Bark and Bite on Marshall in St. Paul
Ok, let's just say it and move on.....we had a great string of food over
the last month....until we went to the Bark and Bite today. So, I'll
keep this simple.
Of the items we chose, the only that seemed to have redeeming value were
the collard greens with turkey and the Vodka chile bbq sauce. The
rest of the meal was, unfortunately, throw away.
We each ordered a regular sandwich and side; John decided to go mostly
veggie-based, so he had the vegan BBQ Jackalope with a side of collards, and I opted for the
shredded turkey with arugula potato salad.
Bark and Bite Problem #1
 |
| Ordering at Bark and Bite |
The problems started almost immediately. John inquired about a side of
the cider vinegar slaw...$1.99 on the menu of 'sides'. The cashier, who
already had a bit of an 'attitude' said it wouldn't be a side like the
kind that came with the 'sandwich and side'
(are you confused already) but it would be a full side for $3.99. But
the menu clearly says 'SIDES' with a list of sides from $1.99 to
$4.99. We couldn't seem to communicate that John wanted the side
listed on the menu. So, we finally gave up and skipped
it.
The place was about 1/4 full, a little after 12:30 on Saturday
afternoon. So the wait wasn't very long...less than 10 minutes. They
call your name...which is a little dangerous when you're with someone
named 'John'. So they called John and 3/4 of our order
was correct....luckily the cook/owner caught the mistake and the right
food was placed on the trays.
I will start positively by saying the presentation is a lot tidier than
Old Southern BBQ. Same idea...a piece of paper on a small sheet
pan. Here, the paper is an actual basket liner (red and white check)
and the messy foods are placed in paper baskets.
(At Old Southern, too many things end up as a messy wet pile on the
torn brown paper lining the basket....drippy!).
 |
| Bark and Bite Collard Greens |
We tried the collards first, and they were decent. They contained
pieces of turkey and had some spice. They were perhaps the best thing
in the assortment of items we ordered.
Bark and Bite Problems ... A Few More
 |
| Bark and Bite Shredded Turkey |
It went downhill from there. The Vodka Chile BBQ sauce on my turkey
had a bit of heat and the flavor was fine. I appreciated that it was
thicker than the sauces at Old Southern, which I find way too runny.
The problem on my sandwich was that the sauce was
the best part. The turkey itself was pretty flavorless (I expected a
nice smoky flavor....Ferndale's smoked turkey has outstanding
flavor
without doing a thing to it, except slicing up a nice thick piece to
enjoy). This turkey was extremely dry...after
I used up my sauce on the first 3 bites, I started dipping my turkey in
John's sauce to try to get
enough moisture into it to make it edible.
I tried eating it as a sandwich, but the bun was so dry that it
immediately cracked and fell apart in my hands (oh
what a mess!).
 |
| Mighty Dry Turkey |
 |
| Very Dry Bun |
 |
| Bark and Bite Arugula Potato Salad |
I had high hopes for the arugula potato salad. But, it was overdressed
with a flavorless dressing. The spice came from the arugula, but they
included the stems that were so chewy that I personally couldn't bite
through them. The red potatoes were a good
idea....they just didn't finish cooking them before they went into the
salad (I always use the Barefoot Contessa method for preparing potatoes
for potato salad..it's nearly foolproof). So, here was a
good idea for
a side, but the execution failed. If they
had put the extra 2 minutes into the potatoes, trimmed the arugula
stems, dressed it with half as much dressing...and maybe used any
spicing (a pinch of salt would have been acceptable), they could have
pulled this one off. But today they didn't.
 |
| Way Over Dressed |
 |
| Bark and Bite Vegan BBQ Jackalope Sammie |
Let's turn to John's vegan meat. This is always an iffy proposition.
We learned that early on with 'meat' from the Herbivorous Butcher served
at 2 different restaurants. We had a vegan Philly at the Howe...and
it was a fantastic Philly....of any Philly
we've had...with meat or 'meat'. Then we had the same thing at J.
Selby. That was a disaster. The difference....the cook at The Howe
knew what to do with the 'meat'. It arrived with a nice 'sear' on it,
giving it the texture of a Philly with beef.
The Howe served an excellent 'meat' sandwich.
At Bark and Bite, the 'meat' was in the J Selby's fashion....jiggly like
custard...so think of a bite of custard with okay BBQ sauce on it. I
tried a diced piece and a piece that looked like it had 'pulled
texture'....but the texture was the same in both.
Too jiggly, even for 'meat'. The 'Cherry Bourbon BBQ Sauce' was too
reminiscent of ketchup...so now you're at custard with a ketchup-like
sauce. Yeah, John couldn't eat it either.
Luckily, that left a lot of 'sauce', so I used it to try to moisten my
dried turkey. I just couldn't cut or eat the larger pieces...a fork
wouldn't go through them.
Conclusion: This Visit to Bark and Bite was a Disappointment
Jiggly 'meat',
really dry buns and really dry turkey, over-dressed under-cooked potato
salad that cried---please, a pinch of salt, and one okay sauce and one
that was not as good. The staff, including
the owner, apparently didn't know their prices, either. A woman and
child were at the next table with a half rack of ribs. The woman was
struggling to bite the meat off the bones and the little boy couldn't
seem to get any meat...only a messy face...the
meat seemed not ready for prime time...too chewy for both of them.
Feedback to the Bark and Bite Owner
I spoke with the owner because a server asked how the food was as John
was already out the door and I was pretty close behind him. He didn't
'get' my comment about the price of the slaw...obviously neither he nor
his 'cashier' knew the price (my guess....they
hit a square on the screen and it rings in automatically--so his lack
of knowledge made him mislead John about pricing' losing a couple of
bucks off our check and off his own tip). I described the texture of
the 'meat'...and it was clear it was all too much
information for him--he nodded and said, 'oh, ok'. He did offer to
pick up the tab. I declined and said that I would prefer he focus on
the food instead.
I hope this place improves. Their food truck was apparently
successful, and the space is quite workable (it's the old Heirloom
kitchen). But, part of having a restaurant is actually running it.
So, the people in the open kitchen shouldn't be eating then
working on customer's food. Open drinks, lack of hand-washing...you
all know those are my pet peeves. This place needs a bit of work on
'operations'. Cooking the potatoes in the salad; not overcooking the
turkey until it's too dry to swallow, knowing
the menu.....all part of the bigger program. The menu had some
interesting ideas.....now the kitchen just has to learn to execute on
their vision.
Details:
Twitter: @BarkandtheBite
No comments:
Post a Comment