dressing made an…interesting contrast. Blue cheese dressed spinach would have been a better choice.
Special of the evening was fried soft-shell crab (1) on salad, $13. The crab was nicely breaded and fried, but the stale, sourish taste clearly indicated a previously frozen specimen.
Sandwiches and Burgers cost $9-$12. The Mushroom Veggie Burger, $12, with veggie patty and Portobello was large and meaty, but the brie, bacon and especially the white truffle mayo were difficult to discern at best.
There is also a 4 item Kids’ menu, $6.
Entrees are $11 (Mac & Cheese) to $32 (“Kobe” ribeye). A special was chicken breast stuffed with crabmeat in a mornay sauce, $15. The uniformity of the breast and the style of stuffing and saucing suggested a commercial product. It was a nicely flavored, well balanced dish. Unlike all other entrees, this came with no accompaniment. A side of creamed spinach, $5, produced a cup of sautéed/wilted spinach with a light cream sauce. The Petite Filet 1/$15, 2/$20, was properly cooked and adequate in flavor. The bacon jam and bourbon sauce appeared as a smear and puddle without further contribution. The (pre)roasted asparagus was fine but embarrassingly flaccid. Pan-Roasted pork Loin, $15 was so over-cooked as to be tough (hard, really) and without moistness or flavor, the blueberry sauce, salty. The dish was refused.
A manager promptly visited the table to make apology and offer correctives. Her courteous attention was welcome. Service in general was attentive, although somewhat distracted and slow.
Ambiance: Good. Relaxed, family friendly.
Service: Fair-good.
Food: Poor-fair.
Value: Fair
4-Jun,11
3914 St Elmo Ave
Chattanooga
Blacksmith’s continues to morph. Perhaps in preparation for the tourist season, there are some welcome new tables and banquettes and the warm maroon room seems brighter. The wait staff, predominately college students in the past, now has more…mature waitresses, some of whom have had experience in family and meat & 3 establishments, one apparently a veteran of Biker Bar serving. The menu is new, and still subject to change. The only on-line copy I’ve found is on Dinner Delivered.
Appetizers include Chicken Drummies, 4/$5 and Cornbread Waffle, $8. The Kobe (Waygu, really) Beef sliders, 3/$10, had been over-cooked on one side (o.k. on the other half) was bland and had lost the juiciness that is the essence of Waygu. The condiments, except for the cornichons, were hard to detect. Fried Green Tomatoes, 3 mini-stacks w pimento cheese, black bean sauce and Booyah (?) sauce, were so uniform in size, thickness and coating as to suggest a commercially packaged product. They had the texture of edible wooden checkers, and little if any tomato flavor. They had not received their initial cooking recently. The pimento cheese could have been Cheeze Whiz, the bean sauce, the dominate flavor, was like Mexican black beans, and the Booyah sauce a dribble of orange-red. Sweet and Crispy Shrimp 5 or 6/$10, were tender 4” shrimp, uncurled as if on skewers, breaded with a very fine rice-noodle product, fried and served with dip. Tasty and crunchy! The next day’s Sunday restaurant insert had a picture of exactly the same dish being served at a local Japanese establishment.
Salads start with a $6 Green Salad. The Blackened Salmon Caesar Salad, $14, was served, as requested, on a spinach salad. The salmon, while properly cooked had no herb/spice rub and was not at all blackened. The fried green tomatoes served with it were clones of those previously appearing as an appetizer. Similarly the Black and Blue Caesar, $16, with “Kobe” sirloin was not blackened, the “Blue” was provided by cheese crumbles, and the anchovy in the Caesar dressing made an…interesting contrast. Blue cheese dressed spinach would have been a better choice.
Special of the evening was fried soft-shell crab (1) on salad, $13. The crab was nicely breaded and fried, but the stale, sourish taste clearly indicated a previously frozen specimen.
Sandwiches and Burgers cost $9-$12. The Mushroom Veggie Burger, $12, with veggie patty and Portobello was large and meaty, but the brie, bacon and especially the white truffle mayo were difficult to discern at best.
There is also a 4 item Kids’ menu, $6.
Entrees are $11 (Mac & Cheese) to $32 (“Kobe” ribeye). A special was chicken breast stuffed with crabmeat in a mornay sauce, $15. The uniformity of the breast and the style of stuffing and saucing suggested a commercial product. It was a nicely flavored, well balanced dish. Unlike all other entrees, this came with no accompaniment. A side of creamed spinach, $5, produced a cup of sautéed/wilted spinach with a light cream sauce. The Petite Filet 1/$15, 2/$20, was properly cooked and adequate in flavor. The bacon jam and bourbon sauce appeared as a smear and puddle without further contribution. The (pre)roasted asparagus was fine but embarrassingly flaccid. Pan-Roasted pork Loin, $15 was so over-cooked as to be tough (hard, really) and without moistness or flavor, the blueberry sauce, salty. The dish was refused.
A manager promptly visited the table to make apology and offer correctives. Her courteous attention was welcome. Service in general was attentive, although somewhat distracted and slow.
Ambiance: Good. Relaxed, family friendly.
Service: Fair-good.
Food: Poor-fair.
Value: Fair
4-Jun,11
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