| rev:text
| - We drive by Bink's all the time and finally decided to check out their brunch last Sunday. It's a neat building as it's housed in an a converted rambler right on Osborn. I noticed that the la-di-da restaurant reviewer from our local magazine Uptown, which caters to the Biltmore/Arcadia bourgeoisie ensured readers that despite the "sketchy" location, flak-jackets were unnecessary and diners would be pleasantly surprised by this place despite it's being in a questionable part of town. I almost gave myself a migraine from rolling my eyes so hard. If they think 24th and Osborn is rough, they must think south Phoenix is a war-zone, complete with apocalyptic lawless chaos and razor-wire refugee camps!
But I digest...
The service was very friendly and efficient. The hostess was helpful, the busser was attentive and our server was great. A tall dark Amazonian woman, with an enthusiastic knowledge and appreciation for the items offered as nosh.
We shared some of their locally grown veggies as a starter. The roasted cauliflower with melted cheese, and the broccoli with fennel sausage were both very good. I love that they are served on little hot iron skillets. I despise nothing more than hot food plopped onto a freezing plate. I myself ALWAYS warm the plates when serving food at home. Anything less is uncivilized!
For the main event my wife had the breakfast sandwich. It looked really good, but it was too tall to bite into. It would take a generous mouth the likes of Julia Roberts or Lady Gaga to chomp down on it so she decided to "deconstruct" it. It came with scrambled egg, a sausage patty that was tasty, but over cooked: both sides were burnt black. Had I noticed earlier I would have sent it back, but it wasn't my food and by the time I tried it my wife had eaten most of it. Kudos to her for sucking it up, but it really was burnt. I doubt it was the executive Chef manning the grill that morning. The crispy potato patty was crunchy... a little too crunchy. It was hard enough that cutting it amounted to smashing/shattering it into submission. It was still tasty, but one need have a tough mouth. I suggest they take them out sooner so that they still retain some of their softness.
I had the eggs benny hold the bread. Housemade and delightful though it may be, I don't eat wheat so I just had the poached eggs (medium and perfect) the house cured ham (tender and delicious) all smotherd in a Holandaise sauce that would have the Dutch begging for the recipe! It dawned on me next time to order the benny on the crispy spud patty.
All in all but for the two overdone elements of my wife's sandwich the food was really good.
Now as gross as this may sound it's not a deal-breaker but should be noted:
There were a fair amount of house-flies buzzing around the dining room. I noticed they have a discreet but apparent fly-light in the hallway to the restrooms; a seemingly less effectual one at that. Though not plagued by them, the flies were noticeable and did require frequent shooing. Owners take note: correct this problem ASAP. It's distracting and unpleasant. We surmised it's likely due to the fact that their dumpster is right outside the back of the restaurant. Most places manage to have some distance but they are on a limited lot. Not sure what they can do about it but if I were the operator I would consult the pros and get this corrected.
Normally I would have taken this down to a 3 star, but I will reserve judgment until I try them again, as it was an 80% good dining experience.
They have a nice patio and a decent bar as well. We plan to give the dinner menu a try soon.
ttfn!
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)