I was having lunch with internationally reknown lunch buddy JWS in Hyde Park (Tampa), Florida. JWS and I frequent J. Alexander's with almost clockwork regularity. On this particular day, we decided to go back to a former favorite restaurant, Timpano Chop House. I was excited for our change in lunch venue because Timpano has my ultimate favorite version of a wedge salad - an iceberg lettuce wedge sprinkled with tomatoes, red onions and blue cheese crumbles. Then instead of a thick blue cheese dressing, Timpano uses a red wine vinaigrette. The combination of blue cheese crumbles and red wine vinaigrette makes a lighter but still rich tasting dressing for the wedge.
I arrived at Timpano before JWS and I was not a happy camper to see that the menu had changed since I had last been there. The Italian Wedding Soup - which is fantastic - is no longer on the lunch menu. It has been relegated to the dinner menu. Come on! Is it so difficult to have Italian Wedding Soup on the lunch menu?? I decided to get the clam chowder - which was no longer on the menu but was the soup of the day. In the past, I have practically purred over Timpano's clam chowder. It is a rich, luxurious, smoky creamy delight. It is absolutely, 100% amazing. Or at least, it was. (That's foreshadowing, people!)
JWS arrived and she was equally dismayed at the menu change. She ordered the wedge salad and then asked if the chef could recreate a pasta dish that was on the old menu - angel hair with chopped tomatoes. I ordered a cup of the clam chowder and then decided to try something new. I ordered the BLT salad - bacon, tomatoes and arugula with blackened chicken.
The clam chowder and the wedge salad arrived first. JWS and I could tell upon first look that these items were not the same as we had had in the past.
The clam chowder I had had at Timpano in the past was smooth, silky and creamy. The new Timpano clam chowder was thick and flour pasty-tasting. Gooey and starchy. Large chunks of overcooked potatoes and I don't think there was a single clam. I have had discount supermarket canned clam chowder that tasted better than this. (On a side note, one of my favorite clam chowder recipes to make is from Walt Disney World. I like to serve it in a hollowed out sourdough bread bowl from Panera Bread that has been brushed with garlic butter and toasted in the oven. Hello delicious goodness!)
JWS' wedge salad was unappealing the minute it hit the table. It wasn't a nice tight iceberg lettuce wedge but a pile of floppy leaves. JWS doesn't care for tomatoes, so she requested "no tomatoes" - but I guess the kitchen staff also decided to leave out the red onion as well.
There was an orangish gloppy dressing dabbed all over the wedge. What happened to the red wine vinaigrette advertised on the menu? JWS was not happy with the salad. I was crazy happy that I did not order the wedge as I had originally planned.
Next up was my BLT salad. When I read the description, I envisioned a chopped salad and I requested blackened chicken on top and the dijon vinaigrette on the side. What arrived at my table was more accurately called a deconstructed chicken club sandwich.
It was delicious, but it was not what I was expecting at all. I wish the description of the "salad" would have more accurately prepared me for what I was going to get. I wanted a big salad not a deconstructed sandwich plate. (And hello - I ordered a salad to stay away from carbs. What's up with those big planks of dried out bread?)
JWS' special request to recreate a former pasta dish no longer on the menu failed miserably. All she wanted was angel hair pasta with chopped tomatoes. What arrived was a gooey, messy pile of overcooked looking pasta. I didn't even bother to take a picture of it. It looked so sad!
While I'm not going to write off Timpano (their cocktail menu alone is reason to go there), I doubt JWS and I will be doing lunch there again any time soon. We're coming back to you, J. Alexander's!
I arrived at Timpano before JWS and I was not a happy camper to see that the menu had changed since I had last been there. The Italian Wedding Soup - which is fantastic - is no longer on the lunch menu. It has been relegated to the dinner menu. Come on! Is it so difficult to have Italian Wedding Soup on the lunch menu?? I decided to get the clam chowder - which was no longer on the menu but was the soup of the day. In the past, I have practically purred over Timpano's clam chowder. It is a rich, luxurious, smoky creamy delight. It is absolutely, 100% amazing. Or at least, it was. (That's foreshadowing, people!)
JWS arrived and she was equally dismayed at the menu change. She ordered the wedge salad and then asked if the chef could recreate a pasta dish that was on the old menu - angel hair with chopped tomatoes. I ordered a cup of the clam chowder and then decided to try something new. I ordered the BLT salad - bacon, tomatoes and arugula with blackened chicken.
The clam chowder and the wedge salad arrived first. JWS and I could tell upon first look that these items were not the same as we had had in the past.
The clam chowder I had had at Timpano in the past was smooth, silky and creamy. The new Timpano clam chowder was thick and flour pasty-tasting. Gooey and starchy. Large chunks of overcooked potatoes and I don't think there was a single clam. I have had discount supermarket canned clam chowder that tasted better than this. (On a side note, one of my favorite clam chowder recipes to make is from Walt Disney World. I like to serve it in a hollowed out sourdough bread bowl from Panera Bread that has been brushed with garlic butter and toasted in the oven. Hello delicious goodness!)
JWS' wedge salad was unappealing the minute it hit the table. It wasn't a nice tight iceberg lettuce wedge but a pile of floppy leaves. JWS doesn't care for tomatoes, so she requested "no tomatoes" - but I guess the kitchen staff also decided to leave out the red onion as well.
There was an orangish gloppy dressing dabbed all over the wedge. What happened to the red wine vinaigrette advertised on the menu? JWS was not happy with the salad. I was crazy happy that I did not order the wedge as I had originally planned.
Next up was my BLT salad. When I read the description, I envisioned a chopped salad and I requested blackened chicken on top and the dijon vinaigrette on the side. What arrived at my table was more accurately called a deconstructed chicken club sandwich.
It was delicious, but it was not what I was expecting at all. I wish the description of the "salad" would have more accurately prepared me for what I was going to get. I wanted a big salad not a deconstructed sandwich plate. (And hello - I ordered a salad to stay away from carbs. What's up with those big planks of dried out bread?)
JWS' special request to recreate a former pasta dish no longer on the menu failed miserably. All she wanted was angel hair pasta with chopped tomatoes. What arrived was a gooey, messy pile of overcooked looking pasta. I didn't even bother to take a picture of it. It looked so sad!
While I'm not going to write off Timpano (their cocktail menu alone is reason to go there), I doubt JWS and I will be doing lunch there again any time soon. We're coming back to you, J. Alexander's!
They have new owners as of last April, and they're making a lot of bad changes. So don't be too lenient in your decision not to write them off.
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