We- have burned out on steak nights. They are to be found all around town, even in some unlikely places. The one at Katie’s is at the top of the heap, offering a filet, potato, and martini for $25.
But last night we went to have a great deal at the Greyhound in Covington, a peculiar restaurant operated by some very good restaurateurs who also own Del Porto. My objection to the Greyhound is that the menu is bizarre. I understand the concept of global cuisine, but it just seems weird to me to offer a Kefte Kebab alongside Fish and Chips, beside a Schnitzel.
What I love most about the place besides the looks of it is the pizza and everything else that comes out of the wood-fired Italian oven. Here is some of the best pizza in town, if not the best, to my taste.
They’ve been touting their new fried chicken, though we haven’t made it there yet to try it. But news of Steak Nights on Tuesday brought us in this evening. The price was hard to believe: a Strip steak with housecut frites, Bearnaise sauce, and a wedge salad starter. For $21? Huh?
We began with an appetizer of baked Feta. This came with a housemade pita from the brick oven the size of a small throw pillow and about as puffy. I absentmindedly pricked it before our daughter could get a pic, but I was able to puff it again. You could fill this one with ten puffed pitas from Tavi.
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The baked Feta was fantastically good. As an avid fan of olives, I was crazy about this combination of flavors, with olive as the dominant one. An ample slab of Feta cheese sat in the bottom of a medium-sized crock filled with various kinds of olives in pieces or whole, There was tomato here also, and caper berries whose seeds were prominent enough to crunch on them.
I absolutely love these Mediterranean flavors either separately or together, but if you are not enthusiastic about this particular flavor profile, stay away. Very strong, oily, and delicious. The Feta below did not make a strong statement, which was good. There needed to be nothing else contributing a strong taste here. Loved this!
The salads arrived shortly after. It was a sizable portion of fresh Bibb lettuce heavily doused with a delicious, thick, and creamy Bleu Cheese dressing with chunks of Bleu Cheese
The main course for this Steak Night was a smallish Strip steak with a generous pile of housecut fries alongside it. On top of the steak was a small pat of Bearnaise
I am not a fan of Strip Steak, but this was better than any I have had in a long time. It was not at all chewy, grilled medium.
The Greyhound takes their responsibility to French fries very seriously. They are housecut and come in large piles with three sauces. These were not as thick as the regular version of fries here. These were shoestrings, and were so overdone as to be crunchy. That is not a complaint. We loved these. We also would have loved them to be normal. At The Greyhound whatever fries are sent to you, are good.
I would have looked forward to returning except they committed the unforgivable sin. I noticed a strange charge on the bill. The waitress responded to the inquiry by informing me that we were charged 4% for using a credit card.
As restaurants in the post-COVID era expect the diner to carry more and more of the burden of doing business when they have already raised prices, reduced portions, and often substituted quality, this latest thing is a deal breaker. The Greyhound has not done any of the other things mentioned, but this one really annoys me.
We can share the burden, but I will not carry it all. Checks delivered to tables are twice what they were three years ago. There is a tipping point. Restaurateurs would do well to take note of a customer’s response to this. Maybe I don’t need that fried chicken after all.
