We pretty much always go out for lunch on Monday, whether it's while we are picking up rice at the Asian Spanish Market on Rt. 10 in Dover or at the Bluebird on a break from the office work - lunch on Monday equals out. This week we had lunch at Jerren Witterau's new digs outside of our own hometown - the phoenix that is Molly's complex at Kennedyville. Mini-mart, sporting goods, garden center, restaurant - it's all there. One stop shopping just north of the unincorporated town of Kennedyville, with a tented venue next door for music and such; it's a pretty amazing phenomenon where for decades Vonnie's reigned supreme.
The dining room at Molly's Place is really nice - various walled off seating areas with big comfortable chairs and dark, smooth wood table tops, brick and wood accents, tall ceilings, big windows everywhere, very attractive wooden booth seating for large tables, and an open kitchen with stools at the counter right in front of the line. (Next time that is where Kevin wants to sit - so he can watch someone make his lunch for him!) The heavy paper napkin and big, straight sided glass for water were much appreciated by me.
The three pages of menu begins with starters, salads and soups, followed by dinner-type entrees, and sandwiches listed on the last page. Wine and beer choices are on the back. (Except for some black paw logos here and there, the dog theme is pretty low key throughout; reading the "whine" selections in dogspeak is cute, although if you don't know wine you might wonder what some of the choices actually are...) We started with some wings - they were really good: juicy, fresh, hot and spicy. Kevin deemed them some of the best he's had. I had a green salad to start, with ranch. The salad was fine, fresh and cold, but the dressing...not much flavor.
For the main event, Kevin ordered their version of a wedge salad, which comes with blue cheese dressing, bacon, and steak cooked to order. I was at a loss as to what to have, since I generally try not to eat meat at lunch; eventually I narrowed it down to the crab covered portabella. Both choices were 10 bucks.
Kevin's plate was rather large, with crumbled bacon and sliced steak over the wedge of iceberg. He commented on the tenderness of the steak; I commented on the complete lack of blue cheese flavor in the dressing.
My portabella was a good meal - their version of an imperial crab baked on top of the mushroom, with red peppers and provolone cheese over all. There was some sort of sauce on the plate, but I opted to ignore that and lift the mushroom up onto my salad instead. It made for a light but satisfying lunch. If anything could have been improved, it would be the recipes they are using for the two dressings we had. Neither the blue cheese nor the ranch had any of the flavors you typically associate with them, and to serve a wedge salad with insipid blue cheese dressing just seems to be a waste of iceberg lettuce to me. The ranch seemed like nothing more than mayo thinned out with a little buttermilk. Both salads would have been much improved had the dressings been more flavorably made.
I had room for dessert. Tory brought us the tray. There was some mystery as to the provenance of these desserts. When asked which ones were made in-house, Tory replied that all of them were homemade by a baker off site. When asked where, she said "Near by". When asked was it a health inspected facility, she replied yes, in someone's home. Someone who bakes professionally for them. Hmmmm...not sure about this. Why wouldn't she tell us that, "Yes, desserts are by Steve's Desserts out of Elkton" or something? That being said, we ordered the coconut custard pie, and it was good, tasty crust, not too sweet, with it's garnish of custard sauce and whipped cream. Coffee was not very strong and not very hot on the refill.
Overall, Molly's Place is definitely going to fill the bill. The atmosphere is really attractive, the appointments well thought out (pepper grinder on the table, yay!), and the menu, while traditional for the area, was varied enough to appeal to many levels of tastes. I'll give their vinaigrette dressings a try on my next salad, and we'll go back for more wings for sure. And to sit at that kitchen counter. We love watching other people work!
The three pages of menu begins with starters, salads and soups, followed by dinner-type entrees, and sandwiches listed on the last page. Wine and beer choices are on the back. (Except for some black paw logos here and there, the dog theme is pretty low key throughout; reading the "whine" selections in dogspeak is cute, although if you don't know wine you might wonder what some of the choices actually are...) We started with some wings - they were really good: juicy, fresh, hot and spicy. Kevin deemed them some of the best he's had. I had a green salad to start, with ranch. The salad was fine, fresh and cold, but the dressing...not much flavor.
For the main event, Kevin ordered their version of a wedge salad, which comes with blue cheese dressing, bacon, and steak cooked to order. I was at a loss as to what to have, since I generally try not to eat meat at lunch; eventually I narrowed it down to the crab covered portabella. Both choices were 10 bucks.
Kevin's plate was rather large, with crumbled bacon and sliced steak over the wedge of iceberg. He commented on the tenderness of the steak; I commented on the complete lack of blue cheese flavor in the dressing.
My portabella was a good meal - their version of an imperial crab baked on top of the mushroom, with red peppers and provolone cheese over all. There was some sort of sauce on the plate, but I opted to ignore that and lift the mushroom up onto my salad instead. It made for a light but satisfying lunch. If anything could have been improved, it would be the recipes they are using for the two dressings we had. Neither the blue cheese nor the ranch had any of the flavors you typically associate with them, and to serve a wedge salad with insipid blue cheese dressing just seems to be a waste of iceberg lettuce to me. The ranch seemed like nothing more than mayo thinned out with a little buttermilk. Both salads would have been much improved had the dressings been more flavorably made.
I had room for dessert. Tory brought us the tray. There was some mystery as to the provenance of these desserts. When asked which ones were made in-house, Tory replied that all of them were homemade by a baker off site. When asked where, she said "Near by". When asked was it a health inspected facility, she replied yes, in someone's home. Someone who bakes professionally for them. Hmmmm...not sure about this. Why wouldn't she tell us that, "Yes, desserts are by Steve's Desserts out of Elkton" or something? That being said, we ordered the coconut custard pie, and it was good, tasty crust, not too sweet, with it's garnish of custard sauce and whipped cream. Coffee was not very strong and not very hot on the refill.
Overall, Molly's Place is definitely going to fill the bill. The atmosphere is really attractive, the appointments well thought out (pepper grinder on the table, yay!), and the menu, while traditional for the area, was varied enough to appeal to many levels of tastes. I'll give their vinaigrette dressings a try on my next salad, and we'll go back for more wings for sure. And to sit at that kitchen counter. We love watching other people work!
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