Post by ssmynkint on Jul 10, 2011 10:25:17 GMT -5
4 Winds
417 Frazier Ave. #104
Chattanooga
Open 7 days, L&D
I have to wonder sometimes if people I dine with ate at the same restaurant.
4 Winds is a new Middle Eastern Restaurant on the Northside. If you doubt that it is new, merely wait until something goes awry, and a server will inform you that they are new and that there are only two people working the kitchen.
The space seems to be a barely renovated retail establishment; one wall has what look to be display shelves. On these are occasional vases, urns and the like, representing the decor. Tables and chairs are new and clean, but the latter particularly uncomfortable. There is no sound-dampening, so even with a moderate house, the noise level is noticeable. The air conditioning was apparently set at 70 something degrees, and the house stayed quite warm.
There are no take-out menus, and despite the assurances of our server, I can find no website menu copy.
As we wanted as large a sampling of offering as possible, we decide to construct our own Mezze (appetizer) Platter to include the numerous small plates that are a typical part of a Levantine meal, and follow those with a few entrees. On being ready to order, our server informed us they were out of stuffed grape leaves, another dish that is essentially a ground meat pita pizza, and one of the kebob offerings. No too much later, attempting to reorder beer, we were informed they were now out of two of the former choices. Our server had to be coached to bring us silver, napkins, small plates and service ware with which to divide the dishes (all of them) that we had told her we were sharing.
The food came to the table in no logical order and took an excruciatingly long time. One entrée came out with the first two mezze, the others appeared more then 30min later.
The Pita Sampler $8 consisted of half-cup bowls of hummus (chickpea puree) and baba ganouj (eggplant puree) with grilled pita strips. The pita, from Nashville, was particularly flavorful, brushed with oil to grill and sprinkled with sea salt. The hummus had a very nice balance of legume, garlic, lemon and tahini (roasted sesame paste). The baba ganouj was pleasant enough, but completely lacked any of the smoky charred flavor that is the benchmark of the dish. Little if any tahini was present.
Stuffed falafel (hush-puppy like legume fritters), served with tahini, 2/$4, contained grilled onions which gave a sweet savory accent, but lacked the spicy presence of the more common Israeli type.
Tabouli salad (minced parsley, a little bulgur wheat, cuc and tomato), $6.50, served on romaine was interesting for a few bites. The fattoush salad, $6.50 had the same veggies plus onion and toasted pita cubes served in a bowl lined with romaine.. There was no trace of the mandatory sumac powder (which would have shown a deep sourish presence), and the pita cubes only added texture, not flavor.
The Kebab Plate, $13.50 and the Lamb Skewers, $15, were almost interchangeable; very mildly spiced meats grilled on a skewer with onion and bell pepper, served on rice pilaf. One was more tender then the other, and the tougher one had cinnamon sprinkled on the pilaf. The pilaf was excellent, sautéed with onion, the rice was slightly dry with each grain distinct. The Hashweh Plate, $12.50 had somewhat dry grilled chicken pieces strewn on pilaf, garnished with toasted almond slices, pine nuts and cinnamon, and was the most flavorful of the three entrees.
I can not stress enough how slow and haphazard the service was. This was largely due to the glacial pace and disjointed approach by the kitchen, but beers often took up to 15 min to appear. Finally, our server was unable to divide the tab (mathematically challenged?) which we did.
Ambiance: Poor
Service: Poor
Food: Fair to Good
Value: Fair
SSMynkint
10-Jul,11
417 Frazier Ave. #104
Chattanooga
Open 7 days, L&D
I have to wonder sometimes if people I dine with ate at the same restaurant.
4 Winds is a new Middle Eastern Restaurant on the Northside. If you doubt that it is new, merely wait until something goes awry, and a server will inform you that they are new and that there are only two people working the kitchen.
The space seems to be a barely renovated retail establishment; one wall has what look to be display shelves. On these are occasional vases, urns and the like, representing the decor. Tables and chairs are new and clean, but the latter particularly uncomfortable. There is no sound-dampening, so even with a moderate house, the noise level is noticeable. The air conditioning was apparently set at 70 something degrees, and the house stayed quite warm.
There are no take-out menus, and despite the assurances of our server, I can find no website menu copy.
As we wanted as large a sampling of offering as possible, we decide to construct our own Mezze (appetizer) Platter to include the numerous small plates that are a typical part of a Levantine meal, and follow those with a few entrees. On being ready to order, our server informed us they were out of stuffed grape leaves, another dish that is essentially a ground meat pita pizza, and one of the kebob offerings. No too much later, attempting to reorder beer, we were informed they were now out of two of the former choices. Our server had to be coached to bring us silver, napkins, small plates and service ware with which to divide the dishes (all of them) that we had told her we were sharing.
The food came to the table in no logical order and took an excruciatingly long time. One entrée came out with the first two mezze, the others appeared more then 30min later.
The Pita Sampler $8 consisted of half-cup bowls of hummus (chickpea puree) and baba ganouj (eggplant puree) with grilled pita strips. The pita, from Nashville, was particularly flavorful, brushed with oil to grill and sprinkled with sea salt. The hummus had a very nice balance of legume, garlic, lemon and tahini (roasted sesame paste). The baba ganouj was pleasant enough, but completely lacked any of the smoky charred flavor that is the benchmark of the dish. Little if any tahini was present.
Stuffed falafel (hush-puppy like legume fritters), served with tahini, 2/$4, contained grilled onions which gave a sweet savory accent, but lacked the spicy presence of the more common Israeli type.
Tabouli salad (minced parsley, a little bulgur wheat, cuc and tomato), $6.50, served on romaine was interesting for a few bites. The fattoush salad, $6.50 had the same veggies plus onion and toasted pita cubes served in a bowl lined with romaine.. There was no trace of the mandatory sumac powder (which would have shown a deep sourish presence), and the pita cubes only added texture, not flavor.
The Kebab Plate, $13.50 and the Lamb Skewers, $15, were almost interchangeable; very mildly spiced meats grilled on a skewer with onion and bell pepper, served on rice pilaf. One was more tender then the other, and the tougher one had cinnamon sprinkled on the pilaf. The pilaf was excellent, sautéed with onion, the rice was slightly dry with each grain distinct. The Hashweh Plate, $12.50 had somewhat dry grilled chicken pieces strewn on pilaf, garnished with toasted almond slices, pine nuts and cinnamon, and was the most flavorful of the three entrees.
I can not stress enough how slow and haphazard the service was. This was largely due to the glacial pace and disjointed approach by the kitchen, but beers often took up to 15 min to appear. Finally, our server was unable to divide the tab (mathematically challenged?) which we did.
Ambiance: Poor
Service: Poor
Food: Fair to Good
Value: Fair
SSMynkint
10-Jul,11
