Restaurant’s mission made wrong statement
WADDINGTON —It’s always odd to be the only diners in a restaurant.
The first hint that we might be in for a disappointing evening was the empty parking lot in front of the Fireside Eatery on Route 37 in Waddington.
And it was a Saturday night during the weekend of the International Junior Carp Tournament, which drew throngs to this little village on the St. Lawrence River.
The second hint came when we were seated and noticed lunch menus on the table. We assumed a mistake had been made, but Justin, our courageous waiter, said they decided not to serve dinner during the tournament. We figured they were expecting to be overrun with hungry little fishermen who would rather have a grilled cheese sandwich than grilled maple-chipotle glazed salmon.
OK, it’s 7 o’clock, there are no little fishermen in the place, there are no parents of little fishermen in the place, there’s absolutely nobody in the place except for the four of us.
So we asked Justin to ask the kitchen, assuming there was not too much going on back there, if they might perhaps be able to prepare something from their dinner menu for us. It’s really not very extensive, we learned from their website — a half-dozen appetizers and a like number of entrees. But it had a few interesting items that we were looking forward to.
Good news! Except for the two chicken dishes, they’d be happy to make anything we wanted.
We were really excited about going to this relatively new restaurant. They’ve even got a mission statement decreeing “food and drink of the highest quality … impeccable service … attention to every detail with graciousness, efficiency, knowledge and professionalism … the cutting edge of the hospitality industry.”
The third hint was the water. It tasted terrible. So we ordered their signature fresh-squeezed lemonade, but they were out of it. Wonder who bought the last glass? The unsweetened green ice tea didn’t taste like much, but it wasn’t terrible — although the greenish-brown cast to it wasn’t very appealing.
A beer or glass of wine would have bailed them out in the beverage department, but they hadn’t received their liquor license yet.
The new eatery had a ’50s retro theme going on: ’50s stuff on the walls, an old silent jukebox, and the website threatened old movies playing on a small TV.
I really don’t want old movies playing while I’m eating dinner.
Then they had to go name menu items after old movies and old movie stars. Who cares? And the place smelled bad, musty from being closed up several years since last open as a restaurant.
But kudos to them for making food rather than thawing it. The appetizers were all created in the kitchen. Terrific! The problem though: some of the creations just didn’t work.
“Seven Year Itch Nachos” ($7.95) used most of the traditional stuff with the addition of barbecue chicken. The sweetness of the barbecue sauce just didn’t work with the cheese sauce that totally covered diced onions, peppers, tomatoes and olives.
“Toast of the Town Bruschetta” ($6.95) was pretty good. Most north country restaurants blanket their bruschetta with cheese, as was the case here with mozzarella. “Two types of tomatoes” was a mystery to us, since they were canned tomatoes. Hunts and Redpak?
Nice crusty Italian bread underneath. Reminiscent of those late-night English muffin pizzas we made in college. Not a culinary masterpiece back then, but tasty and served a purpose.
“12 Angry Clams” ($8.95) were steamed open and served in a broth of clam juice, butter and garlic. The broth was tasty; the clams were those rather small ones from somewhere overseas and not overly meaty.
“Rio Bravo Quesadilla” ($8.95) took a stab at creativity by adding blue cheese to the traditional ingredients, including their own “house roasted” beef. Unfortunately, it didn’t work, the pungent cheese totally overwhelming the quesadilla.
You really had to hunt for the beef, but if you were lucky enough to find some in your section, it was pretty OK. All in all, the whole thing lacked zing. Suppose we could have asked for a little hot sauce. Or maybe they should have offered some.
Soup of the day ($1.95 a cup), homemade cream of carrot, had a nice texture — not overly creamy, with a zesty flavor. There was an interesting spice in there that we couldn’t identify. Allspice? Coriander?
Salads are a la carte, or you can choose one of the salads in place of two sides, which we did.
“The Judy Garland” ($3.25) consisted of greens (mostly iceberg), tomato, cucumber, carrot and onion. We asked for blue cheese crumbles but got a creamy blue cheese dressing that really didn’t taste very good.
“The Cagney” ($3.95) — greens, spinach, blue cheese, tomatoes, olives and cucumber—came with ranch dressing (we weren’t asked for a choice). It’s peak season for veggies, but looking at the limp salad, you wouldn’t have known it.
“Shirley’s Baby Spinach” ($3.95) wasn’t bad, except there wasn’t any spinach in it. Well, three pieces, tops. The rest was iceberg with non-toasted walnuts and not-the-best-quality feta finished with raspberry vinaigrette.
The “piled high” “Rat Pack” smoked brisket sandwich ($9.45) came on an OK north country-style hard roll — acceptable but not a real Kaiser — with decent-flavored thinly sliced brisket (not exactly piled high to our standards) with a little swipe of plain yellow mustard.
We chose a side of steaming hot baked beans from a can, sweet with molasses, doctored up with soft bacon crumbles.
“North by Northwest Grilled Maple-Chipotle Glazed Salmon” ($13.95) didn’t quite live up to its “succulent” menu description; it was more like slightly overcooked. The thin glaze was long on maple and short on chipotle, sweet with nothing to contrast to it.
The fish shared the plate with the Cagney. Other than that, there was no attempt to garnish it.
Same with the “Sinatra ‘New York, New York’ Strip Steak” ($13.95)—sitting on the plate all lonely looking next to the bowl of Shirley’s Baby Spinach. The 8-ounce portion was topped with nicely sautéed, flavorful mushrooms and melted blue cheese. Unfortunately, we were blue cheesed-out at this point in the meal.
I saved the worst for last — “La Strada Vegetarian Stroganoff” ($12.95). A disaster in every way. It looked awful, and it didn’t taste much better.
A platter of watery egg noodles was covered with a gummy white mixture with waterlogged frozen broccoli, soggy cauliflower and tasteless crinkle-cut carrots jutting out of it.
Stroganoff is supposed to be a creamy blend of sour cream and stock with sautéed onions and mushrooms. Adding insult to injury, the white stuff did not resemble a creamy blend of anything. It was more like a paste. Old, dried up paste.
This was a shameful dish to bring to the table—especially from a restaurant that claims to have a commitment to local growers and seasonal produce.
Dessert? There were several options offered, but by this time of the night, we weren’t about to take the chance.
Dinner came to $82.02. And we weren’t charged for the stroganoff thing. Wouldn’t you know it — the credit card machine was down. Fortunately, we were able to come up with enough cash to pay the bill and leave our server, Justin, a tip.
Justin was the best part of the evening. He really tried hard and had a pretty good sense of how things should work, especially for a high school kid with no prior restaurant experience.
However, the person who wrote the mission statement should maybe take time to consider an employee dress code. We had no problem with shorts and a clean T-shirt, but some other people might.
In fact, maybe they should take some time to look over that mission statement and either heed it or ditch it.
You can contact restaurant reviewer Walter Siebel via e-mail: wsiebel@wdt.net.
The Fireside Eatery
169 Lincoln Ave. (State Highway 37)
Waddington, N.Y.
541-4250
www.firesideeatery.com
Directly from their website: “FINALLY, a comfy retro restaurant for locals and travelers alike to relax and enjoy…a wonderful array of comfort foods.”
Dinner served 5 to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and an Italian buffet on Sunday evening. They’re open Wednesday through Sunday for breakfast and lunch. Breakfast starts at 9 a.m., lunch at 11:30 a.m.
RATING: 1 ½ forks
