Main Street Cafe: Save room for dessert

Most entrees and sides are insipid, but the sweets help perk up those disappointed tastebuds

By Howard M. Snyder HSNYDER@HERALD-LEADER.COM

BEREA -- When the state proclaimed this small southern Madison County college town the "Artisan Capital of Kentucky," it was bound to draw the tourist traders. I went with two Berea natives to sample the wares of Main Street CafŽ, a restaurant that depends on the kindness of tourists, not the locals.

We were there between Christmas and New Year's, and College Square, an enormous complex that includes the fabled Boone Tavern Hotel and smaller retail spaces, was still done up in festive lights, ribbons and bows. It was a sight to behold walking in front of the all-white complex with its "little shop around the corner" look -- Boone Tavern was maybe a quarter full; Papa Leno's, a pizza-Italian restaurant, was maxed out with not a seat to be had, and Main Street CafŽ had one table of patrons.

After we got past the cafŽ's jewelry and postcards, we saw a pleasant, attractive space -- long and narrow, bare brick walls, much like an art gallery. In the back of the restaurant, a gentleman was playing a guitar and singing folk songs.

Main Street CafŽ offers an adequate menu for supper. Crab cakes, a couple of vegetarian entrees, Danish meatballs (frikadeller) and a couple of fish entrees were notable. But after we shared the sampler platter of appetizers, it became clear it was just a heat-and-eat kind of place.

The appetizers on the sampler platter ($8.99) can be had just about anywhere -- fried, er, heated, mozzarella cheese sticks, chicken fingers, fried green tomatoes and coconut shrimp. I think we've all tried the cheese sticks and chicken fingers. They got them hot. And the coconut shrimp was hot but tasteless. And I found out the fruits of summer (tomatoes) are now being fried and flash frozen. We got two thin slices of green tomatoes that had been dredged in cornmeal and fried somewhere else, then heated at Main Street CafŽ. They were tasteless. Three sauces -- a good horseradish cocktail sauce, marinara and a too-spicy remoulade -- were served with the appetizers. Remoulade isn't supposed to tear the back of your throat out, but someone, somewhere added enough cayenne to do the trick.

The salads, considered a side item, were actually nice. Mixed greens were topped with a carrot curl or two, an onion ring or two and croutons; they substituted English walnuts for hothouse tomatoes -- a nice touch. But the salad dressings, served on the side in little cups, were bottled. We tried the blue cheese and balsamic vinegar dressings.

For entrees we sampled the grilled yellow fin tuna steak ($13.95). This was a standard tuna steak, frozen then heated some way. These are cut up for salads, used for sandwiches and served whole for entrees. It was the best entree we had. It was ordered well-done, which made it firm and almost beefy in texture. We ordered the veggie of the day -- we were first told peas, but then our server said the kitchen had run out of peas, and it would be fried okra. The "fried" okra came to the table as naked as the day it was picked and frozen. The okra was a little too bright to have seen hot oil. And no oil or grease was present on the plate. However it was heated, they somehow managed to get the slime out of the okra. Amazing! Maybe Main Street CafŽ's kitchen is on to something. But the other two entrees were pitiful.

The "Maryland" crab cakes ($11.95) weren't any more Maryland than the man in the moon. Two things were missing -- Old Bay Seasoning and lump crab. The two thin crab cakes we were served had a lot of filler and a little crab.

The frikadeller ($8.99) were the size of golf balls and anemic. I know they are supposed to be made with pork and sometimes blended with veal, but they also are supposed to be flattened out a bit and browned by frying to give them some flavor. Methinks they used the same frying technique they used on the okra. They were served on a bed of converted rice and were tasteless.

Desserts we sampled were nice, though: a good New York cheesecake, creamy and smooth; a fruity tasting hummingbird cake, made with crushed pineapple and topped with a dried and red-dyed pineapple slice; and a moist and rich carrot cake.

Main Street CafŽ brags that it uses Starbucks Coffee, but it needs to learn how to treat Starbucks Coffee. The coffee we were served with dessert had begun its descent into sludge. It doesn't take a burner long (maybe half an hour) to ruin a pot of coffee. This definitely had passed its prime.

Our server was cheery and alert. Dinner for three, including tax but not tip, was $70.61. And the tourists keep coming.

Restaurant review

Main Street Cafe

2 stars out of 5