71 Duckworth Street
Ph. 579-8050
The year the World Series was cancelled because of a
players’ strike, 1994, was the year Zachary’s first opened its doors. Making it
‘round all 3 bases to home plate is one thing but surviving 12 years in the St.
John’s restaurant game is a pretty impressive run for a restaurant. Just
enduring the economically challenging months of January, February and March
each year can be a feat. I’d heard lots of good things about Zachary’s breakfasts
and, if memory serves, their lunches. My schedule usually makes breakfast and
lunch outings difficult so it was Zachary’s dinner service for me.
Upon entering I thought I’d stepped into the wrong
restaurant. Gone were the large booths, the old carpeting, the old light
fixtures and stale wall colour. However, apart from hauling out those old
wooden booths, it was mostly a cosmetic renovation. Amazingly, the place looked
about twice as big and twice as bright as before.
My eyes were drawn to a large abstract painting created by
Clem Curtis, one of
The rectangular room had new grey carpeting, white ceiling,
avocado sides and a crimson coloured back wall. Large ceiling fan fixtures took
up much of the airspace above our heads. My companion and I sat at one of the
dozen or so tables spread throughout the restaurant that appeared to seat about
40. Every stick of furniture appeared to be new, including the smooth black
wooden chairs, the counter at the back with mirror behind it, the china
cupboard and a low standing propane-fired stove. The place wasn’t busy. Apart
from ours, only a window table was occupied, by two weary-looking women
tourists.
We ordered a bottle of Oakridge sauvignon blanc. The server
brought us a full bottle of already opened Oakridge merlot. I didn’t have the
heart to send it back so I let her pour the stuff. I’m pretty comfortable with
either red or white - and so was my companion. No bread or rolls arrived so we
sipped and listened to the fabulous Nora Jones while waiting for our appetizers
to appear. I was already impressed by their choice of music.
My companion started with a beautiful bowl of turkey soup.
It had a real homemade taste. The soup was quite simple, as many good ones are,
appearing to have only four basic ingredients: turkey, carrot, turnip and
celery.
I tucked into a bowl of my favourite mussels. There must
have been forty or more piled high in my bowl, having been steamed in a
combination of white wine, garlic and butter. Talk about good. They were fresh,
hot and moist with lots of natural seafood flavour. I noted the wine and garlic
were only subtly present. It was hard to find fault, however, with the minor
role of flavourings when the main ingredient was so good and fresh.
Companion tried the grilled fresh halibut. It was flavourful
but slightly overcooked. It came with a regular Greek salad - chosen from an offering
of various sides like rice and roasted potato - broccoli and carrots that had
been cooked just a smidgeon too long. It was very much a standard home plate
that you’d expect to find in a family restaurant like Zachary’s.
My choice was cod that came topped with a few spoonfuls of
white wine sauce embedded with small, rubbery shrimp. The cod, like the halibut, was overcooked. I
felt a bit sad as a forkful of cod, sauce and shrimp got acquainted with my
tongue and taste buds. The combination showed the promise of being a really
fine dish but overcooking had zapped away that potential. My carrots were soggy
as well but I did like the oven-roasted potatoes that came with my dinner. They
needed salt but I liked the coating that seemed to rely heavily on paprika.
Dessert was, again, a missed opportunity. Zachary’s offers
several home baked desserts and I applaud them for that. Our server told us
that Dawn - the owner - employs her mom to bake the desserts. Her home made
apple pie sounded so good I couldn’t wait to taste it. I’m sure it was a very
fine pie when Dawn’s mom made it. The problem was, our server had - as is
Zachary’s custom apparently - reheated my pie in a microwave oven. That is a
definite no no.
Reheating in a microwave had ruined the cut of apple pie
that arrived on my plate. It was scalding hot on the inside and the pastry
topping was like a soggy flap. The doughy textured flap had also acquired the
aroma of raw dough. I cooled things down with the scoop of Sobey’s brand
vanilla ice cream that came with it but I could have wept. Yes, curbing the
potential of a good dish does have that affect on me. As George Bernard Shaw
used to say, “There is no love sincerer than the love of food.”
Our meal for two at Zachary’s - including a bottle of wine
and tip - cost approximately $98.00.
Zachary’s was not wheelchair accessible and the noise level
was low.
Best Points:
Very good soup and mussels.
Areas for Improvement:
Ratings Category:
Zachary’s gets 7.5 out of 10 points.