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Biting into Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill
It is a Saturday at noon and we've got brunch on the brain. We thought we had made reseravtions for brunch. We said "brunch" but we know "brunch" sounds a lot like "lunch" and so brunch was in fact lunch as Moonshine Grill only does the brunch on Sundays. It was sooooo disappointing. We had perused the menu online before and the brunch buffet sounded so promising, so new, so yummy. We didn't want french fries and salad, we wanted waffles and Green Chile Cheese Grits. So, to be fair to Moonshine Grill, we were wanting brunch, not lunch, and this put us in a little bit of a bad mood.
We look over the menu--not a lot of vegetarian options, but certainly a lot of interesting selections. We are tempted to make a meal of the Spinach and Artichoke Fondue served with Garlic Bread and perhaps a Strawberry Spinach Salad with goat cheese, pickled red onions, almonds and strawberry vinagrette, but the hostess tells us the eggplant paresan is excellent so we go with that. Our companions order the Waldorf Salad, the Turkey Melt, and, of course, Mac & Cheese for the little one.
The cozy, yet spacious restaurant which was once the high end Emilias is nearly empty. We like the decor, though. The dark wood, the exposed brick, the large patio are all inviting and comforting. It's a place with character, a place you can easily feel relaxed.
Moonshine Grill has got good sense when it comes to kids. They bring their order out as soon as humanly possible, anticapting our need to keep the tot busy while we wait for the rest of our order. The Mac & Cheese is a little bit too grown up tasting for a two year old, but we don't mind taking a few bites of it while we wait for our dish to arrive. We are still obsessing about sticky buns when the food comes. Our service is great--cheerful, helpful, and quick. We notice the eggplant parmesan is not on a bed of noodles--something we've been used to at other restaurants. Hmmm. Did we mention how much we love carbs. God, we are in such a pissy mood, and the eggplant holds no interest for us, nor do the green beans, which taste a little less than fresh, or the undercooked fries. The enormous Waldorf salad is a hit. Our other companion declares the turkey melt "okay" and the fries "yuck." We take about two bites of the Eggplant and give up. Maybe we just have brunch stomach or maybe it just isn't that great.
We have to get dessert (especially when someone else is paying) so we order the white chocolate bread pudding. It's good, the best thing yet. We don't see where the white chocolate comes into it, but plain old bread pudding is usually enough to make us salivate. It comes topped with fresh whipped cream and we savor every bite. Thank goodness, since our main dish got sent back hardly touched.
We haven't given up on Moonshine Grill. We still plan on attending their popular brunch on a SUNDAY, its just that we probably won't be in any great hurry to do so.
