Food & Drink
The Hourglass provides urban, chic experience
BY ALLAN MCMULLAN
Winter 2011 |
A fine dining restaurant with a kids' menu? Who brings their kids to a restaurant like that? Well, I guess we do. I phone the restaurant to change our reservation from two to three, and we bring our well mannered five-year-old son with us. He is a connoisseur of chicken fingers and hamburgers. Luckily both of those items, along with various other kid-friendly fare, are on the menu. The Hourglass is located at 183 Cedar St., across from the Sudbury Transit Centre. When we arrive, I notice there are plenty of cars in the parking lot. This is a good sign. (Parking is free weekdays after 4:30 pm and on weekends for patrons of the restaurant.) When we enter the restaurant, I am struck by the urban atmosphere and vibe the place gives off. The host and waiters are decked out in black attire. The brick walls are painted a deep crimson red; the tablecloths are draped in black linens. On the wall across from our table, there is a large aerial view of the Flatiron building in Manhattan. The menu is like a small book; the first page details the owners' desire to have a restaurant that caters to people who have celiac disease, a condition that does not allow those afflicted to eat anything made from wheat, rye or barley. Gluten (a protein), which is in anything made from these ingredients, causes damage to the small intestines. Some of the items on the menu that normally would be made with wheat can be ordered gluten-free and these include a vegan pasta made with gluten-free penne. Our waitress is kind and attentive. She tells us about the specials and takes our drink order. They have two beers on tap, Bud Light and Steam Whistle. I order the latter; my wife orders a glass of Lindemans Bin 65 Chardonnay, which can be had by the glass in either a six-ounce or nine-ounce size. With seven or eight whites and reds served by the glass, there is something for everyone. In keeping with the classy atmosphere, my son has a Shirley Temple, which comes garnished with a maraschino cherry and served in an elegant tulip-shaped glass. My first course is a rosemary mushroom soup made with beef broth. The soup arrives in a small bowl on a long, skinny oval-shaped plate and is served with a piece of grilled bread. The soup has pieces of mushrooms in it and has an earthy flavour to it. I can't really taste much rosemary, and the soup is a little thin but pretty tasty. My wife orders spinach salad with mango mayonnaise dressing. It is served in abundance on a long, rectangular white plate. The salad is garnished with strands of red onions, morsels of crisp bacon and finely diced red pepper. The waitress informs us the salad is a little on the spicy side; it is, but not overwhelming. The mango flavour seems muted, the main flavour being that of the toasted sesame seeds in the dressing. Between courses, our son’s order of chicken fingers and fries arrives. The fries are fresh cut and crisp on the outside, a little fluffy on the inside; perfect really. My son’s critique: chicken fingers as good as Swiss Chalet (high praise, indeed); french fries not as good as McDonald’s. Ah well; perhaps if they had given him a free toy, he might have changed his mind. For the main course, I order the Parmesan-crusted pork chop. Pork chops always seem like an odd thing to have on a dinner menu. They’re usually the domain of the lowly diner and are served with gravy and ice cream scoops of mashed potatoes, always in pairs, as if one scoop might get lonely without its twin. The Hourglass pork chop is a grander dish than that. A 1/2-inch-thick piece with a long thin bone gracing its side, it reminds me of a veal chop or the long thin bones of a rack of lamb. The chop has a crust of Parmesan baked onto it and is served with a sautéed mix of garlic-infused mushrooms. My chop is perfectly cooked. Usually served with baked potato, I ask for the rosemary mash that is served with the chicken, and to my great relief, it is not served a la mode. My wife’s grilled chicken breast is stuffed with goat's cheese and is served on a bed of sauteed spinach. The chicken is delicious and attractively served on a large, round white plate. She opts for “electric rice” instead of mashed potato. The waitress says the rice is cooked in chicken stock and tumeric. Not sure why that would make one's rice electric, eclectic, maybe. Tumeric is the ingredient in curry that makes it yellow. It doesn’t have a lot of flavour, but it gives the rice a nice saffron yellow hue, and incidentally, tumeric is very healthy for you. By dessert, we are quite full. We press on, determined to get the full effect. For dessert we share a creamy creme brûlée, which is lovely. If son wasn't with us, we might have stretched things out a little longer. As it was, all our dishes came out very quickly. I am not sure if this is because we had a small child or whether it's always like that. We had a great experience at The Hourglass. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone. The only complaint: the name. Why The Hourglass? Perhaps it has something to do with the speedy but professional service? Allan McMullan is a graphic artist and chef. The Hourglass Restaurant and Lounge 183 Cedar St. Sudbury, 705.674.5277 Open from Monday to Thursday: 11:30 am - 11 pm Friday 11:30 am - midnight Saturday 4:30 pm - midnight Sunday 4:30 pm - 10 pm Reserve by email: info@thehourglassrestaurant.ca
