Taking over an existing restaurant is like buying a used car. Sure, the car might look good, and the engine might not make any funny sounds. But how that car handles the road really depends on the driver.
Behind the wheel at the Red Dog Cafe (8301-A Grubb St) is Kirsten Poole, of Kirsten’s Cafe in Montgomery Hills. Poole bought the Red Dog this summer and, according to Zagat.com, has no plans of futzing with the menu or decor.
That’s mostly a good thing. The menu sets up some creative premises, and the bright dining area is cheerful but not raucous. The seasonal patio adjacent to the parking lot is perfect for idly watching shoppers stroll in and out of the Silver Spring Food Co-op.
With aesthetics established, Poole now has the opportunity to work on how the Red Dog engine runs. Goodness knows the kitchen and wait service could use a collective tune-up. As mentioned, the menu has some interesting premises that rev on paper. But through some failure in execution, the meals limp across the plate.
For example, the hearty greens with “pulled” braised duck ($13, below) drops shredded duck and bacon bits onto a pile of mixed greens. The whole thing is backed up with roasted grapes and a port vinaigrette.
The duck is straight out of the icebox, an act that tragically mutes its usually rich, robust flavor. Contrast that with the large bacon bits, crisp and still warm from the pan. The greens — romaine lettuce, feathery frisee, bitter arugula and peppery watercress — arrive at room temperature, as do the grapes and vinaigrette.
The wide temperature range makes it extremely difficult to appreciate the salad’s complexity. The sweet port vinaigrette is also ladled on, thus drowning the contrasting flavors. It’s a creative, even brilliant premise that falls flat on execution.
The pulled pork ripieghi — shredded barbecued pork folded into a pita-like bread ($12, not pictured) — has road blocks of its own. The pork itself is slightly dry but not stringy, and is seasoned with sharp cumin. When combined with the optional Pommary mustard sauce, the result is a lively, tangy combination.
However, during one visit, the optional Piedmont-style barbecue sauce was unavailable. (The cafe’s baby back ribs run on the same sauce.) According to the server, the barbecue sauce had been nixed after customers complained that it was too salty.
All of the ripieghi sandwiches come with one side dish of choice. The baked macaroni and cheese is pleasantly buttery and ooey gooey (though the macaroni is technically ziti, and Parmigiano and mozzarella substitute traditional cheddar). The herb-roasted potato wedges are plump and also hit nicely with butter.
Red Dog’s crab cakes — offered one night as an entree ($17, below), another night as an appetizer — aren’t cohesive enough to be considered cakes. Instead, they come off as dollops of warmed crab salad with too many bits of sweet green and yellow bell pepper.
When served as an entree, the crab cakes sit on pillows of mashed potatoes. The accompanying cole slaw is overpowered by bitter parsley and nearly outshouts the crab cakes’ sweetness.
The cafe’s menu also offers a selection of pizzas, with one presenting an interesting health challenge. The pepperoni and Italian sausage pie ($15, not pictured) celebrates gluttony with salty pepperoni and a layer of sweet anise-seasoned sausage. Silvers of red onion add a little crunch, and a dense layer of mozzarella puts the pie over the top.
The health challenge is this: The pie, which is short on tomato sauce, gets its moisture from the pool of sausage grease in which it steeps. Is it a tasty pizza? Yes. Can it take decades off one’s life expectancy? Probably.
There are gremlins in the kitchen, but it’s the wait staff that could use a swift kick in the ass. They’re painfully slow at delivering dishes and bills, yet strangely quick when it comes to offering the dessert menu or a to-go box. Offers for coffee and a doggie bag shouldn’t come half way through the meal.
Owner Kirsten Poole has work to do with this operation. At least she can be assured that the Red Dog Cafe is no lemon.
Red Dog Cafe, 8301-A Grubb St, (301) 588-6300.
August 21, 2008
6 Comments at "Dining: Red Dog Cafe"
My boyfriend and I eat at Red Dog at least once a week. We love the wait staff - they’re friendly, warm and personable, which is more than I can say about a lot of restaurants. We even get hugs from some of them! Only on a couple of ocassions have we had to wait longer than we’d like for our food, but the restaurant was packed and that comes with the territory of arriving at peak dinnertime. We usually try to arrive after the dinner rush. Sometimes it takes a little longer than we’d like to get the check - I’ll give you that one - but I’ve caught someone’s eye and they’ll find our waitress.
In fact, we’re going to Red Dog tomorrow night, and I’ve been looking forward to it all week!
I don’t know who waited on the above poster, but every time I went to the Red Dog (under the prior owners), we received pathetic service. If the staff moved any slower, they’d be going backwards.
On several occasions I mentioned this to the owner (not in a bitchy, complaining way but as a Silver Spring resident eager to spend his money on my neighborhood’s non-chain restaurant. His response was always one of disinterest (barely an “oh, I’m sorry”…more like an “oh, OK”)…with never any attempt to make things better.
I said enough is enough & swore the place off for the past year…that is until Kristin showed up a few weeks ago in my gym (Rock Creek Sports) passing out free snacks.
Eager to give the new owner a chance, I ate at RDC the next night. My pulled pork ripieghi was huge and tasty…as was the side portion of mac-n-cheese. Predictably, the service was slow…but now just moving at a tortise’s pace, which is better than the prior owner’s snail’s pace.
Let’s hope this owner gets the message and makes this place live up to it’s great potential.
When I receive confirmation that the mixed greens salad has been restored to its former glory, I will begin patronizing the Red Dog again.
Meh. I like the concept of the Red Dog, but they suck for vegetarians, and they suck even more for vegans. Even worse, the one time we ordered a cheeseless pizza from them (we add our own soy cheese), we were surprised to find that it was not only inferior to Z Pizza, but to Papa John’s, too, and that’s saying something. Mighty disappointing.
I have watched the growth of this restaurant since its establishment a few years ago. What could have been a wonderful jewel of a neighborhood place has pathetically been an overpriced, terribly staffed (slow and useless) waste of space. Getting past the $8 mac & cheese(!), the menu is interesting in words, but upon arrival of the selected item of choice (eons later), presentation is limp and flavors are unimpressive. Total disappointment and would much rather dine at the Deli.
Went to Red Dog last night, first visit since the restaurant changed ownership. I’d enjoyed it on previous trips: it’s the sort of place that you want to like, that you want to succeed. But, wow, total disappointment.
Service was really spotty: slow, forgetful, inconsistent, almost oblivious. Water glasses never refilled, beer bottles never cleared, missing utensils, taking way too long to bring the check and process the credit card. I’m pretty tolerant if a restaurant is busy and short-staffed, but nobody on staff really seemed to care or make an effort to be attentive.
Salads were okay, but under-dressed, if not at all.
Feeling adventurous, I ordered the macaroni n’ cheese pizza. This was a big mistake: the translation of macaroni n’ cheese on to pizza was just too literal. The penne (penne? really? couldn’t use a smaller noodle?) could’ve been crisper, the cheese was bland, and the bottom of the pie was ashy and burnt - plus the whole thing was way too salty. The boyfriend ordered the sausage and pepperoni pizza, which was much better - flavorful sauce and the shaved red onion was a nice touch.
When I told the waiter that we wanted to take the rest of our pizzas to go, he handed me a box, so the ashy and burnt bottom of the pizzas got all over the table and my hands.
For dessert, we split the espresso creme brulee. Accompanied by a cappuccino that was topped with a liberal sprinkling of cinnamon (yuck), it hardly qualified as creme brulee: the top was barely crystallized, the inside was akin to a runny pudding with barely any espresso flavor. The couples on either side of us got the brownie and the bread pudding, respectively - those both looked great. Funny, while we were eating, I noticed one of the managers repeatedly explaining to the sous chefs how to prepare certain desserts. I know that Kirsten’s Cafe prides itself on desserts, pastries, et al., but until Red Dog gets some of its kitchen and service issues worked out, maybe scaling down the dessert menu to a few things that they can do really well would be better.
For a bill totaling sixty-five bucks, you’re bound to have certain expectations - unfortunately, this place hardly met any of them. The prices had definitely gone up and the menu has expanded, perhaps a little too much. As with the desserts, I’d rather see a focus on a few dishes that are really good instead of a smattering of mediocre offerings. One thing I liked about Red Dog before was how the food was interesting, perhaps not something I’d cook for myself, but not over-the-top gourmet - it had a slightly upscale casual feeling that is perfect for a neighborhood cafe. I really hope that the new ownership doesn’t squander an opportunity like Red Dog.
Holler back.