Saturday, July 07, 2007

Eureka

Tonight we went to Eureka, which we'd been wanting to do for a while. Its owned by the same people who own Chenery Park (which, as you can see below, we love dearly). Unfortunately, that's pretty much where the similarities between the two restaurants end. We'd heard that Eureka was "like Chenery Park but a bit more upscale." Accordingly, we dressed up a bit and thought we were headed for a slightly swanky evening. The decor was clearly someone's idea of upscale but it just wasn't. The room we were in was cramped and all of the two tops were against the wall, which wasn't really so bad, just not very comfortable. In fact, that pretty well describes the whole place...not so bad, just not _fill in the blank_.

The service was middling at best. The drinks took a while to come which isn't so bad, but was noticeable. Our server never did the automatic and helpful "are there any questions about the menu?" thing. In a lot of cases that's unnecessary, but at Eureka they have several items like the "Eureka Caesar Salad" and the "Eureka Burger" such that one can't be entirely sure what's special or "Eureka" about them. Then, she answered the questions incorrectly or inaccurately, as you'll read below.

They couldn't make the Sazerac I ordered (and I've registered my willingness to forgive bartenders who don't try to make what they can't or don't know how) so that was ok, but the Manhattan I ordered instead wasn't very good. Too much dry vermouth, not any sweet vermouth that I could taste and I think no bitters. Fortunately, I ordered it with Knob Creek, so it was drinkable. The Food Gal's Amaretto Sour was (get ready for the refrain) OK, but a bit too sweet. Granted, a sweetish drink, but balance in cocktails is all. The Food Gal then got a glass of Sin Zin which she reported was tasty enough (but she didn't finish it and I was driving...draw what conclusions you will).

First, the good parts of the food. The Food Gal got the "Roasted Fig Salad" as a starter and Meyer Lemon Linguine with Shrimp for an entree. The "salad" wasn't really. There were greens on the plate but it was mostly two figs cut in half and roasted and some large croƻtons with shavings of "queso" on top. Those were then drizzled with a reduced dressing or balasamic or some such thing. As the Food Gal said "it was fine, but I wanted salad, not bread." (I'll interject here that the bread they brought us was nice enough, but overly toasted all around and shattered upon trying to get it into manageable pieces.) The linguine looked OK and the Food Gal ate about two thirds of it...but the shrimp were miniscule. Serious corner cutting going on on that one.

I started with the Shrimp Cocktail (thinking it looked safe....nothing on the menu really stood out for either of us) but the shrimp were a combination of old, overcooked and mealy. They were topped with raw, sliced red onion and some seaweed salad pieces and served with two dipping sauces in the same bowl (which became once sauce very quickly). I ate about half of the shrimp and no one took note. I asked the server about the "Eureka Burger" and was told it was just a burger; "a straightforward burger?" I asked, "yes," she said. So I ordered away rare and when it came to the table it turned out that it had raw garlic, chives and herbs in it. I suppose that works for some, but for me (and especially rare) not so much. They took note of that since I took one bite and left it alone and they nicely took it off of the tab with no question.

We passed on dessert. We went down the street to Bi-Rite for ice cream, which after I recover from the huge honkin' piece of raw garlic I unwittingly ate, I'll eat and tell you all about.

We won't be back. We still love Chenery Park but not only was Eureka not "like Chenery Park but a bit more upscale" it wasn't like Chenery Park in any of the ways that matter: ambiance, service, drinks and food worth returning for.