Located in a free standing building, the café shares its retail space with a phone store. We had not read much about the new restaurant and almost pulled away when we saw the drive-through window.
Against our better instincts we decided to go in and check out the menu. We discovered that it is counter-service and menus were laying about on both sides of the entry, as well as at the counter. The space opens into the phone store which was a little weird. We again dilly-dallied about staying or going. We finally decided that the menu looked interesting enough to stay.
It’s a cool space with a lot of partitioned privacy, ever-changing lights above, large screen TVs, and music playing a bit too loud. (I did get called out on complaining about the music only when it was something I didn’t like :)
We stepped up to order and were then given a number to place on our table that a server came by later looking for a match. She brought just one of our orders, and without the fries, and thought our other orders had not been placed. But a few minutes later, the rest of our order appeared.
The Sizzling Bowl with steak came with the option of habanero sauce or asian ginger sauce. After being advised that the asian ginger sauce was hotter, this was the choice. To accompany the bowl, a garden salad was ordered. No Italian dressing was available but a balsamic vinaigrette was offered as a close substitute.
The Bowl contained pan-fried noodles, steak, portabella mushrooms, sautéed peppers and onions, green onions, and sesame seeds, with the afore-mentioned asian ginger sauce. Many diners complain if the meat portion is too small, but this bowl was too meat-heavy to maintain a nice balance. Flavors otherwise melded nicely but the sauce was mild and nowhere near the promised hot.
Our second entree was the Black Jack Burger accompanied with Asian Ginger Slaw and fries. Ordered medium-rare, it arrived close to that. Joined by pepper jack cheese, jalapeño bottle caps, sweet habanero sauce, chipotle mayo, and shredded lettuce on a brioche bun, it was an excellent burger that arrived with the requisite heat. The slaw was tasty but too wet, and the late-arriving fries were delicious, seasoned with a special Brann’s concoction. Our only other negative was the small, fast-food napkins that were available. The burger in particular was a 10-napkin event.
As we read the restaurant materials on the tables we discovered that the restaurant opened the drive-through for breakfast coffee & pastry seekers, and the counter-service lunch converts to full-service dining at 4pm, along the lines of Schnitz Deli transforming into Ada Grill. Great idea, and we’ll have to stop back to enjoy the dinner experience.
So - cool space, interesting menu, and good food (but a sloppy lunch presentation today - see pictures and commentary). The name is derived from the year John Brann, Sr, sold his first sizzler steak and we think his grandson, Johnny Brann, Jr, has a good thing going here.
www.kitchen67.com
Interesting! I just drove by there today and from the outside it almost looked like it was a catering business and not a restaurant...despite the fact that the sign said "Cafe". They do need to make it look a little more like a restaurant with some signage and a little less industrial...industrial really just works if everyone knows what it is.
ReplyDeleteI'll give it a try next time!
I think you'll enjoy it - thanks for the comment!
ReplyDelete