Bourbon and Baker Food Review

The Grand Recipe Mural

What are the quality things do I look for in order to have a delicious restaurant become a successful feature review in my blog? great service, great atmosphere, cleanliness, and also delicious food. Well today on my lunch break, I have decided to give Bourbon and Baker a try. After doing research on this restaurant with its menu, website, and other sources of people talking about it, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to check it out myself located downtown on Poyntz avenue in Manhattan Kansas.Bourbon and Baker

When I walked in, I was greeted nicely with the waitresses in which you may seat yourself to any table of your choice.

 Even though you can get a nice drink selected from the bar and menu, I decided to keep it simple with an Iced Tea. The atmosphere of the restaurant provides a nice boldness of a neutral brown and crimson red mixed together. The colors really bring out the modern décor mixing it with a classic light setting. Behind the bar are three television screens for your enjoyment when eating at the bar. With the nice décor, my favorite part of the décor are the walls in which it features actual recipes compiled by the owner and staffs’ from their own families.  What I’ve also noticed with the décor are the hard wood tables, and with the tables are hooks in which guest may hang their coats, jackets, and purses. The music creates a very modern atmosphere in which it played funk, blues, and a bit of old school southern style Louisiana blues. With this atmosphere, it is very clean, very modern, and very vibrant.

While I was looking at the menu, each dish an appetizer sized meal in which generally most guest are able to get at least two dishes depending on how hungry you are. The menu consist of culinary twists of classic southern dishes. Alongside the dishes and sides, you have a huge selection of drinks for your enjoyment that contains a variety of Bourbon, Beer, Wine, and cocktails. I decided to order one of the two most popular menu items, Fried Chicken and a Biscuit. This dish is only $7.50 where it includes a huge homemade buttermilk biscuit topped with a fried chicken breast served with creamed gravy and honey hot sauce.

As the dish came right to the table, I examined it just like most critics on appearance. The gravy and honey hot sauce was the base of the dish, next the big fluffy buttery biscuit, and toped with the chicken. The biscuit itself was like heaven. This biscuit had that northern look to it but a southern flavor. It was Buttery, light, fluffy, and most of all very soft. You can taste some sort of honey butter glazed in which either it was baked in, or on the top. Next, I tasted the chicken. When I critique fried chicken, the very first thing I look at is the color. Usually with chicken, if it’s dark it is crispy and hard with a heavy coating…. Don’t always let that fool you. Looking closely at the chicken, the coating is very well seasoned with the spices. Cutting into the chicken was like cutting butter. I was overall pleased with the texture of the chicken, and the succulent perfection of the meat. It was tender, juicy, and full of flavor all around. Now that I had tasted them both separately, it was time to taste the dish in its entirety combining all of the flavors together. Overall, I was very satisfied with the dish. You can tell that this dish (like every dish) was fresh, homemade, and not frozen.

Cake of The day

I wasn’t planning on ordering a dessert but how can you come into a bakery and not order a dessert? Today, the cake of the day was a yellow cake with vanilla buttercream topped sprinkles ($6.00). This Nice big slice of cake looked very delicious to eat. With cakes, I judge on texture of the cake, flavor, and the icing that goes on the cake. Everyone creates cakes differently, but I knew this cake was delicious, moist, not super rich but sweet for your satisfaction. The frosting wasn’t a traditional buttercream frosting as if you walked into a supermarket to order a cake, but I can tell that the creamy texture made me think of which buttercream was used? Was it Simple, Meringue-based, French-based, or a Custard-based? Something I should’ve asked, but I guess I’ll leave the secrets to the executive chef. Overall, I was very satisfied with this cake, but let me tell you…you will not be disappointed, and you might get full after eating it with ONE meal. 

My experience with the meal and dessert left me satisfied. As I paid for my order, I did some walking around the establishment to get an idea of the bakery side of things. Behind where I was sitting is the kitchen. Some people love to see where the magic begins, and others don’t. I was very impressed on the organization of the kitchen. The appearance of this kitchen was clean, organized, and well stocked with clean utensils. The back side is where the bakery portion of the restaurant, so even if you don’t want to eat, you can enter in the back for some delicious baked goods…Hurry because they’re sold fast. 

Biscuits and Baked Goods

To get more in depth detail about this establishment, it is a casual setting and component to Harry’s Uptown restaurant. The owner and head chef of these fine establishments never went to culinary school, but his family is where the true teachers lie within the passion of his cooking. Throughout the years, his cooking has been perfected, tweaked, altered, and added alongside with new dishes being featured daily at both restaurants.  Maybe someday I will get a chance to meet the executive owner, chef, cooks, and interact with the staff. Oh which reminds me, the staff at this establishment are absolutely friendly. The service was great, my waitress was great.  Not only is the staff friendly, but also respectable to have a descent conversation with. I was overall pleased with my lunch, experience, and the Bourbon and Baker restaurant. I encourage you to check this restaurant out for your enjoyment weekdays from Monday-Thursday-11 a.m.-midnight, Friday and Saturday-11 a.m.- 1 a.m, and Bakery hours Monday-Saturday from 11 a.m.-7p.m. This establishment is closed on Sundays. Located 312 Downtown Poyntz in Manhattan Kansas. The link is below

 

Happy Eating 

@RonaldAtkinson9 Bourbon and Baker

Bakery Side

The Kitchen