Traverse City Record-Eagle,  June 6, 2003
Foghorn Pub & Grill: A Shakedown Cruise
The only thing as erratic as the service on our maiden trip to Traverse City's new Foghorn Pub and Grill was the menu, but its only sin was spelling. The service was a case study in the unexpected -- glacially slow one moment and breathlessly hyperactive the next.

    The crew was hospitable enough, for sure, so perhaps it was just a case of a new operation slammed on a Friday night by a waiting-line crowd. But Foghorn is the third outlet in veteran restaurateur Barry Boone's fleet (with Traverse City's Dill's and Prime Time in Suttons Bay), and we sort of expected he'd have the staff up and running with more dispatch

   As its maritime name suggests, Foghorn considers seafood a specialty, along with steaks and other beef (from Boone's own herd). Its location, on M-22 across from the marina in Elmwood, helps convey a sense of waterfront, although the décor is American restaurant contemporary, with wooden tables thoroughly encased in low-maintenance acrylic. One side is restaurant, and the other the pub--a circular room with a circular bar surrounded by a ring of two-top tables, each by a window and some with views of the water.

   Before we get to the food (which was generally quite satisfactory), let us back up and say the long line at Foghorn reminded us that we live in a hot dining-out town where new restaurants almost always draw crowds. Here's a tip: We often find we can bypass long waiting lines simply by asking if we might eat at the bar. It certainly worked at Foghorn. "You sure can," said the hostess, waving us right in. We found immediate seating at a nice window table already equipped with menus.

   Immediate seating, alas, did not mean immediate attention. For 25 minutes, the only thing on our table was the menu. It was 15 minutes before our server discovered us and took our order for two glasses of wine. Ten minutes later the bartender who poured them saw that they were still sitting on the bar and brought them to us himself. After that very slow start, however, the server got us firmly fixed on her radar and quickly returned for our orders.

   One of us ordered perch, and the other requested one of the numerous steaks on the menu. The server was back swiftly with a basket of bread and some butter and the house salads that come with Foghorn's dinners. The salads were an interesting array: butter lettuce studded with cashews and berries and what the menu called "mandrian" oranges. For some reason, one of our salads came with no dressing on it. We never got around to asking for some, however, because no sooner had we discovered the oversight than the server was back with our steak and perch.

   "These are a little early," she apologized, setting them down anyway and shoving our salad plates aside to make room. Then she quickly departed, leaving us to decide for ourselves how to cope at a 25-inch table with two salad plates, two dinner platters, two butter plates, a breadbasket, a butter dish, two wine glasses, and two water glasses. We coped by piling the butter plates on the breadbasket and jettisoning the whole stack onto the nearby bar, and by choosing to go straight to our entrees while they were hot and leave the salads for later.

   The perch were excellent--lightly breaded and perfectly sautéed--and made a generous meal without any sense of excess. The steak, a generous half-inch cut done to medium-rare perfection, was also very nice. Unfortunately, it wasn't the steak we'd ordered, the $18 one with onion straws and horseradish-mustard sauce. It was the $17 steak with mashed potato and asparagus. Since the server seemed to have lost track of us again, we accepted our fate and ate what we had, but when we pointed out the mix-up after finishing dinner, she rushed to the kitchen and fetched us the onions. The asparagus with the steak was fresh, crisp and green. The vegetables that garnished the perch platter, however, were overcooked to the point of unappetizing mush.

   As we said, the sailing may be smoother after the shakedown cruises. Foghorn's tariffs suggest serious food and service, with entrees in the $16-19 range. Our bill, before tax and tip, came to $50, including $11.75 for two glasses of wine and the $18 charge for our $17 steak.

   As for the menu, we'll simply say that the words in question are usually spelled "andouille," "dollop," "mandarin," "mascarpone," "osso buco," "Riesling," "shiitake," and "vinaigrette." We point it out only because we always worry that restaurateurs who call the sausage "Andouville" and the veal "Osco Bucco" might be in a little over their heads.