Monday, February 27, 2006

Bucks Camping & Fishing (Phyllis's husband reviews)

While Phyllis is in NYC, I went out to celebrate with friends as one of them had just finished her Bar exams (fingers crossed). We decided on Bucks Camping and Fishing (yes I know it's an odd name), which is chef Carole Greenwood's place. When my friend Maria first mentioned it, I quite honestly balked at the idea because you cannot make reservations!! I have a policy of not waiting more that 10 minutes to get into ANY restaurant. I just don't have the patience for it and life is way too short. Anyway, we were also celebrating Shannon's birthday early, so Maria called a week before hand and mentioned that it was our
friends 30th birthday and was there any way that they could hold a table for us. They agreed, YAHOO ! When we arrived at the restaurant a rather boyish looking, slightly patronizing host greeted us and informed us that our names were NOT on "the list". Maria explained to him that she had called a week beforehand and that she was told that a table would be held for us. Snooty boy let out a large sigh and said "just a minute" and walked away. Upon his return he informed us that we were "lucky" because they did have a table free after all.

The interior of the restaurant was fascinating. It had a warm feel to it, with lot's of wooden beams. There were all types of fishing regalia all over the place, but there was also a huge air of camp (the kitschy kind not the sleeping outside in the dark kind) about the place with all sorts of colored sheer drapes hanging from the beams to divide up sections of the restaurant.

After we sat down our server came over and I was thrilled to see it was our old server from I Matti (many moons ago) Nooradin; he must be one of the best servers in town. We decided to order a bottle (Nooradin's recommendation) of 2004 FALANGHINA DEI CAMPI. Nooradin explained that it was like a Pinot Grigio, which put me off at first because all I could think of was grassy, grassy, grassy. Well, I was wrong. It was fresh, crispy and had a lovely citrus bite. We ordered our appetizers. Shannon had FRESH MOZZERELLA WITH ROASTED BEETS AND "WORLD FAMOUS PESTO", which she said was delicious. I sampled a little and I have to say that the beets were amazing. So soft and juicy. Maria ordered CHILLED LOBSTER COCKTAIL WITH GINGER LIME COCKTAIL SAUCE. the lobster claws already had some of the sauce on them which was yummy (the extra wasn't even needed). In fact Maria said that it was the best lobster cocktail that she had ever had. Her one complaint (and I totally agreed) was that they need four claws not two because there was very little meat. I had the CHOPPED CHICKEN LIVERS ON TOAST AND LEVI HOMEMADE PICKLES. The chopped chicken livers was actually pate. I am not a big fan of pate, as a lot of the time it just tastes like something that's been dead for a long time and is starting to taste moldy (I think that describes it clear enough for you), but not this pate. It had such a nice fresh taste to it. The two pickles were about as big as my thumb nail, but they were scrumptious. A little crunchy with a smoky undertone. Oh, by the way, don't waste your time with the bread that they bring to the table because it's about as exciting as watching a snail race.

Nooradin recommended a $38 bottle of Rioja for our main courses. Ok, dummy here forgot to write down what it was, but it went very well with our main course choices and if you are REALLY champing at the bit to know what it was (which I am guessing you are not), just let Phyllis know and I will find out. As far as the food is concerned, Maria and Shannon ordered the WOOD GRILLED DRY AGED PRIME SERLOIN STEAK WITH HAND CUT FRIES. Shannon's steak was perfect, but Maria's cut was VERY fatty and chewy. The seasoning on the meat was very nice (I tried a little bit myself). As far as the "hand cut fries" were concerned each of them got about eight fries. Is the person cutting the fries a one handed goat ????? Are they soooooo special that they can only spare a few ?? They asked for an extra portion of fries and they received it when we had all finished our dinner. It was a sweet little bowl with 9 or 10 almost black fries in it. We told the person who brought it to take it away. I ordered BUCKS BIG WOOD GRILLED LOBSTER WITH SMOKEY MUSHROOM AND RED WINE PAN SAUCE. I am a lazy eater when it comes to shells and bones and I explained this to Noordin. It was quite a pricey entree, so I wanted to make sure it would be easy to get out of the shell and I wouldn't have to WORK at it. He explained that it would just fall out. Well......no it didn't. In fact Noordin ended up helping me out by removing the meat from the shell. There was VERY little meat (where are these lobsters from?) I was quite disgusted with the amount of lobster meat (maybe nine or ten bites). I also had ordered a side of fries to go with my lobster, which arrived with the entrees. I was overwhelmed to see an eleventh fry in the bowl (an emotional moment). The sauce that went with the lobster was chunky and delicious. No complaints there.

Poor Nooradin was rather upset because he could see that we were not really happy and he wanted us to be having an amazing time. He called the owner (James) over and we proceeded to explain to him why we were not having a great dining experience. All I can say about James is that he is a GEM !!!! He knew exactly what to do to make us happy. FREE DESSERT !!!! We became so engrossed with talking to James that I completely forgot to write down the desserts. They only had three on the menu and we were given all three. We were also given a bottle of dessert wine, which I believe was called SOLIN CASORZO made with the MALVASIA grape. It was a dark red color and it was fizzy and cold and finger lickin' good. James more than made up for the problems that we had encountered. He also took my lobster and Maria's steak off the bill. Because of this kindness I would definitely go back and give Bucks another try. There are ways of dealing with customers that are not happy and James knew exactly what to do. A number of years ago I went to a rather posh restaurant in Dupont Circle with an old friend of mine. He ordered the mussels for an appetizer, but upon chewing down on one he bit down on a piece of metal that could have ripped his mouth
open (it was the metal that they use to tie up the bags of mussels). We asked for the manager and when she came over and saw what had happened she just said "things happen" and walked away. I have never and will never set foot in that place again.

Anyway, Maria, Shannon and I ended leaving Buck's Camping and Fishing feeling somewhat happy with our experience and ready to get back to normality.

Hope you have enjoyed my very frank review.