TAVERN Town Tavern of Sand Lake, NY

Hogalbee here and I had dinner last night at the Town Tavern in Sand Lake New York. Sand Lake is a small bedroom community where state routes 43 and 66 meet. As Branilicio and I walked in a little after four in the afternoon, nine men were sitting at the bar and the talk was heavy on construction. Town Tavern pulls from a crowd of dedicated loyalists. Eleven televisions surround the bar area with an emphasis on sports and the staff puts an emphasis on making every sporting event a focus.

While the Town Tavern may be the dominant sports bar in the area, it is so much more. Where else in such a small town could you find amaretto bread pudding prepared onsite? Or homemade blueberry cheesecake? All salad dressings are made from scratch in the kitchen. Two appetizers were on the special board. I was not in the mood for mussels and my sidekick it not one for portabella so we ended up with mozzarella sticks. Branilicio opted for Mom’s Meatloaf which came with mashed potatoes and stuffed zucchini. The meatloaf was billed as two slices and when it came each slice was an inch and a quarter thick. She raved about it but it was the homemade gravy that made it. I looked over the wide selection of Panini’s and specialty burgers. For the sake of the review, I went with the sandwich named for the venue, the Town Tavern burger. It was a juicy burger served with chipotle pepper, roasted red pepper and pepper jack cheese. The waitress warned that it was hot. I am not shy about a little heat so I dove in and found it delicious. The heat, however, proved to be cumulative so by the time I was halfway in, I lost the flavor and was thankful for the basket of bread on the table. The sweet potato fries also came with a full flavored chipotle sauce which was delicious. I am no friend to greasy French fries but I had to dig into these.

The Town Tavern boasts two floors of dining including two levels of balconies overlooking the Horse Heaven Brook and separate dining rooms available for reservation. The building had, for many years, served as a blacksmith shop and was completely restored two years ago given a hunting lodge feel with knotty pine walls and eight inch polished plank flooring. The tables are a highly varnished wood. The only non wood surface is the downstairs dining’s tin ceiling. Looking up through the central open ceiling floor, you find a taxidermist was busy filling the space with mounted animals. The only drawback to the dining décor was the seating. Unless you are at the bar or at a high top table, you will have stack chairs such as I used to sell at Ames for 12.88 apiece to rest on. While not especially uncomfortable, these chairs are better left to the community center’s meeting room.

Branilicio gave the Town Tavern four out of five smiles.

☻☻☻☻☺

MOVIE Cloverfield

Hogalbee here and I’m just back from a matinee showing of “Cloverfield”. If you are looking for a movie with a clear and orderly start or stop, you might be better off at “27 Dresses”… unless you aren’t a woman. Seriously, Dude, that looks like a clear and unadulterated chick flick so stick to “Cloverfield”. Last week, we saw “Juno” and for a full hour the wall separating me from the next theater rumbled and shook so I was mildly intrigued.

This movie from producer J. J. Abrams, is entirely seen from the vantage point of a camcorder video shot by friends gathered for a party and chronicles the destruction of the island of Manhattan by a mysterious monster. The first thing the viewer sees is the video starting with a Department of Defense overlay reading that it was from a camera found in the sector formerly known as “Central Park”. You get a pretty good idea that the folks you meet along the way may not fair very well.

You might be able to be interested in the lives of the pretty young actors and actresses as they prepare for and attend their party if it was not for the fact that you knew devastation was coming. As they try to hook up, you are looking at your watch wondering when things will start to explode.

Never having seen “Lost”, “Alias” or “Felicity”, I am not truly familiar with Abram’s work. (He is making the next “Star Trek” movie.) The videocam technique was reminiscent of “The Blair Witch Project” but was more enjoyably done. No one walked out of the theater today looking angry or confused. Of course, it was a Tuesday matinee so there were only two other couples there.

This is not a monster movie and the action does not center around the monster. With only a couple exceptions, when it appears it is glimpsed moving between two skyscrapers and the person holding the camera is probably running or, occasionally, falling. This is the story of a group of people reacting to the destruction of the world they know. Even though you only get to see them through the video camera, you learn what makes each character tick as a person.

Branilicio accompanied me to the movie and see gave “Cloverfield” 4 out of 5 smiles.

In the interest of full disclosure, Regal Cinemas provided popcorn at no charge. All other food and beverage was smuggled in from the dollar store.

☻☻☻☻☺