La Dolce VT: Table 24

(4 votes, average: 4.25 out of 5)

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by Randal Smathers

I am at heart a lazy man. Maybe not in the league of Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowksi, “Quite possibly the laziest in all of Los Angeles County, which would place him high in the runnin’ for laziest worldwide,” but fond of creature comfort. If it weren’t that exercise is what lets me eat ice cream and enjoy an occasional oat soda without hitting 200 pounds, I would avoid it altogether.

That said, I do try to be good and get some exercise — I’ve been known to ride my bike to work — all seven blocks — but when I’m coming back to work after dinner, I like to be able to park in front of the office for the evening.

Back in the day that was usually easy enough to do except when the VFW filled up around July 4 or Memorial Day, or when Domino’s was having a particularly slow night, so the delivery cars were all parked out front instead of running Bacon Cheeseburger Feasts around the city.

Then the Irish pub opened on the corner and Wales Street didn’t feel so much like a set from Michael Moore’s Flint, Mich., days. But since Table 24 has opened, I can’t find an on-street parking spot for over a block in any direction most nights. It’s a travesty, I tell you, a travesty.

Good thing the parking deck is free in the evening, or I might have to walk to work. Hey, it’s seven blocks. Uphill both ways, I swear.

So I’m conflicted about Table 24. On the one hand, it’s really good food, right across the street (it’s 24 Wales St. and we’re at No. 27). But it means Wales Street is no longer my private parking lot at night.

Not that you care. You just want to know about the food. So:

# Basic, well-prepared, well-seasoned. American classics, for the most part, like roasted chicken, steaks, ribs, prime rib, burgers, daily fish selection. Veggie burgers are an option, and there’s a mushroom pasta, but for the most part, the menu is an omnivore’s delight. Even the mac ‘n’ cheese has bacon in it … not that there’s anything wrong with that.

# Good salads, from the Nice Little House Salad (no, that’s not a review, that’s its name) to the Wales Street (chicken, avocado, almonds, goat cheese, corn, cornbread croutons, mixed baby greens and a citrus vinaigrette) and the carne asada Cobb salad (grilled steak, greens, avocado, black bean and corn relish, smoked tomato ranch dressing). The Wales Street restaurant got thumbs-up from two guests on one visit, and the Cobb was spectacular.

The name’s a little misleading if you expect bleu cheese, egg and bacon crumbles on your Cobb salad. But if what you want from a Cobb is a big-flavor, protein-heavy, cholesterol motherlode disguised as health food, it’s dang near perfect. Neither regular readers nor my cardiologist will be surprised to find me in the latter camp. Wow.

# The jerked chicken fondue is a fun and unusual appetizer, although with the whiz-bang flavors of the rest of the menu — and of the jerk spice — the Granny Smith apples and plain toasted white bread left me wanting one more complementary taste. And one guest noted that the fondue, while toothsome, is a bad lead-in to some of the cheesy bits on the rest of the menu, like the gouda sauce on the ravioli or the mac ‘n’ cheese, unless you’re on the Vermont dairy board, in which case, bon fromage.

# There’s lots of little extra twists and touches, many south/west-influenced: The rotisserie chicken and smoked salmon appetizer (recommended for two or more) are both hot-smoked in house. The fish comes grilled or blackened. The garlic mashed spuds are nigh unto a meal in themselves, although they’re on the salty side and, along with the butter/seasoning rub on the “Vegas” filet, manage to overwhelm the beef a little.

# The filet was almost fork-tender. I prefer my grilled muscle of cow to be a little more muscular (read chewy), but I know many people have been trained to expect meat from cattle that get less exercise than I do, and they’ll find this spot-on. It arrived rare as ordered: Nicely seared but not traumatized from spending one second too long around a hot campfire, and the spuds sopped up every little bit of the juice. It’s good to be at the top of the food chain.

My guest loved the chicken, served with grilled asparagus, a chicken broth and roasted tomatoes.

In two trips, I haven’t had room for dessert yet. Maybe if I walked farther to get there …

Table 24 sports a good wine list by the bottle or the glass, and the beers on tap include Vermont selections beyond the usual suspects. There’s also a largish lounge.

Service is crazy over the top, from a doorperson to a hostess to a gaggle of bright-eyed, well-trained and attentive-but-not-cloying young servers and buspeople. You should not want for anything with that staffing level and I have not. Still, it will be interesting to see if they can make a go of it with that many staff on duty every night. And I confess that I felt very, very old when our server — whom I would have pegged at, oh, I dunno, 14 — turned out to be old enough to bring me a beer without a chaperone. Sigh.

Prices are on the high side by Rutland County standards, but you get what you pay for, and folks from the city won’t bat an eye even at the most expensive item: $28 for a 10-ounce filet. And there’s plenty of free parking. In the deck.

Herald Editor Randal Smathers writes weekly on dining. Write him at randal.smathers@rutlandherald.com. For an archive of reviews or to write your own, see www.invitevt.com