Public House

I meant to take pictures in the tradition of obnoxious food bloggers everywhere, but I forgot...maybe I was distracted by my beautiful date.

We ditched the baby at my sister's and headed downtown to the Public House. Located in the boutique-ified new version of the Warehouse Row shops, the PH first came to my attention via their bar.

On a prior investigative trip to WR, and while amazed at the transformation from the outlet store offering of my youth, I came upon and was arrested by the sight of a swanky cocktail lounge called "the Social".  It may have just been because I had a kid hanging from me in a Bjorn, but on that day and at that moment, an upscale bar featuring handcrafted cocktails seemed absurdly adult...absurd in a way that I wanted to internalize.

Anyway, fast forward.  My sister offered last minute to watch our darling baby boy and I whipped out Open Table and found us a spot at PH. 

We did start in The Social and I had one of those handcrafted cocktails.  I forget what it was called, but it was a mix of light rum, grape, and house candied ginger.  It was delightful.  Mi amor had some pinot noir. Smiles all around. 

On to dinner.  The room was nice, with some clever design elements without being fussy or precious.  We started with a cheese plate and some bread (from local bakery Niedloves) and I jumped in on the pinot bandwagon for the remainder of mealtime. 

The entrée menu was a little surprising. The focus seemed to be gussied up comfort food, and if that theme had been communicated prior, I had missed it. They had pot roast, fried chicken, a steak option, grilled pork tenderloin ...and some fish dishes as well.  Many dishes featured grits. I chose the pork (grilled medium, with grits and sauteed kale) and she took the pot roast (also with kale and a fairly safe version of mashed potato) .

The food was well prepared and tasty, with a reasonable seasoning.  The service was professional and courteous, and we finished up with some apple fritters and a semifreddo (runny ice cream).

My date offered one of our best compliments: "this is a place we could bring out of town friends."