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In today’s culinary
world of infused foods, layered flavors, reductions and the like, it is
difficult to find good old fashioned, well prepared comfort food. You know the kind your grandma made with a large portion of
love and care in the preparation. To
find this welcomed style of cooking it only takes a short drive to one of
Lucas County’s oldest communities, Waterville.
Here you will find such a place at The General’s Chop House on the
Trail in historic Waterville. The
General’s Chop House, owned by Dave and Fadya O’Neil, features a nice
selection of steaks, chops, ribs and seafood.
When first entering the
restaurant you walk past Fadya’a Lounge with a vast selection of beverages
and inviting enough to make you want to stop for a while. Being a Chef, I was more than anxious to take a trip through
the menu searching for something to stir my culinary interest.
Stepping into the dining room reminded me of my younger days in a
different small town in Southern Ohio.
The tables were draped with retro oilcloth coverings and the familiar
paper placemats I used to see in my old hometown years ago.
Taking a visual tour of the room, one finds the walls displaying
local artist’s works; all marked “For Sale” with the price and
artist’s name on a small card neatly tucked into the frame.
All of this makes for an atmosphere that is very comforting and
familiar.
The manager, Ms Meredith,
greeted us and she swiftly took our order for beverages and passed out what
I had been waiting for with great anticipation, the menus.
A review of the Starters quickly leads me to want the stuffed crab
shells that came hot and nicely browned on top.
Of course the main entrée was what we all wanted to experience.
The menu has a well-balanced mix of a few pasta dishes, specialty
salads, seafood and a delightful selection of steaks and chops.
A server that was not only young in age, but also, very young in
serving experience, took our order. However,
as soon as the entrees arrived, there were but just faint memories of any
inexperience in her serving skills. All
memories of inexperienced serving skills were quickly over come by the
aromas of carefully prepared and pleasantly presented comfort food.
Center cut broiled New York strip steak grilled to perfection and
deep fried filet of pickerel were soon the center of attention.
And my favorite, and hard to find prepared correctly, broiled twin
center cut pork loin chops. Accompanied
with the perfect baked potato, white and fluffy and not the kind you find
served in foil that had been cooked hours ago.
The vegetable du Jour was a sauté of fresh green beans with a hint
of garlic and butter. After
enjoying what I thought was a fully satisfying comfort food meal, I just had
to visit with the Chef. Shawn
Dyer takes the lead in the General’s kitchen preparing the diverse entrees
of real comfort food with obvious care and passion.
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