It's madness, madness, I tell you, to expect a quiet dinner in a restauant with the word "whiskey" in its name. Coming from the Gamlin brothers (of Sub Zero Vodka Bar, and the same rule of thumb applies there), it's a fair bet that at Gamlin Whiskey House, the meat will be tasty, the cocktails strong, and the crowd young and enthusiastic. Early on a Saturday night at the corner of Euclid and Maryland, the crowd was perhaps not quite as young as at Sub Zero, but the rest of the bet would still be on.
A large patio is preparing to go into action, probably almost doubling the seating capacity of the house. Meanwhile, the bar, with some tables, a long hallway against the Euclid windows, and a dining room await. It's dark at night, friends tell me, but that's almost too common in new restaurants to even mention. Unfortunately. Surely there's a rheostat that could be dropped after, say, 9.30 at night in these places? Lots of bar action stretching out along the hall as the evening progresses.
With that warning, it was, indeed, a good meal. Not much of a by-the-glass wine list, no surprise, but generously poured cocktails, including a fine classic whiskey sour. The shareable bread board brought a small baguette, some good focaccia and what the menu calls beer bread. I'm accustomed to beer bead referring to a "quick bread", one whose lift comes from baking powder, not yeast, but this was indeed a yeast bread, a small boule. Three breads – so the house gives guests their choice of three among the six butters available. Bleu cheese butter, a coarse mustard butter which also included honey, and roasted bone marrow butter were what we chose. As much as I like sweet-hot, honey mustard has never been among my favorites, and this was indeed sweet, but the crushed mustard seeds added a nice texture. The cheese was good, and the roasted bone marrow was the sort of indulgence that leaves the adjective "rich" as an understatement. Wonderful stuff, a generous first course between two people.
For the first time in decades, I had the same thing as the person with whom I was dining. We both succumbed to the ribeye steak, described as a 16-ounce "Cajun 'char crust'". What arrived was meat that had merely been rubbed with a light round of seaosning that added up to just a little bit of heat, just fine, nothing overwhelming. The steak itself was very flavorful, cooked to the requested medium-rare, which it achieved despite being less than an inch thick. Darn near perfect overall, and the blog of bleu cheese butter atop it was really unnecessary, a pleasant visual gesture, but the meat was fine as it was.
And then there were the sides. The steak comes with a white cheddar potato gratin, and it's hard to imagine a more classic version of this, creamy with some paper-thin onion adding to the fun, the potatoes tender but not falling apart. It's a great take on one of the old-line classic comfort dishes. Mashed potatoes are still a little lumpy, carefully seasoned, and, well, almost as good as the gratin. We also succumbed to the creamed spinach and wild mushroom dish. Interestingly, on one level the dish was a "fail" – it was too delicate to stand up to the vigorous seasoning of the meat and potatoes. The juices from the spinach and mushrooms mixed with cream to produce a very wet mixture, seemingly unthickened. Pieces of Parmesan cheese rested atop it. But re-tasting after the palate had cleared, it was quite delicious, real shiitake mushrooms amping things up, and the juices, sopped up with the last of the bread, quite nice. It went home to go into a nice fritatta. Worthwhile with other dishes, or as a vegetarian entree, for an alternative to the vegetarian pot pie.
Interesting desserts – our choice was pumpkin doughnuts, fried to order and tossed in cinnamon sugar, coming with a tres leches sauce, which was pleasant and creamy but the doughnuts were sufficiently moist that they didn't need it.
Great service even as things began to get much busier. Valet parking for $4, and weekends in this neighborhood, unless the parking gods are with you, plan on using that service. Happy hour, late night menu (and happy hour prices late night early in the week), and a general encouragement of good times.
Gamlin Whiskey House
236 N. Euclid Ave.
314-875-9500
Lunch and Dinner daily, Brunch Sun.
Credit cards: Yes
Wheelchair access: Fair
Smoking: No (including patio)
Entrees: $15-$35