Prairie Grass Café has become very popular, perhaps to it’s detriment. Not a surprise when you have chefs with four-star reputations offering food at two-star prices. After seeing the favorable comments on LTH I was looking forward to trying it.
As an indication of Prairie Grass’ popularity, when our group of four called six days in advance for a 7 pm Wednesday reservation we were offered a choice of either 6 pm or 7:30. We opted for the latter.
We were seated promptly upon arrival which scored points with everyone – we all dislike the “buy some high-margin drinks at the bar while we get around to setting your table” routine.
Unfortunately, when filled with people Prairie Grass is rather noisy thanks to hard-surfaced walls, floors and ceilings. The ceilings are high which mitigated the problem. Luckily there were no private parties that night and we were seated in the private party area. It’s adjacent and open to the main room, but had carpeting so we could manage a conversation.
Menus and bread arrived promptly, but it was 20 minutes until our order was taken, and another 20 minutes until salads/appetizers arrived. Our server advised us that every choice we made was excellent or outstanding, but otherwise was not very visible except when delivering food. The bus staff did a good job of checking on water and clearing plates.
– A pizza (thin cracker style crust of course) with figs, bleu cheese and prosciutto was shared around. It was an interesting and tasty mix of flavors which everyone liked.
– Caesar salad was OK, but nothing special.
– The beet salad with citrus was excellent – perhaps the best dish of the meal
– I’m a soup lover and decided to try their home-made chicken soup with cilantro and jalapeno peppers. It was a good soup with a rich broth and finely diced jalapenos, cilantro, onions and carrots. The flavor was somewhat different from the chicken soup I get a local Mexican restaurants (they often have tomatoes also), but overall was no better. I didn’t have great expectations for this humble dish so it was quite satisfactory.
There was another 40 minute wait for the main courses. I’m happy with leisurely dining, but it should be in a quieter, more relaxed atmosphere. The background din at Prairie Grass suggests a faster pace.
– My wife had the moussaka which used braised lamb rather than ground lamb. It had a good flavor but there was too much fat in the dish.
– Our friends' entrees were phyllo wrapped around goat cheese and veggies, which was tasty, and lamb sausage. The latter was ordered because the menu mentioned fennel in the sausage, but little fennel flavor was detected. The dish pronounced good, but unexceptional.
– I had the signature dish, “unconventional shepherd’s pie” made with braised beef and with a crust of several root vegetables. When it arrived I was warned the plate was very hot which was indeed the case. In fact, the pie was too hot to eat. The first taste nearly burned my throat and I had to wait a few minutes until it cooled down. I expected meat and vegetables in a broth or gravy with a crust over them. Instead it was all melded together. It lacked the depth of flavor one expects from braised beef. The taste and texture were closer to a mild polenta. An adequate dish, but hardly ethereal.
Finally we all shared a helping of Mom’s apple pie with homemade vanilla ice cream. The pie filling was on the tart side and the crust was of the very light flaky variety – almost like a croissant. My wife prefers a heftier crust, so she was disappointed. Those who like a light crust will enjoy it a lot. The ice cream was good.
We had just two glasses of wine total. The ladies were going to have ice tea but declined when they found it was made from a green tea base which was not to their taste, so they made do with water.
Total cost with tax and tip was about $40/person.
Quick summary – we’ve all had better meals for less. It was OK, but nothing special – a far cry from the experiences reported here previously. Based on this one meal I’d recommend going to your favorite local bistro instead.
I don’t know how much of this was due to the server and how much to the kitchen. It may be a variant of the Check Please effect where restaurants have difficulty maintaining standards when popularity rises sharply.
Last edited by
George R on June 6th, 2008, 11:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
Where there’s smoke, there may be salmon.