I decided to get in my car and see where it took me today and ended up at Brix. Brix is a Napa Valley staple that I drive right past every time I am headed to my faves here. Before I had no reason-after today I might.
There were 3 absolute positives about my lunch today: a pleasant and genuinely friendly waiter, the Frank Family Chardonnay I had (recommended by said waiter), and the desert-a luscious “fried pie” that consisted of homemade version of an apple Hostess pocket pie served with cinnamon ice cream and a salty caramel sauce. I may have to try that at home, folks.
The negatives were downright annoying. The menu was disappointing-someone is trying to impress too many people with their “culinary genius” instead of just serving people-pleasing fare. Yes, I know we are in heavy culinary competition locally, but come on. Due to being so irritated with the pretentious menu, I opted for a cheeseburger-hoping for something simple like the amazing burger offered at Va Da Vi. I’ll take the blame for this one. I know I was hoping for too much. It had such promise-everything here is house made, down to the bun and pickles. When the cheeseburger arrived it was huge, soaked in grease and had the biggest mound of greasierthantheburger coagulated cheese on it I have ever seen. There were positives on my plate: The bread and butter pickles were delish, and the steak fries were cooked to perfection-crispy on the outside, fluffy clouds on the inside. What this tells me is that the sous chef and/or prep guy deserves more credit.
Another bothersome occurrence on my visit was when my nearly full plate of food was taken away by an overly efficient busboy (is there such a thing?) before my waiter could look at my plate and notice how little I had eaten and offer to do something about it-or at least to ask if my meal was okay. Seems like a small thing, but it was this restaurants one chance to make up for the sad main dish I was served.
So, I will close my MacBook on a sad note here at Brix. Or, maybe I’ll have another glass of Chardonnay and forget about it a little. We shall see.
Brix: http://www.brix.com/
Frank Family Vineyards: http://www.frankfamilyvineyards.com/
