RESTAURANT REVIEW: Sidecar at Terry’s Finer Foods on new track

It's all a bit hazy. Starting with just what to call the place.

The recently resurrected restaurant at Terry's Finer Foods on Kavanaugh Boulevard in the Heights has moved back into the space where it began, a sort of penthouse on the south side of the building that started out life a good many years ago as Sue's Pie Shop. Most recently it housed The Pizzeria before that worthy establishment ended its association with Terry's and reopened in its new, expanded space a bit closer to Cantrell Road.

Lex and Ellen Golden, whose restaurant, grocery and antique store Terry's is, have now dubbed the penthouse space "the Sidecar." Which is where the confusion arises: Should we now call the old-new establishment Terry's Finer Foods the Restaurant, as it was before shutting down over the summer in anticipation of its rebirth, or The Sidecar at Terry's Finer Foods?

Furthermore, the menu, available only for dinner at present (the sign on the door promises it will "open soon" for breakfast and lunch), is now a sort of hazy hybrid between the "French bistro" it used to be and something more eclectic, and certainly less well defined.

The Goldens have retained on the menu some of the French bistro elements, principally among the appetizers (and remaining among the entrees: Sole Meuniere and Magret Duck, as confit and on Saturdays a breast special), while adding a burger and a trio of steaks. And, to broaden the menu and add to the confusion, sushi -- more than a dozen rolls, by the Nyunts, the couple who used to make sushi inside the nearby Heights Kroger, who are also producing carry-out sushi for the grocery.

Service remains white-tablecloth-worthy, even though Terry's is no longer a white-tablecloth establishment. In fact, they've removed the tablecloths altogether. The tables now consist of composite, round table-tops attached to antique, iron footings, another hybrid facet.

And the place is open for sort of peculiar hours -- open Thursday-Monday and closed Tuesday and Wednesday, and right now only for dinner.

The layout has changed substantially from that of The Pizzeria, and even a bit from what it used to look like when it was Terry's. The table layout makes it a bit roomier than it once was; the walls display a lot of framed art, some of it for sale (we're guessing some of that has migrated into the dining space from Ellen Golden's antique store, now occupying the space on the other side of the grocery store that used to be the restaurant). There are now two large flat-screen TVs, at each end of the dining room (and therefore it's a bit tough to find a seat that doesn't have a TV view). Empty bottles of rare and expensive wines (including some French first growths) line the windows, as they have since Terry's was born and did, even during the Pizzeria regime. A fun mix of oldies and themed music, everything from The Beatles and Leonard Cohen to Simon and Garfunkel, emerges from the speaker system.

Except for the french fries, the half-dozen new appetizers aren't in any way French, either by name, origin or association. We considered the cheese-mushrooms-bacon-jalapeno nachos ($9.50); there's a chance that some or all of the other newbies -- onion rings ($5.50, $8.50 for a double order), chicken wings with Terry's seasoning ($9.50), house-made Cajun crab dip ($7.50), house-made pimento cheese dip ($7.50) and macaroni with pimento cheese ($9.50) -- may actually be wonderful. But we just couldn't gin up enough interest to order any of them.

We did assay the hummus ($7.50), a black-bean variety (not mentioned as such on the menu, but the dark gray color made it pretty clear it had no chickpeas in its parentage). The menu promised carrots and celery, but it arrived instead with crouton-like toasted baguette slices. It was nicely spiced, slightly citric-tart and of a pleasant texture, and we didn't mind getting crisps instead of crudites.

We reprised a couple of the French-ier opener options we'd enjoyed in the past, with mixed results. Terry's French onion soup ($8) remains phenomenal, topped with what must be the biggest dollop of melted cheese on any such soup in the area, oozing over the rim to coat the sides of the pot-like bowl. In fact, there was possibly more cheese than broth, which, alas, was a little blander than we remember. (You won't hear us say this very often about almost anything, and certainly pretty much never about onion soup, but it could have used just a hint more salt.)

We were likewise a little disappointed by the Escargot (six for $9, or $1.50 per), served in a cute half-dozen-escargot dish, allegedly in garlic and herbed butter. The snails were nicely tender, and that's not something you can always say about escargot. But we tasted very little garlic, and without garlic, it was just snails in butter. Not much point to that.

Our big appetizer hit was the baked brie ($7), served with slices of tart apple and bread chunks either for dipping or for spooning on the cheese. It was certainly enough to serve two, and the two of us actually had a hard time finishing it.

When it came down to choosing entrees, we were drawn, not to the duck, nor the fish, nor the burger, nor even the new Sidecar Special (sausage/beef pie topped with twice-baked potato, $9.95), but to the simple quarter-chicken plate ($13.95, half a chicken for $18.95) and the small rib-eye steak ($26.95; $31.95 for the large version).

We'd like to stress that there was nothing wrong with either choice, only that there are so many options in this area that are as good or better for steak and rotisserie chicken that we don't see an overwhelming reason to order them at Terry's.

The chicken had a good coating of spice on the skin, but underneath it was just chicken, though it did stay moist, a big plus. The steak, topped with a layer of herbed butter and medium-rare as we ordered it, was nicely prepared but not extraordinary.

We fared much better with the Thursday special, two thickly cut loin lamb chops ($19.95), which came out much closer to rare than the medium-rare we ordered them, but sufficiently flavorful that we really didn't need the side ramekin of mint jelly. Other daily specials to keep an eye upon: lasagna (Friday), Magret duck breast (Saturday), beef stew (Sunday) and Pork Milanese (Monday).

Plates and grill dishes come with choice of salad or soup (the soup du jour or, if you request it, the French onion soup, which is a good way to build it into the meal without having to pay $8 more for it); choice of baked potato or shoestring potatoes that the wait staff still calls by its old Terry's name, pomme frites; and the green vegetable du jour -- asparagus on our first visit, broccoli with a dash of onions and yellow squash on our second.

We yielded to our waiter's upsell and saved some dessert room for the bread pudding ($6), which turned out to be worth the recommendation. It's tasty, and not as bready as it might be, and not too sweet, both of which are pluses.

Weekend on 01/05/2017