Road Trip: Sinclair's at West Baden Springs - Revisit

We snuck off the other day mid week with my sister and brother-in-law because everyone was off work.  We were talking about how it would be fun for all of us to go to French Lick (well West Baden really), eat a good meal, do a little gambling, and get away from the day to day.

I was really looking forward to a return visit to Sinclair’s, the more formal restaurant at West Baden, because we had had such a nice meal there the last time we went.  We had told my sister and her husband how much we enjoyed it, so they were excited as well.

Because it was midweek, the room was nearly empty when we got there, which is a little off putting in a dining room this big, but people continued to come in throughout the meal, although it was never very full.  The hostess and the server were very friendly and our server seemed quite knowledgeable about the menu, like she had actually tried everything on it, which I appreciate.

The list of starters is still very small, and since I enjoyed the carpaccio so much last time, I ordered it again.  It was still quite good, extremely thinly sliced rare to raw beef (I think maybe it was seared on the edge before being sliced) with olive oil, thinly sliced shallots, fried capers, fleur de sel (chunky sea salt) and a few greens.  Again, it was simple but extremely well executed.  The crunchy bits of the shallot and capers accenting the smooth silky meat perfectly.  And you need the bites of salt to cut the richness of the beef and olive oil.  Everyone at the table had some, and everyone liked it.  My only complaint was that it could have been a little bigger portion.

Hubby had the Romaine salad which was served with hearts of Romaine, shaved Pecorino, a crispy piece of pancetta, a crostini with olive tapenade and a creamy garlic/black pepper dressing.  He was disappointed with the salad, as he thought it was underdressed and lacking in flavor.  He liked the tapenade with the crostini because it had some flavor, but it was really more of an accent to the salad.

My sister had the baby spinach salad which was much better than hubby’s salad.  It was baby spinach leaves with roasted pistachios, little fried Boursin “croutons” and a strawberry vinaigrette.  The slight sweetness of the dressing was nice with the slight tanginess of the cheese (which is similar in flavor to a seasoned cream cheese).  The spinach was a nice hearty base for it all.  This was certainly the better salad.

Hubby and I could not agree on which one of us should get the fish dish that was highly recommended by the server, the sea bass wrapped in Serrano ham and served with a ragout made of fingerling potatoes and melted leeks.  You can always get me with “melted leeks.”  Anyway, we rarely order the same main dish because for one, we like to try as many things as possible, and also, because if it is bad, we have two bad dishes.  Well, we learned our lesson.  It wasn’t very good.  The fish itself was ok, pretty tender (although I thought mine was maybe a little overcooked, hubby said his piece seemed almost a little undercooked.  His piece was bigger than mine).  The Serrano ham was so tough from being cooked for quite awhile, I could barely cut it to get a bite with the fish.  The leeks were fine, but were mixed with a bunch of completely undercooked and hard fingerlings.  Luckily, my brother-in-law’s steak and my sister’s scallops were much better.  They both thoroughly enjoyed their meals.  And hubby and I, like I said, learned our lesson.

We did share several desserts—the white chocolate crème brulee, the carrot cake and the “chocolate dome” (in honor of the dome of West Baden.  I had some of the “dome” and it was just okay.  It was layers of chocolate mousse and cake covered in a layer of hardened chocolate.  I tell you what though, the best things about the desserts, in my opinion, were the berries served alongside.  Some seriously yummy raspberries and blackberries.  The carrot cake was good, my brother-in-law loves carrot cake and really liked this one.

I don’t know, I didn’t enjoy my meal nearly as much as I did my last one, but I really like West Baden.  And we were lucky enough to enjoy a really cool thunderstorm while were staying there.  Sitting in that massive lobby listening to the sound of the heavy rain on the dome was awesome.  If you haven’t been to French Lick/West Baden, you should, if not for the food, for the awesome building at West Baden. 

Sinclair’s
West Baden Springs Resort

8538 West Baden Ave.

West Baden Springs, IN 47469

812/936-9300

www.frenchlick.com/hotels/westBaden/dining.jsp

Sinclair's (at West Baden)

Ok, first of all, no I don’t have a gambling problem—we actually have been to French Lick twice in the last month on some personal business nearby. But hey, it is pretty cool having a luxury resort right there. And hey, a little gambling is fun.

This time we stayed at West Baden, and have pretty much decided we will always stay there from now on when we go back down. The hotel is just nicer and the rooms feel more sumptuous. Anyhow, since we were staying there, and had just eaten at the French Lick restaurant, we thought we’d give the West Baden high end restaurant, Sinclair’s, another go.

Wow, this place has greatly improved since we were last there. This restaurant seems to go though major changes with its menu every time we go, and this time was no exception. The menu is now just a high end continental feel, with many more interesting choices than the 1875 Steakhouse. Plus, there is basically a steakhouse menu tacked on as well, so if you want a steak, you can surely get one.

I started with the beef carpaccio which was very, very good. Raw beef tenderloin sliced super thin and topped with cold pressed olive oil, fried capers, very thinly sliced shallots, and fleur de sel (chunky sea salt). Simple, but really well done.

Hubby had the wedge with blue cheese dressing, Serrano ham, roasted cippolini onions and roasted tomatoes. It was also very good, and since I had just had the wedge over at 1875 the last time, it was easy to compare. You would think it would have been the same, but this was much better. The roasted tomatoes were great, and the Serrano ham was a nice touch as well.

For my main dish, I had what was described as lobster ravioli which was actually 3 raviolis filled with Boursin in a lobster saffron sauce with a lobster tail and two de-shelled claws on top. Hubby was making fun of me for ordering it because usually when I order lobster ravioli, I end up with some raviolis stuffed with cheese and maybe an essence of lobster. This time, it was lobster with a bit of pasta on the side. It was tasty and the lobster was pretty much properly cooked. (The claws were great—the tail may have been just a teeny tiny bit overcooked, but it was still good). The sauce was light and flavorful and the raviolis were actually nice. And I liked the fact that there were only three so it wasn’t like you felt like you were completely overwhelmed.

Hubby had the veal chop with sautéed mushroom and caramelized onion ragout and a cauliflower gratin side. He loved it. It was huge and he ate nearly all of it even though he kept saying, “just one more bite.” We skipped dessert in favor of the blackjack tables (we probably should have stayed for dessert as it turns out!)

The service was a bit off, as it took awhile to get acknowledged by the host (the place was totally full so I think he was doing some bussing work as well) and although our waitress was nice, she seemed a little bit harried. Also, hubby was annoyed at the small wine pours by the glass, but the wines we had were nice. I have said before how nice this room is, and it still is beautiful (it hasn’t changed at all). Now, as long as they keep the current quality of the menu, I will certainly choose to eat here next time we visit over 1875 (what? a girl can change her mind).

Sinclair’s

West Baden Springs Resort

8670 West State Road 56

French Lick, IN 47432

http://www.frenchlick.com/hotels/westBaden/dining.jsp

812/936-9300

1875: The Steakhouse--French Lick

Another road trip—and I have had a lot of feedback from my previous post on one of the restaurants at French Lick, so here’s the other marquee restaurant at the resort. This trip we went to 1875: The Steakhouse (which is named after the date of the first running of the Kentucky Derby).

It is a nice looking restaurant, although there are some weird looking rooms off to one side that would not be my first choice, so we requested a table near the window. The whole restaurant is weirdly shaped because it is actually placed in a room in the resort that was the original drop off spot for one of the trains, and so basically it was a hall that was converted into a restaurant space. One thing we noticed is that people tend to dress up a bit more here than often in Indy, and it was sort of fun that way. Sweetly, we sat next to a couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and were toasting with martinis. Cheers to them!

Anyway, 1875 is your basic steakhouse, you could probably guess pretty much what is on the menu, and you could probably get about 75% of it right, but it is executed pretty well, and they do add some seasonal items to the menu to keep it somewhat fresh. I went with the classic steakhouse dinner—a blue cheese wedge to start, a filet with Bernaise sauce and a chocolate molten cake to finish.

The wedge was pretty standard, almost enough dressing for the lettuce, but not quite (there can never be enough salad dressing on these wedges, there is just so much lettuce). I never eat it all anyway, so I had plenty, but if you actually ate the whole half head of lettuce, you would need more. The chunks of blue cheese in the dressing were tasty and nice little pieces of bacon as well. Nothing spectacular, but hey it was a wedge. They don’t vary that much.

Hubby had the fried green tomatoes to start, which I had a bite of. They were quite good as well, very thin and lightly fried with a cornmeal crust. The drizzle of remoulade was a nice flavor combination. I would order these next time over the salad probably.

The steak was fine, perfectly prepared medium rare and served over a little demi glace. I think demi glace should be disclosed on the menu when it is on your food, and if you read my review of Sinclair’s at French Lick, it really bugged me how much they used there. This was not as bad and not as much, but I would still ask for it without it. If you order one of their sauces on the side (as I ordered the Bernaise) I don’t think you need more.

We also ordered the creamed spinach and lobster mac and cheese as side items (although the lobster mac and cheese is actually technically an appetizer on the menu). The spinach was really pretty good and the mac and cheese not bad, although the chunks of lobster were quite small (and I mean, quite small).

Hubby had an enormous ribeye which he thoroughly enjoyed.

We had passed on the soufflés which I regretted later—had the molten chocolate cake with cream….I don’t think it was molten so much as cake just covered in chocolate sauce, but we ate it anyway (it was chocolate after all).

Ok, when you’re going to French Lick, you’re not going for the food. But for a generally decent meal with good service in a nice locale, 1875 is a good choice.

1875: The Steakhouse
French Lick Resort
8670 West State Road 56
French Lick, IN 47432
888-936-9360
http://www.frenchlick.com/hotels/frenchLick/dining.jsp

Sinclair's at West Baden Springs

This week we ventured out of Indianapolis and took a trip to French Lick (well, West Baden really) to spend a night away for our anniversary. Overall, we had a great trip. West Baden Springs hotel is beautiful and the rooms are large and well done. The lobby alone is worth the trip. We also won money at the casino, and hey, you can’t get much better than that!

Last time we went to French Lick, we stayed at the French Lick hotel and while the rooms are quite nice, the grounds are nowhere near as nice as West Baden. We also ate at the restaurant there last time, the 1875 Steakhouse, and while it was fine, it was nothing to write home about. The space the restaurant is in, is also sort of weird, as the entire restaurant sort of felt like a hallway with some little rooms tacked on. Basically, because of all of this, we decided to eat at the fine dining restaurant at West Baden this time, Sinclair’s.

When we were last in French Lick, we looked at Sinclair’s. At that time (about a year ago), it was a true Italian restaurant with a great looking menu. Not the typical Americanized Italian (spaghetti with meatballs), but true gourmet foods you might actually see in a restaurant in Venice or Florence. However, sadly that didn’t play well in Southern Indiana. So after giving up on that, the restaurant changed to food that might be seen in the restaurant at the time the hotel was originally built (i.e. late 1800s) with a local focus. I am not exactly sure what that meant, but apparently that didn’t last either. So now, the restaurant has basically given in to pressure to basically appeal to the masses with a menu that focuses on the Hoosier stand-bys with an attempt to give it a slightly modern flair. In other words, there were several steaks, lamb chops, fried chicken served tableside (!?!) and a couple of fish dishes (fried walleye being one).

The appetizers were things like shrimp cocktail, fried shrimp, a mushroom pastry, an heirloom tomato plate, and some salads. Not a huge appetizer list to be sure, and nothing really jumped out at me, but I ended up agreeing with hubby to try the fried shrimp with a hot apricot sauce, and he got the mushroom pastry and we would share.

The shrimp were good, very fresh and properly cooked. The sauce was not bad, but a little sweet for me (I knew it would be). I wished the shrimp weren’t lying in the sauce; I would’ve preferred a little less sauce than what there was. Hubby’s mushroom pastry was basically sautéed mushrooms with a bit of goat cheese on top and then a puff pastry crust laid across the top. It was okay, but really could’ve used a bit more of the goat cheese to break up the richness of the whole thing.

Even though I was somewhat intrigued to see what fried chicken carved tableside would be like, based on our server’s recommendations, I got the filet Oscar—filet mignon with lump crab and béarnaise sauce with mashed potatoes and asparagus. That was how it was described, and that was what I expected. What I got was a filet sitting in a pool of demi glace with a bit of lump crab and a tiny bit of béarnaise over the asparagus. I am not a big fan of demi glace in general because it really dominates the flavors of whatever it is with. The béarnaise was really good, but you could barely taste it. I asked for some extra béarnaise on the side and tried to scoot the demi glace aside, but again, because the food was right in it, it was difficult to avoid. If I had known, I would’ve asked for it without, but it was not listed on the menu or mentioned by the server. It was a bummer because the quality of the other ingredients was pretty high and you didn’t need to try and hide it with the rich demi glace. The crab pieces were nice and big and the béarnaise was quite flavorful and the steak was pretty good too, and cooked properly medium rare.

Hubby ordered rack of lamb—again the quality of the meat was very, very good and the sides were not bad (roasted fingerlings and a vegetable mix) but it was also sitting in a large puddle of the same demi glace. Completely unnecessary and overwhelmed the tastiness of the lamb. Incidentally, there was a lot of the lamb, probably 6 chops—interestingly, though only one had the bone on it—I had never seen that before. Nothing wrong with it, except you can’t pick up the bone and chew on it which is something hubby has a tendency to do (how manly).

We had a coupon for a free dessert (it is related to a casino after all) so we tried the Apple Tart Tatin. Not very good. At all. The apples were kind of rubbery and there was absolutely none of the crispiness on top from the caramelization (hmmm, is that a word?) that makes this dessert good. We also got another free dessert for our anniversary, which was sorbet with fresh fruit. It was better than the Tart, but I don’t even think it is something you could order from the menu.

As for the service, our server was quite friendly and was happy to make recommendations from the menu. She knew the food pretty well and her recommendations were pretty good. One of my favorite things about the restaurant was the wine list, which is a lot of leftover Italian wines from the previous incarnation of the restaurant. They are trying to get rid of it all (they even have a wine tasting cart they push around to sample various wines), but it was right up my alley. Personally, I was thrilled when I took a look at the wine list.

The room is also beautiful—like an old fancy restaurant from a nice resort built in the late 1800s—exactly what it is. It is a large room with columns and nice views onto the grounds. It had a much nicer ambiance than the French Lick restaurant.

Overall, for a restaurant that has gone through so many changes in such a short time, they are doing an okay job. The service was very good, the room is beautiful and with a few tweaks, (and a new pastry chef maybe), the food could be very very good.

Sinclair’s
West Baden Springs Resort
8670 West State Road 56
French Lick, IN 47432
http://www.frenchlick.com/dining/dining.asp
812/936-9300