The Bluegrass Brunch was one of extremes: the service and food were as ridiculously wretched as the band was sublimely sensational. Bad news first:
Okay, if you are going to host and advertise a brunch event, have a brunch menu. While there is seating in the music room, one has to order from the bar. Menus were hard to find, and even those were the usual burger/bar fare. It turns out there was in fact a brunch menu, if we are really going to call it that, but there were only two copies in Lucite frames that had to be hunted down. And once in hand, the brunch menu left much to be desired, and I say this as a huge (no pun intended) fan of simple diner and bar food.
Also note that there were no more home fries. By 12:30. Brunch started at noon. There were french fries on the main menu, which the bartender ultimately offered to add to the order, but not as a substitution. The home fries were $2 and the french fries were $9. For digging into a different bag of fried frozen potatoes? Whatever.
I've heard that people love the food at the Utah on Yelp. I don't think that's a fair statement. If they basically only serve burgers and the burgers are good, I think you could say that people like their burgers. I cannot imagine that the affinity for the burgers is extended to the rest of their food items.
While the bartender was very kind, the overall service was pretty wretched. The place was crowded with bar goers and football watchers, and the music room/overlook had plenty of music lovers. One bartender/wait staff for the entire bar. This meant that placing an order just standing at the bar took over 20 minutes. While we were waiting more than one person came in, waited at the bar to order a drink, got visibly impatient, then ultimately left. I'm not sure what the Utah's cost/benefit analysis of number of patrons versus number of staff would reveal, but I watched them repeatedly drive away their own customers by being understaffed.
. 
While there was one person behind the bar, he was matched by a single guy in the kitchen attempting to fill all of the orders himself. Skot's and my orders were simple: Skot got an egg on an English muffin and I got the Eggs Benedict and added a side of bacon for $1. We decided to split a basket of fries. There was no table service but the bartender would call our name when the meal was ready. There's no hearing anyone in the bar from the music room, so we had to go back and check in with the bar every five to ten minutes to see if our lunch was ready. What amounted to two eggs, toast, and a basket of fries took about 45 minutes to prepare. Skot and I decided to take them up on their bottomless mimosa for $9 and to get our money's worth while we waited and enjoyed the show.
When the food was ready, there was no ham, hollandaise, nor any other sauce or garnish on the "Eggs Benedict." The side order of bacon, which turned out to be some sort of fried salted pork but not a variety of bacon I've ever encountered, was on the English muffin, and the poached egg was as solid as a puck. I never thought one could over-poach an egg until it was hard boiled. I did not mind the not traditional bacon as hey, "fried salted pork."
So that was their version of eggs Benedict: hard boiled egg on dry toast. I did ask for the ham as I was expecting and paying for both ham in the Benedict and bacon on the side, and when it was returned to the kitchen I watched the cook pick up the boiled egg with his hand, take out the bacon, wipe it off with a fork and leave it on the side of the plate, and put a quarter of a slice of lunch ham in it's place on the toast, then replaced the egg puck. Even the fries were undercooked, and we had to hunt, unsuccessfully, for a Heinz bottle that had more than six or seven molecules of ketchup left inside. (If you're going to do one thing well, and that's burgers & fries, at least refill the ketchup bottles at the start of every shift.)
We had more mimosa refills. A very pretty girl successfully got the bartender to switch out her champagne flute for a pint glass to reduce her number of return trips. We envied her position, but did not want to push it with the bartender, nor did we have the feminine charms/anatomy supposedly required for such an exchange.
But here's the good news: The Afternoon Delight Social Band is great fun and perfect company for waking up or spending your lazy Sunday afternoon. The ADSB is very much a social band. They are not a tightly tuned band playing their own songs, but rather four independently talented musicians playing in the round and playing off of each other. They know enough of each other's original songs from their respective bands, and have a wicked repertoire of country, folk, bluegrass and rock favorites.
. 
Back home in Nashville when talent and instruments were brought out impromptu in the living room or around the fire, we'd call it "pickin' and grinnin'." With the Afternoon Delight Social Band I felt at home. Another impressive skill of these musicians is their ability to play along with or pick up a song started by one but completely unknown by the others. Interaction with the friendly crowd added to the warm "in your living room" feel of the show. And where they could, they'd take requests.
It was also fun to watch them try to one up each other in esoteric hits and homemade ditties. When examined, it should not be that funny of a song, but we were all rolling when Steve Owen broke into a ditty with the chorus "she took a lot of pills and died."
The ADSB played pretty tirelessly all afternoon and we were happy for the music. I only wish there were room to dance down there. Regardless, I think we'll be regulars from now on. Next show is scheduled for February 21st, and rumor has it there will be special treats for this event, including an all new brunch menu.
However, the lesson learned for us this week was that the Bluegrass Brunch at the Hotel Utah is a great event, but eat before you come. Bluegrass Brunch featuring the Afternoon Delight Social Band, third Sundays at the Hotel Utah Saloon, 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m.
No comments:
Post a Comment