Return to Tark's Grill
When we got back from DC late yesterday afternoon, tired and hungry, we decided to let Gailor pick a restaurant for dinner. She wanted to go somewhere she hadn't been, and she liked the sound of one of the dinner salads on Tark Grill's online menu (she's a cheap date), so we called to make a reservation.
I was impressed. Even though it's not that long after Restaurant Week and Valentine's Day, two big eating-out events, and even though the state of the economy has people thinking twice about going out to dinner, Tark's had no tables available until after 9 p.m. ...
We decided to go anyway and sit in one of the booths in the bar -- after the person who answered the phone assured us that on Saturday nights the bar isn't as loud as it is on work nights.
Finally a restaurant seems to be succeeding in that troubled Green Spring Station location. Tark's isn't an inexpensive restaurant, but I think it's doing OK because there are a lot of choices if you're trying to be careful. Besides the salads and sandwiches on the dinner menu, there are "house specialties" -- dishes like short ribs and chicken pot pie that are priced mostly under $20.
The best thing about Tark's is it's a professional operation; the staff is well-trained and seems to care about its customers. It's just a very pleasant place to be.
I'm not going to review the place again, but I will mention a couple of things. One, and this is a problem for me, the cheapest wine by the glass is $8 for an Argentinian malbec. Most are $9 or $10. If you're going to give customers some less expensive choices for dinner, do the same for the wine, please.
Two, it's such a professional operation that I wish they would correct the misspellings on the menu, which seems to be a permanent one. (Examples: The meatloaf has ground prok in it, and something is sauced with ber blanc.) I know. It's a minor point.
I want to mention again the creamed spinach, which is fresh spinach poached lightly in cream. I love it, but I wonder what the traditionalists think when they order it for the first time?
Here's my review from last April, by the way.
(Photos by Gailor)
Comments
The meatloaf has ground prok in it, and something is sauced with ber blanc.
Are you using skinny pete's spell checker? (CMU)
Posted by: Owl Meat Gravy II – Making Foie Gras One Martini at a Time | February 22, 2009 10:03 AM
Mmmm--ground prok, my favorite--NOT! I know I'm not the only one who loses her appetite when the menu shows signs of sloppy spelling. How hard is it to use a spell-checker anyway?
Posted by: Dahlink | February 22, 2009 11:11 AM
Maybe I should hold this for Monday Quaterbacking but I am surprised you didn't the outrageous by the glass prices at Harryman. One of the reasons to eat out is so you can enjoy a glass of light white or sparkling followed by a glass of light red followed by a glass of heavier red or white. At $10 to $12 a glass too many places price themselves out of my range. Then again if places like Tark's and Harryman are packed why should they change?
Posted by: Elite Elephant Lover | February 22, 2009 11:28 AM
Oops I just read the whole post and realized that the misspellings weren't yours. Stupid lazy owl.
Posted by: Owl Meat Gravy II – Making Foie Gras One Martini at a Time | February 22, 2009 11:44 AM
I get suspicious when I see something familiar spelled differently. Maybe there is a meat substitute called "prok" and a white sauce made with margarine called "ber blank." Its like seeing "rich chocolaty coating" on a candy bar with no chocolate in it.
Posted by: Retired in Elkridge | February 22, 2009 12:31 PM
My friends and I have been talking about the restaurant situation. We still go out 2 or 3 times a week. last couple to Roys, Oceanaire, Salt, Bicycle, b, Capital Grille, Woodberry Kitchen, Milton Inn. All have been packed and impossible to get last minute reservation. Recession .....don't know it has not hit the places we have been
Posted by: sas | February 22, 2009 2:24 PM
RIE: Heh...reminds me of the Malk that they sell in the school cafeteria, or the "Bort" souvenirs in Itchy & Scratchy Land on "The Simpsons".
Posted by: Claude | February 22, 2009 6:16 PM
I hate misspellings, too and can't understand why folks can't use spell check or have someone proofread before printing the final product.
Posted by: Dottie | February 22, 2009 10:16 PM
Misspellings make me wonder how much attention to detail the restaurant pays to other things, like hand washing. Sorry, but I have a hand-washing paranoia. I'm the crazy lady who squeezes the lemon from her vodka and tonic into her palm and then rubs both hands together. (I think it kills germs. I wonder if anyone else does this? Probably not.
I feel a little guilty about this, because it seems a little like double reverse racism. I like misspellings on Asian menus and other ethnic restaurant menus because it makes them seem more authentically recently foreign. Am I a bad person?
Got to face the burrrrrr now, Jiggsy needs a walk.
Posted by: terriermom ~╥╥☺ | February 23, 2009 8:19 AM
Tark was an Argelian musician from Argelius II and the father of the female dancer Kara.
Posted by: Starbase Command HQ | February 23, 2009 1:19 PM
I like how the last 3 "new management's" of Yuki Chinese Carryout have had printed on their menus "next to Santons" - instead of Santonis. It would have been so much funnier if it said "next to Satans" though...
Thanks for the update, Starbase.
Posted by: Joyce W. | February 23, 2009 2:55 PM
Joyce - Is Yuki pronounced Yucky?
Posted by: Trixie | February 23, 2009 4:22 PM
Recession .....don't know it has not hit the places we have been
We were talking about this last week as well. Now we haven't been to any of the wonderful places you mentioned recently, but last Monday, we took my mother-in-law to Carrabba's in Hunt Valley for her birthday (that should be all the info one needs to surmise why we were at a chain Italian restaurant). She is an early-bird kind of gal, so we arrived at 5:15 for dinner. We got a table right away, but the dining room was well over half full. By 6 p.m., the dining room was completely full. On a Monday night. In Hunt Valley. Seriously, what recession?
Posted by: Dawn | February 24, 2009 1:55 PM
The Hungry Heiffer has all you can eat bef and loobster for $6.95.
Posted by: RayRay | February 24, 2009 2:25 PM
NORM!!
Posted by: Bucky | February 24, 2009 9:08 PM
Trixie - I've never been told officially but we all call it "Yoo-key". If the food sucked we'd call it "yucky" though!
Posted by: Joyce W. | February 25, 2009 7:40 AM