MALONE — There’s a new eating option in Malone — Mo’s Pub & Grill.
It’s a freestanding building plopped in front of the new Holiday Inn Express on the Super Walmart side of town. At first glance, it looks like it might be a Chili’s or an Applebee’s or a T.G.I. Friday’s.
But it’s not. It’s a locally owned and operated one-of-a-kind eatery, the brainchild of the Monette family. The Monettes own other businesses in Malone, including several mini-marts, but this is their first effort with a full-fledged restaurant.
Inside, it also resembles a big name chain restaurant. A large sports bar with five flat-panel TVs dominates the center of the building. It’s noticeably noisy, but that just adds to the fun atmosphere. Quieter dining is available around the perimeter of the bar area, separated from the bar by glass windows.
OK, twist my arm. We started our evening at the bar, taking four prime seats close to the enchanting beer taps. These are not your father’s (or your college son’s) beer taps. The cylindrical base is made of clear plastic, filled with crushed ice, leading to a swan neck from which four handles extend. The beer is kept ice-cold as it flows through the tap.
A further boon to any beer lover — frosted pint glasses.
We had intended to move to a table for dinner, but got pretty comfortable where we were. The service was friendly and medium-slow (it took forever for a latecomer in our party to get water; worse yet, a second beer for us) — but our bartendress, in her defense, was making drinks for the entire restaurant while serving food and grog to bar patrons.
The menu is cleverly written and fun to read. Pub food favorites are all there: wings, nachos, sliders, bruschetta, chicken tenders, chicken Caesar, burgers and paninis. And there is a good selection of dinner entrees: tilapia, salmon, shrimp, lobster ravioli, steaks, chicken and ribs.
Sliders, little burgers on little buns, are trendy and cute. Mo’s Sliders ($8.99) offers three different things on little burger buns: cheeseburger, chicken parm and barbecue brisket. While they weren’t the most incredible sliders we’ve ever eaten, they certainly get our vote for creatively switching up this food fad.
Mo’s Beef Bleu Bruschetta ($9.99) was a real surprise — diced fresh tomatoes with herbs on two modest pieces of lightly toasted baguette topped with tender, tasty shaved beef and a drizzle of blue cheese sauce. This was one delicious appetizer.
From the salad section of the menu, Lettuce Wraps ($9.99) were another great surprise.You get to create your own little veggie wrap, choosing from a variety of ingredients presented on a platter.
Five or six fresh Bibb lettuce leaves are topped with pieces of grilled chicken breast. Bean sprouts, chopped tomatoes, julienned carrots and marinated cucumbers are cupped in leaves of radicchio. The platter is completed with two sauces: chili sweet and sour and a ponzu-hoisin-like sauce.
You spoon the goodies in the radicchio cups onto the lettuce leaves, add a little sauce, roll it up with your fingers (there’s no other way), pick ’em up and eat ’em.
These were really, really good — and definitely different.
Prime rib is king in the north country, so we tried their prime rib panini ($9.99), shaved beef sautéed with sliced mushrooms, onions and peppers along with horseradish sauce pressed between two slices of toasted panini bread.
What had potential to be outstanding turned out to be a bust. Something was wrong — it was bland and had no pizzazz. If there was horseradish in there, it was old horseradish. And it didn’t smell quite right — almost like something was “off.”
Our bartender/waitress was good enough to send it back to the kitchen. They thought everything was OK.
Oh, well.
What the heck does “full moon” mean in Mo’s Full Moon Shrimp Scampi? ($16.99). Turns out, it’s the three huge moon-shaped homemade raviolis stuffed with shrimp, cheese and herbs. You can bet the big chain places don’t offer that.
They were fantastic all by themselves but the addition of grilled shrimp on top and a light, creamy, Alfredo-like sauce over everything made for one great dish. Although it had none of the components of traditional shrimp scampi other than the shrimp, we enjoyed it immensely.
Mo’s Smothered Chicken ($13.99). The name scared us, but not enough to keep us from ordering it. You know what I’m saying, right? We pictured a piece of overcooked chicken with three pounds of cheese on it with a side of frozen vegetables.
Not the case at all. The chicken was perfectly cooked with just enough melted mozzarella to still provide flavor but not steal the show. Roasted red peppers and onions in between were much like you get with a fajita — hot, large pieces and fresh.
For dessert, we chose Monkey Shooters ($7.99). You’ve had shooters before, right? It’s a fairly new concept of desserts served in a shot glass.
Mo’s offers a trio of these mini desserts, not exactly as described on the menu, but the perfect portion for satisfying the sweet tooth.
We received chocolate mousse with crumbled Oreos, a vanilla “crème brulee” custard (that had an unappealing vanilla pudding taste with crushed graham crackers in it) and a raspberry mousse lacking the Pepperidge Farm Pirouette specified on the menu.
Other than being not-exactly-as-advertised, it was generally tasty stuff with a great presentation — colorful contents in tall plastic shot glasses lined up on a long plate.
An evening of food for four — two appetizers, a salad (the lettuce wraps), a panini sandwich and two dinner entrees came to $82 before tip and before figuring in our brewskies.
Service was generally good. Our bartender/waitress was contending with a near-capacity bar. Even though she forgot our silverware and wasn’t always right there when our beverages required refilling, she was attentive at removing dishes, had a good attitude and managed to laugh at herself once in awhile. At least we think she was laughing at herself.
