Jack and Tony’s Whisky Bar opens: With liquor license

Jack and Tony's Whiskey Bar opens


steaksandy.jpgJack and Tony’s is open for business in Santa Rosa’s Railroad Square. The restaurant, in the former Capri space, focuses on American comfort classics and an extensive whiskey tasting menu. Mmmm, whiskey. It’s the second restaurant for Chef Jack Mitchell, also of Sassafras.

The restaurant will be open for lunch Monday through Friday and dinner M-Saturday, but what’s got downtowners really buzzing is having another Sunday brunch spot in the neighborhood.

Opening brunch menu is a three-course prix fixe menu that ranges from crab cakes and baked brie (appetizers) to biscuits and gravy, corned beef hash, eggs Benedict and steak sandwiches as entrees. Pricing is $19 for adults, $12 for kids under 12.

<LUNCH UPDATE>: Stopped in for a late lunch yesterday. I like the menu selections — steak sandwich, burger, mussels and tasty comfort grub. Also well-matched to the season is a daily ‘yesterday’s soup’, which the server described as soup made yesterday because the chef says soup is always better the next day. The restaurant also does a housemade ketchup that’s stellar.

On the downside, the space is cavernous without much on the walls and feels very industrial. A customer behind me ranted for several minutes about the restaurant not having a seafood fork for her mussels. A minor issue, but details count. My open-faced steak sandy was good, if not epiphanous, and service is still spotty. (One server was very attentive, while other folks kind of wandered around the room. I also waited a couple of minutes for someone to seat me.)

It’s early in the game, admittedly, but there’s still work to be done if Jack & Tony’s is going to survive these rocky economic times. I appreciated that my server asked for feedback before I left. That shows they’re trying to get things right.

Railroad Square business owners seem to be glad to have the new kid on the block and with it’s large bar an and experienced chef at the helm, BiteClub thinks the kinks will work themselves out. Plus, I’m darned excited about the whiskey tasting.
 

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