Monday, September 17, 2007
Dine in or Take Out
Be sure to check out my Dine in or Take Outblog for a witty, sarcastic, funny, etc., take a waiting...
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Rudy's Red Eye Grill -- Review
Rudy’s Review
Located at the new Holiday Inn on Hwy 10, the first positive thing that can be said about Rudy’s Red Eye grill is that it doesn’t feel like a typical “tacked onto a hotel” type of restaurant. It has its own entrance so that one doesn’t have to enter the hotel in order to get to the restaurant – a minor, but not insignificant, detail. Sadly, after a number of visits over an eight-month period, this is one of the few things positive left to be said.
Which is a shame. So often new restaurants take a while to get things rolling. The kitchen has to get a rhythm; the server staff has to learn the menu – typical stuff. And this was true of Rudy’s. What doesn’t usually happen is that after a restaurant gets rolling it so quickly comes to a screeching halt. My first visit to Rudy’s was a few months after in opened, my last visit in late February of 2007. That period of time was a fast forward version of the life of a restaurant – bumpy as expected launch, maturing into a decent eatery, falling apart as the staff abandons the shop and management makes disastrous choices.
For our first visit, my companion and I decided we would start with drinks in the bar, then move to the dining room. We went on a Friday night, purposely did not make reservations. We had our drink (each a beer) from a friendly but busied bartender, then, although the dining room was busy, we were sat in a respectable amount of time. Now let me just stop here for a minute and to say that I like art, all kinds. Modern, classic, what have you. And while I’m not a huge fan of the artwork created by surrealist artist Ferdinand Botero, I don’t hate it…unless I have to look at it will stuffing my face. Most of the work shows weirdly proportioned, overweight people in various surreal environments. Why one would put pictures of this kind in a restaurant I can only speculate. Paintings of chubby fat-faced businessmen types with floating snakes and apples really doesn’t put me at ease or make me want to eat lots of food. The rest of the atmosphere was acceptable, except perhaps the lighting; while I appreciate mood lighting, I do like enough light to see what it is I’m eating.
But those whacked out cherubs watching me eat….creeeeepy.
On the first visit, the server was energetic, quick to bring us rolls, take drink orders, and rattle off the specials. We started with appetizers; “Bull Bites” and “Monster Buffalo Wings.” The Bull Bites -- Cajun spiced tenderloin chunks (not testicle, as the name seems to suggest) served on deep fried onions and topped with chopped tomatoes -- were very good. The Monster Buffalo wings were nothing special but satisfactory. They didn’t suck. Why you ask, are they called “monster” wings? Couldn’t tell you. My best guess is that they must have tiny monsters in Minnesota (the home base of Rudy’s) because these wings were not any larger than any other wings I have had, perhaps even smaller.
Annoyingly, the drinks we ordered when we were seated did not appear until we were almost done with the appetizers. I had to satisfy myself with water, although I was looking forward to cutting the heat of the wings with a good Bloody Mary. Surprise, a good Bloody Mary wasn’t in the offing – I received a decent Bloody made from a mix. For the price, it was a disappointment. They must make gobs of money charging made-from-scratch prices for made-from-mix drinks.
On the first visit I ordered the 20 oz rib eye steak (mislabeled on the menu as 10 ounce) with a baked potato ($25). My companion decided to try the Bella Roma pizza – a white sauced pizza on a thin crust, with Roma tomatoes, garlic, and chicken ($10).
The steak was cooked as ordered and was very good – tender, grilled nicely so that the juices stayed seared inside. So much of the quality of a steak relies on the meat itself and not on the cooking of it. It would seem that Rudy’s has a provider who supplies quality food. The potato was fine – what can you say, it was a baked potato. I was slightly annoyed to find an errant French fry (or as they are on the menu, “shoestring potato,”) on my plate. It is a sign that the kitchen lacks attention to detail and makes one wonder where else this lack of attention can be found. The vegetable was green beans, which our server told us were steamed and then flash deep-fried and tossed with soy sauce and sesame seeds. Very tasty. Strangely, they have only one vegetable – no choice for the customer, and from what I’ve seen, no variety from day to day. Perhaps the Rudy’s franchise invests in green bean farms?
The pizza was good and reasonably priced, but I do have one issue: Rudy’s makes a big deal in print and television advertising about the pizza being wood-fired. The pizza we received was clearly not wood fired, and upon questioning the server, I found out for sure it wasn’t. He confided that they cook the pizzas on a “treadmill” oven – definitely no wood was harmed in the cooking of the pizza. While the pizzas are good, Rudy’s shouldn’t pretend that they are wood fired.
Only months later I yearned for the food quality of the first. The pizza saw its price go up with the size get smaller. The appetizers of Bull Bites and Deep Fried Calamari were almost inedible; the bull bites were tough and tasted of charcoal, and the calamari was so over cooked there were literally unrecognizable chunks of deep fried something towards the bottom of the dish. The 20oz rib eye became a 20 oz bone-in rib eye of less than stellar quality and cooked badly.
Looks like buying and preparing quality ingredients didn’t last long.
Overall, months ago Rudy’s was an enjoyable if not memorable dining experience. The service was good, not exceptional, and the food was adequate to good. Unfortunately Rudy’s went form decent to death spiral in a matter of months. If you are in the mood for decent chain restaurant food – go to Applebee’s.
Located at the new Holiday Inn on Hwy 10, the first positive thing that can be said about Rudy’s Red Eye grill is that it doesn’t feel like a typical “tacked onto a hotel” type of restaurant. It has its own entrance so that one doesn’t have to enter the hotel in order to get to the restaurant – a minor, but not insignificant, detail. Sadly, after a number of visits over an eight-month period, this is one of the few things positive left to be said.
Which is a shame. So often new restaurants take a while to get things rolling. The kitchen has to get a rhythm; the server staff has to learn the menu – typical stuff. And this was true of Rudy’s. What doesn’t usually happen is that after a restaurant gets rolling it so quickly comes to a screeching halt. My first visit to Rudy’s was a few months after in opened, my last visit in late February of 2007. That period of time was a fast forward version of the life of a restaurant – bumpy as expected launch, maturing into a decent eatery, falling apart as the staff abandons the shop and management makes disastrous choices.
For our first visit, my companion and I decided we would start with drinks in the bar, then move to the dining room. We went on a Friday night, purposely did not make reservations. We had our drink (each a beer) from a friendly but busied bartender, then, although the dining room was busy, we were sat in a respectable amount of time. Now let me just stop here for a minute and to say that I like art, all kinds. Modern, classic, what have you. And while I’m not a huge fan of the artwork created by surrealist artist Ferdinand Botero, I don’t hate it…unless I have to look at it will stuffing my face. Most of the work shows weirdly proportioned, overweight people in various surreal environments. Why one would put pictures of this kind in a restaurant I can only speculate. Paintings of chubby fat-faced businessmen types with floating snakes and apples really doesn’t put me at ease or make me want to eat lots of food. The rest of the atmosphere was acceptable, except perhaps the lighting; while I appreciate mood lighting, I do like enough light to see what it is I’m eating.
But those whacked out cherubs watching me eat….creeeeepy.
On the first visit, the server was energetic, quick to bring us rolls, take drink orders, and rattle off the specials. We started with appetizers; “Bull Bites” and “Monster Buffalo Wings.” The Bull Bites -- Cajun spiced tenderloin chunks (not testicle, as the name seems to suggest) served on deep fried onions and topped with chopped tomatoes -- were very good. The Monster Buffalo wings were nothing special but satisfactory. They didn’t suck. Why you ask, are they called “monster” wings? Couldn’t tell you. My best guess is that they must have tiny monsters in Minnesota (the home base of Rudy’s) because these wings were not any larger than any other wings I have had, perhaps even smaller.
Annoyingly, the drinks we ordered when we were seated did not appear until we were almost done with the appetizers. I had to satisfy myself with water, although I was looking forward to cutting the heat of the wings with a good Bloody Mary. Surprise, a good Bloody Mary wasn’t in the offing – I received a decent Bloody made from a mix. For the price, it was a disappointment. They must make gobs of money charging made-from-scratch prices for made-from-mix drinks.
On the first visit I ordered the 20 oz rib eye steak (mislabeled on the menu as 10 ounce) with a baked potato ($25). My companion decided to try the Bella Roma pizza – a white sauced pizza on a thin crust, with Roma tomatoes, garlic, and chicken ($10).
The steak was cooked as ordered and was very good – tender, grilled nicely so that the juices stayed seared inside. So much of the quality of a steak relies on the meat itself and not on the cooking of it. It would seem that Rudy’s has a provider who supplies quality food. The potato was fine – what can you say, it was a baked potato. I was slightly annoyed to find an errant French fry (or as they are on the menu, “shoestring potato,”) on my plate. It is a sign that the kitchen lacks attention to detail and makes one wonder where else this lack of attention can be found. The vegetable was green beans, which our server told us were steamed and then flash deep-fried and tossed with soy sauce and sesame seeds. Very tasty. Strangely, they have only one vegetable – no choice for the customer, and from what I’ve seen, no variety from day to day. Perhaps the Rudy’s franchise invests in green bean farms?
The pizza was good and reasonably priced, but I do have one issue: Rudy’s makes a big deal in print and television advertising about the pizza being wood-fired. The pizza we received was clearly not wood fired, and upon questioning the server, I found out for sure it wasn’t. He confided that they cook the pizzas on a “treadmill” oven – definitely no wood was harmed in the cooking of the pizza. While the pizzas are good, Rudy’s shouldn’t pretend that they are wood fired.
Only months later I yearned for the food quality of the first. The pizza saw its price go up with the size get smaller. The appetizers of Bull Bites and Deep Fried Calamari were almost inedible; the bull bites were tough and tasted of charcoal, and the calamari was so over cooked there were literally unrecognizable chunks of deep fried something towards the bottom of the dish. The 20oz rib eye became a 20 oz bone-in rib eye of less than stellar quality and cooked badly.
Looks like buying and preparing quality ingredients didn’t last long.
Overall, months ago Rudy’s was an enjoyable if not memorable dining experience. The service was good, not exceptional, and the food was adequate to good. Unfortunately Rudy’s went form decent to death spiral in a matter of months. If you are in the mood for decent chain restaurant food – go to Applebee’s.
Here we go...
This blog will be dedicated to reviews and commentary of restaurants in Stevens Point, Wi and the Central Wisconsin area. Tell me what you think of the local dining establishments!
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