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| - While my family has eaten a nice brunch at Main Street Cafe, we had never tried the dinner, until last night.
Friday nights in the summer feature "Rally in the Alley," a great little musical event featuring a couple of rock bands behind the restaurant. You can access the alley through the back door of the restaurant, or via either of the side streets. Fun, loud, drunk experience, but not what I would consider family-friendly. (The announcer between acts suggested that we parents could buy booze ice cream for our kids to help them sleep. Ahem.)
We were really there to eat, having had a nice brunch experience there last spring. While there were several hundred people in the alley, there were all of four tables of patrons actually inside the restaurant. The hostess was very patient, explaining that we were free to wander out to the alley (without buying a thing, if you can imagine such a radical business scheme) and asking our seating preference. There is a main, high-ceilinged dining room, brick walls, antique furniture, very 1890's. There is a bar area, with a small, elevated seating area, halfway between the main room and the alley. There is also, downstairs, a wine cellar. Situated as Main Street Cafe is, dead center on the west side of the fabulous Medina Square, the setting is about as middle America as you could get outside a Frank Capra movie.
Our server was very efficient, smiling all the while, patiently explaining the five menus placed before us: The Dinner Menu, The Small Plates Menu, The Bar Menu, The Drink Special Menu, and The Wine List. A bit daunting. We asked if there were a kids menu, too, and were informed that is was a "verbal menu," which I suppose makes that our sixth menu of the night. (While the quantity of menus was grand, the quality wasn't: Each was printed on light cardboard and seemed to have been used as beer mug coasters over the years.)
I first reviewed the Dinner Menu. Here's where the wheels fall off. The prices are way, and I mean WAY out of line with the entire experience. Small town America, great location, lots of attentive staff, but in no way is this place anything but a great local eatery. The prices were in line with steak places I've visited in Manhattan, Hong Kong, San Francisco and Sydney. Those places, though, were "destination restaurants." Main Street, while pleasant, is not.
So, on to the Small Plates. Great selection, a lot of interesting combinations, some usual for small plates, some unique. I was concerned, though, that for my thirty bucks I may get only enough to make me more hungry, not less. So, on to the Bar Menu. My wife asked the server to tell her about the Caeser Salads. "What do you mean?" she replied. Well, is it good? Are the greens out of a bag? Is the dressing made fresh? "I could bring you a taste, if you like." Great idea, and she did, promptly, bring us a tast that would have been enough for two full salads. My wife's response, "It's okay." She ordered the Caeser with steak. I had a pulled-pork BBQ sandwich with Swiss and fries, and my daughter had the nacho plate from the kids menu.
The nachos arrived first, and were of a size and magnitude for a frat house beer night. Huge. Very artfully presented, fresh and satisfying. The Caeser and BBQ were right behind, and both were just okay. (The steak in the Caeser was reported to be very, very good, though.) We had ordered a bottle of wine from the menu, and were asked what number. What number? I have to look up a number? "That's how the wine cellar is organized." Huh. Curious.
That number wasn't in the wine cellar, so we tried again. That one was, and it was very good. Chilled, served properly and held at table in a stone cooler. We were never without attention throughout the meal, and our server kept the meal moving perfectly. When the bill came, it seemed to be under what I had expected, and upon review I found she hadn't charged for the wine. "I'm glad you mentioned that, I wouldn't have." Odd comment.
Over all, this would be a fine place to make as our "local night out" place, if not for the prices. I don't mind spending that kind of coin, but in return we had better receive world-class atmosphere, service, food and overall level of culinary expertise. The night we were there, I estimate there were three staff to every customer. Most were standing around, waiting for something to do. All were smiling, pleasant and seemed to be experienced, but I have to wonder if all that overhead is what drives the prices.
A quick note about the bathroom. As it is right next to the back door, which leads to the "Rally in the Alley," it is probably used by ten times more people than actually eat in the restaurant. It wasn't clean, and we were in and out of the dining room before eight o'clock. I always wonder: if they can't keep the bathroom clean, what's the kitchen like?
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