Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 30, 1993 TAG: 9307300057
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOLORES KOSTELNI
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
I like everything about this recently opened restaurant: the delicious food, the reasonable prices and the dependable wines. There are other attributes I rave about, too, like the simple, clean country decor, the home-grown flowers in the Emerson Creek vases and the cordial hospitality.
Buck Mountain Grille is the best thing that's happened to Roanoke since the city's name was changed from Big Lick. Everything tastes as good as it looks.
Owned by Evie and Doug Robison, the folks we trust for vegetarian fare at Wildflour Cafe in Towers Shopping Center, this newest venture is a full-scale restaurant that has been packed for dinner since it opened two months ago. I know this firsthand because my usual arrival time is around 5, and by 6:30 a line begins to form. By 7:15 on the weekends, there's at least a half-hour wait. Be assured, you are never rushed, however lengthy the line may be or how long you've been at your table.
All of the appetizers are fantastic. Try the trio of mushrooms - oyster, button and shiitake - sauteed in a bit of olive oil with fresh garlic, white wine, herbs and a dusting of Parmesan cheese ($3.95). It's quietly seasoned; nothing overpowers the delicious earthiness of the mushrooms.
Perhaps you'd like something a little more sophisticated. Select the grilled marinated shrimp with radicchio ($4.50), a wondrous creation that's absolutely perfect. Large shrimp have been marinated in sesame oil, honey, fresh lime juice and garlic. It comes together in six-part harmony over barely wilted spinach and radicchio. (Radicchio, although still assertively flavored, loses its bitterness when heated.)
There's the tortilla soup ($3.50), notable in every respect and an item that Robison speaks of with pride because of the techniques involved in making it. Presented in a wide soup dish, it looks like a beautiful miniature lily pond with half-submerged mounds of guacamole and sour cream peeking through the clarified mahogany stock. It's a great combination, especially with the surprise spoonfuls of tortilla threads and the unexpected velvet punch that comes from the sieved ancho chiles and guajillo peppers.
For those who love Italian, there's fiore di latte mozzarella and tomato salad ($3.95). Creamy, fresh mozzarella and slices of ruby tomatoes gently wed with a dressing of fresh basil, oregano and olive oil.
Although the menu is brief it's well-constructed, with offerings for every taste and wallet. If your appetite begs for a salad, you can't go wrong with any of the five selections ($4.25-$7.95). Full of substantial ingredients and impeccably presented, txey come with marvelously fresh bread that's baked at Wildflour Cafe.
The remainder of the dinner menu includes four artfully stacked sandwiches ($4.50-$5.25), two chicken entrees ($9.95 each), four seafood presentations ($11.95-$14.95), two steak dishes ($13.94-$14.95) and nine vegetarian meals ($3.95-$7.95). Whatever I've had from these categories has been outstanding.
For a superb vegetarian meal, try the basil pesto cream over fettuccine ($6.95). An abundance of fresh basil is obvious and delicious, and although the sauce is rich, a nice contrasting balance comes from the accompanying crisp, plain steamed seasonal vegetables.
Let the delicious Dragon's Tooth ($4.95) bewitch you. Totally vegetable, this sandwich, made on Wildflour's bread, is composed of freshly fried Parmesan-coated eggplant slices topped with generous layers of grilled mushrooms, onions and green peppers and all brought together with a bit of homemade spicy salsa.
Charbroiled salmon with maple glaze ($13.95) is a one-of-a-kind dish that was devised by Evie Robison several years ago on a camping trip. A lovely, perfectly burnished Sockeye salmon fillet, moist and tender, lightly seasoned with tarragon, chives and lemon, takes an intriguing twist with the barely sweet maple flavor. For me, this is really a masterpiece dish.
Shrimp crepes with dill sauce ($11.95) brought the only suggestion of a complaint from one of my dining colleagues, who thought the Basmati rice excessive in this instance because of the composition of the dish and all of the whiteness. She thought the six shrimp needed company from some sliced mushrooms, as well. In any event, it's nicely presented in an individual casserole with plenty of creamy sauce cloaking a large, tender crepe.
Desserts are heftily sized all-American concoctions that would be hard to improve, especially when accompanied by a cup of full-bodied espresso ($1.50). The wonderful triple-layered fresh coconut cake ($2.95) imparts a sensuousness. The moist, well-spiced carrot cake ($2.95) tempers its sweetness with tang from a lavish cream cheese frosting, and the chunky butterscotch brownie ($2.25) will satisfy your sweet tooth for a week.
Buck Mountain Grille adds much-needed depth to the Roanoke restaurant scene. It's the place to go for distinctive, perfectly prepared meals at neighborhood prices.
\ BUCK MOUNTAIN GRILLE\ at the Old Parkway Restaurant
U.S. 220 South 776-1830
\ HOURS: Dinner only Tuesday through Sunday 5 p.m.-9 p.m. Fridays and Saturday until 10 p.m.
\ BEVERAGES: Full-service non-alcoholic and alcoholic\ \ PRICE RANGE: $3.95-$14.95
\ CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED: Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club
\ RESERVATIONS: For parties of 6 or more
\ NONSMOKING SECTION? The entire restaurant is nonsmoking
by CNB