Rockwell’s Kitchen and Tap, 45 S. Division - 1/27/11

The restaurant emphasizes locally produced, fresh ingredients, which means the menu changes with the seasons. We hadn’t been there since last April and thought it was time for a return visit.

It’s a long, narrow, two-story restaurant with wonderful dark wood booths, tables, chairs, and a lovely bar. When the outdoor deck is open, it’s accessed from the 2nd floor. The ambiance is that of a welcoming, neighborhood pub.

We took a booth with a street view and were promptly served.  From the ten “shared plate” offerings, we selected kobe steak rancheros for our appetizer. The grilled marinated steak was served with spanish rice, roasted salsa, crispy onions, and a poached egg. The combination was delicious, and the dish was exquisitely presented and prepared.  

We didn’t want salad or sushi for our main courses so we were left with the nine sandwich selections. The Niko sounded interesting with prosciutto cotto, mortadella, cappicola, spinach, tomato, red onion, olive spread, and provolone, served on Nantucket sour dough bread. It was an interesting combination of flavors and an enjoyable change from more mundane sandwich fare.

Braised pork loin, garlic greens, spicy giardiniera, provolone, au jus on a Nantucket French roll made up the Italian pork sandwich. The overall taste was slightly muddied because there were so many competing flavors. It was a bit over-complicated. The pork was lightly seasoned and the roll was very fresh. Orzo salad or chips accompany the sandwiches, and fries can be added for an additional $2.00.

Other than the idle hostess continually staring at us, we had no complaints about the service. Our server was helpful and attentive. The kitchen and the deck are shared with the adjacent Republic, which is not open for lunch. Check out the basement to see a very interesting part of this old building. You will feel as though you’re in a catacomb while searching for the lower level restroom.

Great pub atmosphere and interesting food choices make Rockwell’s worth a visit. Menus are online, and the restaurant will validate one hour parking in the parking ramp behind the restaurant.

www.rockwellsgrandrapids.com

Bistro Bella Vita, 44 Grandville Ave SW - 4/13/10

This is a large restaurant/bar that sits alongside the Van Andel Arena. We’ve lunched here several times, in the dining room, on the outdoor patio, and in the bar. Park at the meters on Grandville, and walk to the entrance on Weston. Enter and you are in the middle of the restaurant. The dining area is on your left, which is a combination of tables, and half, curvy booths. The bar is on your right and contains tables and full booths curving around a long, J-shaped bar. We chose a booth in the bar simply because there were fewer people there and we could have a window view. The entire place has a very open, airy feel about it. Very few walls, and windows on three sides give it a spacious feel, but other than the bar booths, it  doesn’t provide an intimate or warm atmosphere.

Out of the seven offered appetizers, we’ve previously had three of them (all good) so selected the antipasta. It was exquisite not only in its taste combinations but also in its presentation. The marinated vegetables combined deliciously with the meats and cheeses. Here the sum of the parts was truly better than the individuals. We could have used more crostinis to help finish the food but to be fair, we didn’t ask for them either. We still had full dishes to come.

Our main dishes were specials of the day and will not be found on the menu. The first was a meatball sandwich with fries, and coming off Rockwell’s a few weeks previously, made for an easy taste-test comparison. (Sorry, Rockwell’s - this one has your’s beat.) The meatballs were flavorful, and were served with grilled mushrooms, onions, and fresh basil leaves on French bread. Fries had partial skins and were nicely seasoned. Much more creative than Rockwell’s, this sandwich was, however, even messier to eat. The other special ordered was rigatoni with scallops, sausage, broccolini, grilled tomatoes, and chick peas, in a light lemon creme sauce. Again, a very creative and enjoyable dish.  

We had the same server as last time and she was great. Moving between the bar and the dining area, she was very efficient as well as personable. One other note on this fine restaurant, expect a higher tab (we parted with $54.00 including a generous tip). But the food is innovative and of high quality. We learned from the menu that both this establishment and The Green Well are owned by the same organization, and for fans of both of these places, you will see the pattern: fresh ingredients, local produce, creative dishes, and lovely presentations - Chef Ramsay would approve.

P.S. For you martini lovers, the Bistro claims to have the largest martini bar in Michigan.

www.bistrobellavita.com
www.thegreenwell.com

Rockwell’s Kitchen & Tap, 45 S Division Ave SW - 4/1/10

Eighty degrees in Grand Rapids called for outdoor dining, and this week, Rockwell’s outdoor deck was open. The view is diminished due to the new parking garage that dwarfs the deck, but it’s still a great place to dine. There are about twelve tables of varying sizes and only four were occupied when we arrived around 12:30.    

From the twelve interesting starters, we narrowed our choice down to lamb quesadillas, tuna poke, or lettuce cups. Our server recommended the quesadillas, and he didn’t steer us wrong. They had a really great spicy kick and combined well with the salsa and lime flavoring (chipotle monterey jack cheese, black bean salsa, lime sour cream). Quesadillas extraordinaire.       

Sandwiches are a little more mundane but most offered at least one out of the ordinary ingredient. We selected a french dip (shaved beef, caramelized onions, sauteed mushrooms, smoked gouda cheese, ciabatta bread, au jus) and it was fine but a little bland. More seasoning would have been helpful. Everything was fresh and nicely presented, as was the meatball sandwich (house made garlic-parmesan meatballs, provolone, basil marinara, ciabatta bread). This was a better sandwich than the french dip and the accompanying fries were nicely, lightly seasoned. The problem with the meatball sandwich was that it was sloppy and difficult to eat, which takes away from the enjoyment.

Both were big sandwiches and we each took half home, along with half of the quesadillas. Ciabatta bread has great texture and consistency but it is big bread, and really more than we need. But I digress. Along with providing a nice outdoor venue, Rockwell’s also consistently gives great service. Friendly, informative, and efficient - you can’t ask for more than that.

The restaurant has a great atmospheric interior but we tend to save this place for outdoor dining. The deck is shared with the adjoining restaurant, Republic, and they also share the kitchen. Republic’s doesn’t open until four, however, so enter through Rockwell’s for the deck at lunchtime. Menus for both establishments are online. We spent $40.00 today and enjoyed a nice meal under the sun. 

www.rockwellsgrandrapids.com
www.republicgrandrapids.com  

Bobarino’s - at the B.O.B., 20 Monroe Ave NW - 3/19/10

It was 60 degrees in Grand Rapids - in March - we had to find outdoor dining for lunch. Our first stop was Rockwell’s where we’d enjoyed lunch several times last summer on the upper level outdoor deck. Today there were barricades placed in front of the stairs and we told to sit anywhere, except upstairs. We couldn’t pass up the day so walked over to the B.O.B. in hopes that Bobarino’s deck was available. On the 2nd floor, we asked if we could sit on the deck, and received an affirmative response. After about 10 minutes alone on the deck, we thought this might be a “Pink Panther” moment:

“Does your dog bite?” “No.” “Nice doggie.” (*chomp*) “I thought you said your dog did not bite.” “That is not my dog.” So....we could sit on the deck but no one would serve us :) But we were patient and a server finally appeared, and he was great from then on.

Being a Friday afternoon on a “summer” day, we ordered a couple of B.O.B’s beers (for those not familiar with "The B.O.B.", they have their own brewery), an Amber and a Blond, along with the most interesting-sounding item on the appetizer menu, Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps. It was a pretty presentation and easier to eat than at Olive’s (because it was already gathered into three servings) but it was not as good. Olive’s served up stir-fried chicken, green onions, shitake, water chestnuts, wontons, asian dipping sauce, and drops of sriracha sauce. At Bobarino’s, we received grilled chicken, asian slaw, cilantro, sesame, peanut, & lemon grass dressing, with peanut sauce & thai sweet chili sauce. It was served with a small dish of sriracha sauce along with a warning from our server about this hot sauce. There are very few people who could use this much sriracha sauce in any dish (compare Olive’s that gave us several strategically placed dots of same sauce) but maybe those people are out there.

We both chose sandwiches, Chicken Pesto Panini and a TBA. The panini was fine: grilled chicken, smoked bacon, provolone, tomatoes, pesto aioli, and red onion on sourdough. The TBA consisted of smoked turkey, bacon, avocado, lettuce, tomato, and chipotle mayo on multigrain bread; it was ok but nothing extraordinary and had too much mayo. Both sandwiches were served with sweet potato chips and pasta salad. In general, neither of us are big fans of sweet potato chips - they’re just too sweet. The pasta salad was excellent - flavorful and not overly “mayonnaised”.

So here’s the upshot - we chose outdoor atmosphere over food, and it was very pleasant overlooking Grand Rapids, sipping a beer, enjoying the sun. The reason we tried Rockwell’s first is that their food is more interesting than Bobarino’s. Sadly for Rockwell’s, we could see their current “view” is now reduced to looking at a new parking garage instead of a city scape. But once they let us back outside, we’ll still enjoy some Grand Rapids summertime on their deck. Also, we’ll only go back to Bobarino’s when no other interesting (food-wise) outdoor venues are available. (In all fairness, they do have wood-fired thin crust pizzas, a few pastas and signature dishes, and several salads that may be better offerings than the sandwiches and appetizers.) We left with a $36.00 tab.

This is a Gilmore Group Restaurant and you need to search out Bobarino’s menu at the main B.O.B. website at www.thebob.com