Cakes & Ale Restaurant Open
Decatur Metro | March 26, 2008A Cakes & Ale family member let’s us know that the restaurant will be opening “the week of March 31st”, notes that you’ll have to brown bag your alcohol, and gives us an overview of the menu. In fact, the restaurant’s liquor license is the only item on the city commission’s agenda for tomorrow night.
Here’s Rachel’s comment in full from a previous post…
Being a member of the immediate family of the Cake & Ale restaurant clan, I was invited to family night on Tuesday, March 25. The restaurant will be open to the public beginning week of March 31. There is a delay on the liquor license, but brown bagging is encouraged!!Let me just say that it was worth the wait! What a beautiful space – polished and sophisticated but warm and inviting. The menu is simple, comfortable but unique all at the same time.On the night of my visit, featured appetizers included Maine mussels in a delectable cream sauce with bread for dipping; arancini, which is a rice made like risotto, creamy with a touch of citrus, then deep fried – can you say melt in your mouth yummy good. Followed by a nice salad of radicchio and greens (nice and crunchy, not limp) with warm vinaigrette.On to the main food – pan roasted wild stripped bass with lemon mayo; potato gnocchi in a nice, almost puree, of cabbage, garlic and caraway (I’ve never like gnocci before, but this was great!); and definitely the winner of the evening was roasted chicken with carrots and turnips – like grandma would make if she trained with Julia Child – crispy outside, succulent inside – need I say more?
I encourage you to stop by for a visit! Welcome Cakes & Ale to Decatur!
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I wonder why the Commission is calling a special meeting to approve a liquor license for one business?
I’m one of the owners of Cakes & Ale. We’re working on our license, but in the meantime we won’t be able to have people bring in their own alcohol. Just found out it’s not allowed in the City of Decatur. But, the food’s great and we should have our alcohol license soon for those who prefer a drink with their dinner!
I’m surprised that Kristin didn’t correct this info (she probably overlooked it), but they opened tonight as scheduled.
If so, its a very soft launch…there’s not even a sign over the door yet.
Wife confirms Carl’s post. Lots of people there tonight…even with no sign.
Post title changed.
FWIW, I thought I’d drop a mini-review into the comments here.
Went to Cakes and Ale before a meeting the other night. We were actually going to the Watershed, but they had a 30 minute wait and we didn’t have time to wait. So, we decided to stroll up to C&A instead. Are we EVER glad we did that.
For what is considered to be a “soft opening,” I thought they did a fabulous job. Staff, food, and atmosphere were all excellent.
We started with the garden salad with champagne dressing which was very tasty, especially with the diced shallot and grainy mustard in the dressing. My wife ordered the chicken and dumplings, which had a very flavorful gravy with peas and carrots and mushrooms and little ever-so-slightly toasted gnocci. I managed to persuade her to let me have a small taste and I can concur with her assessment, it was delicious. But I had my own meal to eat — the burger’n’fries: A reasonably-sized ground beef patty containing both ground beef and ground pork which came nestled in a proportionate in-house made wheat bun. The burger was dressed with caramelized onions, cheese, and grainy mustard. The burger was phenomenal – the flavor of the meat was not at all overshadowed by the dressings and the combination of pork and beef was balanced and a real treat. The density of the bun worried me a little bit at first, but as I ate the sandwich, the burger imbued the bun with juice, which softened the texture and the actual flavor of the wheat bun was a good match against the rest of the sandwich. The burger came w/ very thin fries (almost like potato sticks, really) which were slightly crunchy but neither greasy nor overdone and had good potato flavor.
For desert, we had the pot du chocolat with candied kumquats which also came with some homemade coconut shortbread cookies. It was a good size for splitting, but not too big for an individual indulgence either. The chocolate flavor was not too strong, the citrus of the kumquats reminded me of a creamy chocolate-flavored orange. A great finish.
As for staff and decor: The place was very clean and comfortable and everyone was very welcoming when we walked in. I was amused by the boucherie poster on the wall outlining the various cuts of lamb and exalting the tenderness of this one or succulence of that one. Service was very attentive but not annoyingly so, and our waiter was very knowledgeable about the food, including ingredients, flavor, and prep time. They knew we were pressed for time, so they made a real effort to accelerate and synchronize the delivery of desert and check which we appreciated.
The price was about what we usually pay for dinner for 2 in Decatur at a restaurant operating at this level, around $40.
We will definitely be going very soon back for sure.