Owner puts heart, soul in Poo's Place

RAYMONDVILLE — If you've ever driven through Raymondville, a little village between Potsdam and Massena, you'd remember seeing the Raymondville Hotel.

It was a dump — a beer-slingin' bar in latter years with shingles falling off the dilapidated building and people falling off the porch. The classiest things about the place were the neon beer signs hanging in the windows.

Last fall, a new sign went up out front: Poo's Place, Restaurant and Bar. There's new siding, new porch steps and new exterior lighting, too.

While the exterior is a work in progress, every inch of the interior has been tastefully transformed: a large, open dining area with a new dark-wood floor throughout; walls painted with warm, welcoming colors; a clean, inviting bar that could accommodate a dozen and a half patrons on any given night.

Our evening began at the bar. Four of us and one O'Doul's-drinking regular. Our bartender began by qualifying herself: "I'm just the piano player, but I can probably get you a beer. Anything more than that and I'll have to get Poo."

Yes, there is a Poo. Poo is Melinda Krywanczyk. (Or is it the other way around?) She popped out of the kitchen with her cooking apron on, hair pulled back through a baseball cap, and made our mixed drinks.

A gracious host, she quickly told us that she and her relatives did all the gutting and remodeling of the interior. You could tell this beautiful space was renovated and designed by people with obvious skill, taste and eye.

A collection of mismatched tables dots the dining room but fits well into the scheme of things. We settled around an old wooden one as our beertender/pianist played everything from Sinatra to Elvis, nonstop and at the right volume.

Poo the chef and Poo the bartender was now Poo our waitress. Her help didn't show up that evening, so she was doing it all herself. Welcome to the restaurant business.

She took our order, explaining the preparations, and invited us to help ourselves to the salad bar.

Covered compartments made self-service a little clumsy, but we were pleased with the fresh contents: spring mix (not a leaf of iceberg to be found), grape tomatoes, red onion, cucumber, olives (green and black), sliced pepperoni, giardiniera and croutons.

There were two bottled-dressing favorites, Paul Newman balsamic vinaigrette and Hidden Valley ranch. Creamy coleslaw was good, but processed a little too fine for our liking.

We skipped over appetizers, primarily fried pub grub.

Entrée choices are a bit limited, but Poo is taking it a step at a time, offering only what she can prepare by herself in the kitchen.

Except for Delmonico steak and spaghetti and meatballs, and haddock that she was out of, we got to try most everything on the menu.

Tavern chicken ($15.95) is Poo's version of chicken cordon bleu: pounded chicken breast topped with smoked ham, a touch of barbecue sauce and our choice of cheese. We picked pepper Jack, which gave it a nice kick. The chicken was a little dry from the final broil, but all in all, a tasty signature dish.

A side of angel hair pasta with red sauce was just OK.

Sun-dried tomato pasta ($15) was good. Whole sun-dried tomatoes were swirled into a light Alfredo sauce (butter, cheese, cream) and placed over a huge pile of linguini. More tomato flavor might have been infused into the sauce had they been julienned or at least cut into smaller pieces.

Feta chicken ($16.95) was very enjoyable, moist and tender. A good-sized chicken breast was pounded and gently sautéed in wine and garlic. The melted feta cheese became part of the creamy cheese sauce. It was served over lots of pasta — too much, really.

We ordered cabbage noodles on the side. They were pretty good while they were hot, but became oily and greasy as they cooled down.

Unfortunately, shrimp scampi ($16.95) was a bust. The shrimp were mealy and tough, perhaps overcooked or just not the best quality from the start. When I hear scampi, I think of a sauce of wine, olive oil, lemon, garlic and parsley. While some of those components might have been there, they were lost in the mountain of angel hair pasta underneath the shrimp.

For dessert we tried Poo's homemade banana cream pie, a large, very enjoyable portion, loosely cornstarched with good banana flavor. Hot-fudge brownie sundae was also good, a nice warm brownie with plenty of hot fudge, good-quality vanilla ice cream and decent whipped cream.

Poo treated us to dessert on the house because dinner took a little longer than she would have liked, but I guess that was excusable since she was the bartender/cook/waitress/busperson/dishwasher all rolled into one.

Dinner for four, excluding drinks, came to $69 before tip. House Merlot was basic wine, priced at $4.25 a glass.

Poo's Place signature is Poo. She has obviously put her heart and soul into the restaurant, creating an ambience inside a historic building that might very well have fallen into its cellar hole had she not come to its rescue. Her pleasant charm and dogged commitment to the place balance some of the shortcomings.

Poo loves her work, and it shows. With some fine-tuning on the dishes and a little more work on value for the price, she'll be headed in the right direction.

You can contact Walter E. Siebel via e-mail: wsiebel@wdt.net.

Poo's Place Restaurant & Bar

8720 Route 56

Raymondville

250-8477

A new bar and eatery in the old Raymondville Hotel, combining the charm of a village tavern with some of the formality of a midscale restaurant. Tastefully remodeled interior with spacious dining room and comfortable bar.

HOURS:

Dinner served 4:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday through Monday

A compact menu with chicken, shrimp, haddock and steak cooked up by a caring owner.

RATING: 3 Forks