Galloway Grille creates
an ‘oasis’ in downtown

Sunday, Nov. 25, 2007

When we walk into Galloway Grille, our spirits lift.

For Jeff, it's the high ceilings and the polished dark woods of the bar and wainscoting. For Audrey, it's the widely spaced tables and the warm, happy earth tones on the walls.

For both of us, it's seeing a deserted downtown space reclaimed and remade into an oasis of taste and conviviality.

We think you'll agree: Galloway Grille is a great place to share drinks with friends. It also may be Eau Claire's best restaurant for conversation. The acoustics are forgiving, music volumes are low, and many tables feel deliciously secluded. Check out the wonderful round booths.

The only things missing at the Galloway are vestibules at front door and back to catch the winter winds, and perhaps a door for the kitchen.
And the food?

At just nine weeks old, not surprisingly, the Galloway still is finding its way. During our visits, there were occasional minor lapses. Sometimes plates were warm and burger buns toasted, sometimes not. Dinner rolls usually appeared as promised but not always.

Once we ordered three different meals and found nearly every dish on every plate smacked of garlic. Sometimes the strong house vinaigrette — called Bossie Blue — had a shake too much cayenne.

A few lapses were more major. A calamari appetizer was both surface-tender and center-squishy, effects intensified by an oily-bland vinaigrette, $6.95. A baked chicken breast had beautifully crisp skin but dry, thready flesh, $7.95. Some entrees left too much oil on the plate. The pie crust was often tough.
But most of our dishes here were good to very good, and some were outstanding.

The fine ½-pound hamburgers are pattied in-house, grilled to a fairly moist medium and served with various toppings. Standouts include the quirky Smokey Mountain Burger, which comes heaped with chunks of barbecue-sauced pork rib meat and topped with tangy coleslaw, $6.95; the Bossie Blue Burger with excellent Wisconsin Gorgonzola cheese, $5.95; and the Portobello-Swiss Burger, whose deeply flavored sautéed mushrooms deserved better than its tasteless processed cheese, $5.95.

(Aside: Wisconsin restaurants should pride themselves on using genuine sharp or extra-sharp Wisconsin Cheddar and genuine aged Wisconsin Swiss. Yes, processed cheese — American cheese included — does simulate melting and lubricate the chew. But it also, inexcusably, adds calories without adding flavor, and it makes the mouth feel slick.)

Other noteworthy sandwiches: The good regular Reuben came perfectly pan-grilled, $6.95. The Italian sausage sandwich — with sausage by the venerable Nolechek's of Thorp — is nicely balanced: sweet grilled onions and peppers, tangy-bright house-made marinara sauce, mildly spicy fennel-laced ground pork and soothing melted real mozzarella, $5.95.

With any sandwich or burger, make sure you get the excellent, hyper-crunchy house-fried potato chips.

Head chef and baker Gretchen Oster cooked for several years under Guy Logan's expert direction at Houligans. So she knows her way around meats and seafood in both simple and elaborate preparations.

An 8-ounce flat iron steak offered gentle chewiness, good taste and value at $12.95. A Nolechek ribeye, $17.95, arrived flavorful, juicy and tender; we wished only for more exterior char.

A dinner special of butter-soft grilled beef tenderloin medallions came flanked by fettuccine in a house-made Alfredo sauce, bestrewn with blue cheese, and napped by Oster's balsamic vinegar reduction, $19.95. A pure indulgence of soft, rich and smooth held delectably in check by pungent, salty, sweet and tart.

A filet of Cape Capensis fish, $13.95, a type of Atlantic hake, was neatly breaded in panko bread crumbs, deep-fried to an impressive dry crunch and served with an addictive house-made garlic tartar sauce.

An elegant special of Norwegian cod was lightly peppered, expertly broiled and served with a simple sauce made of butternut squash grown by Oster's father, $14.95.
A thick filet of organically farmed Atlantic salmon came brilliantly caramelized and crisped on one side, moist and flavorful throughout, $15.95. The ladleful of unctuous mushroom cream sauce overwhelmed the splendid fish; next time we'll ask for sauce on the side and a slice or two of lemon.

Entrees here typically come with a simple leaf lettuce salad and a choice of boiled red skins in garlic butter or smashed red skins laced with sour cream and melting Cheddar cheese. With many entrees, we wanted leaner side dishes. For $2 extra, fresh vegetables are available. Crisp-tender sautéed zucchini made a welcome change.

For dessert there's imaginative house-made pie, $2.99, or good ice cream from Timm's Dairy, $1.99. But the best dessert is the whimsical Cookies and Milk, $3.99: a plate of Oster's intensely flavored peanut butter cookies served with a kindergarten-size glass of 2 percent milk. Warning! This made us long for story time, hugs and rugs to nap on.

The Galloway has made a strong start; we look forward to sampling its continued evolution. A revised menu with some new dishes is due later this month.

Main Course, the Leader-Telegram's restaurant review column, runs the fourth Sunday of the month. Diners' Notebook, a sampling of favorite restaurant offerings, runs the second Tuesday of the month.