Stringtown Bar & Grill

Stringtown looks like two rooms sharing a kitchen.

Walk in the front or back and you're in a bar: maroon brick, a wall of neon, a flag hung over the taps, TVs pointed in every direction, and a long wood bar with brass nameplates screwed into it. Those nameplates tell you who this place is for. Somebody has been sitting in that same stool for a decade. Walk through the doorway under the flag and you're in a side room with navy tablecloths, candles, wine racks, and framed French bistro posters. There's a little chef statue holding a tray. What that room is for, I couldn't tell you. It reads like the room was built for a different restaurant and Stringtown moved in around it and never bothered to redecorate. I sat at the bar and didn't think to ask, maybe next time.

The Vibe

Bar and grill, both words meant plainly. Sports on the screens, music on, chalkboard by the bar running chili cheese nachos, fried mushrooms, pretzel bites, country fried steak and eggs at $12.99, bread pudding and pecan pie at the bottom. Bloody Mary Wednesdays. Nobody in here is photographing their food and the room isn't asking you to.

Parking's easy, big free lot out back. There's a patio back there too. It was empty when we came, but it was mid-July and scorching hot out, so that's a knock on the month and not the patio. October, that's probably a great seat.

The Food

I came in for lunch with a craving for some good ol bar food. Server said the Cowboy Burger is a local favorite. Thin patty, soft bun, cheese and barbecue sauce and soft onion doing the work, served up in a green plastic basket. One thing surprised me. It came out with pink still in it. Figured they'd cook the hell out of a patty that thin. They didn't and I'm glad. Fries are hand cut and seasoned well. Perfect for dipping in some ketchup.

That said, the chicken gumbo isn't gumbo in my book. Pale blond broth, no roux anywhere near it, chicken and a little bit of celery (where's the complete trinity?), with andouille and enough cayenne that somebody meant it. Sausage doesn't make it gumbo any more than a tomato makes something marinara. Our server said sometimes the cook does it with rice. Sometimes. That's not a recipe, that's a mood. Call it chicken and andouille stew and it's decent at being that. The cooking isn't the problem here. The name is. Perhaps I should have gone with the chili; that's more bar food than gumbo, which is exactly the reason I walked in. Mea culpa.

The Bottom Line

If You're Nearby. This is bar food and it isn't pretending to be anything else. It is perfect for what it is: a place that I'd swing into with a buddy, grab a beer and a burger, and watch whatever's on. There's a small stage and I'm sure Stringtown takes on a totally different vibe at night with some music, but for lunch, get the burger, skip the gumbo.