Alchemy owners have golden touch

Samara Kalk Derby — 8/12/2008 3:15 pm

The Harmony Bar and Mickey's Tavern have heavy-duty reputations in this town for having the best bar food, and now located between the two bars, comes Alchemy, which easily has the most intriguing, creative, and health-conscious menu of any bar around -- and knows how to execute it.

In what other bar can you get an appetizer of raw cucumber, red pepper, carrot, celery, broccoli crowns and jicima served with hummus and cilantro pesto dip? Where else can you get a side dish of uncut green beans with wasabi sesame seeds?

Alchemy opened in March, in a strip of businesses at the head of Atwood Avenue, in a spot that housed Wonder's Pub for 18 years. Weekend nights can be packed, but three recent visits on a consecutive Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were only pleasantly crowded.

The Sunday night visit found a group of seven bluegrass musicians sitting in a circle playing their hearts out and a few customers scattered around the room. The Monday night visit was marred by a loud after work gathering of about the same size, sitting in the same place, whooping it up with no consideration for anyone else who might be eating or trying to have a conversation. Tuesday night there was a rather raucous band that was hard to talk above. Fortunately, there are a few outdoor tables.

The actual bar is up three stairs, and there are also raised areas in the back and up front by the windows. One in front also serves as a small stage. There are two skylights, which along with the front windows, keep the room from feeling dreary. A couple of mirrors make the space seem bigger. The walls host an exhibit of trippy local art work that looks better suited to a college dorm room.

Soups change regularly and are made by neighbor and caterer Jennie Capellaro. On my most recent visit, the brown nut stew, which our waitress described as a peanut chowder ($3.25 for a isbowl), was full of vegetables and simply outstanding.

Another great way to start is with the dolmades ($5.50), grape leaves stuffed with herbed rice and saut ed until soft and succulent. Ten of them are served with a garlic and dill cucumber yogurt sauce and crumbled feta.

There are seven reasonably priced sandwiches, each served with a choice of four sides: homemade french fries, the green beans with wasabi sesame seeds, a side salad, or fresh herbed potato salad. Sides are $2 la carte.

I was quite taken with the sweet curry shrimp salad sandwich ($7), which held perfectly cooked shrimp and a crunchy mix of carrot, red pepper, cilantro, chives and onion. It was served with lettuce and tomato and dripped orange sauce the whole time from its sturdy Kaiser roll.

The green beans on the side were served at room temperature. They were studded with sesame seeds and the wasabi treatment was very light, almost hard to detect.

The stuffed grilled cheese sandwich ($6.25) is a great take on grilled cheese. It could have been called a veggie sandwich because besides Swiss and Cheddar cheeses, it had broccoli, roasted carrot, tomato and red onions. The grilled sourdough bread was dressed up with a cilantro pesto sauce.

If you order the side salad you get a smaller size of one of Alchemy's two salads: the house or the Brutus. Both are delicious. The house salad has a nice mix of greens, roasted carrot, red onion, chile roasted walnuts and a superb Door County cherry vinaigrette dressing. The walnuts in the salad were a particularly nice touch. The Brutus has romaine, ripe Roma tomatoes, red onion, red pepper and sourdough croutons with a creamy, Kalamata vinaigrette.

A companion ordered the Buffalo melt ($8.50), which was a third of a pound of bison meat raised in nearby Cambridge and cooked with roasted shallots and herbs. It was topped with fresh melted mozzarella, tomato and a thyme-garlic mayo. He flinched at the mayo but later said he was glad he didn't ask them to hold it.

My friend used words like "great" and "incredible" to describe his burger. "Bison meat isn't greasy like a hamburger," he said.

The homemade french fries that he ordered with it, weren't real greasy, either. They were like cottage fries, cut in half, and were served very hot.

"The fries are excellent. They are not your everyday fries," he said.

I can also recommend "Skewers 3," a choice of three shish kebabs of meat or vegetable accompanied by hummus, a very strong but excellent chimichurri sauce and grilled herbed flatbread. These can also serve as an appetizer since they are about appetizer sized. We tried one of each: Angus tenderloin with arbol chile and citrus barbecue ($3), orange saffron marinated chicken breast ($3) and balsamic glazed crimini mushroom, tomato, red pepper and onion ($2.50).

The desserts rotate, but in my experience there have been three: a pretty banal bread pudding, a decent banana cupcake with butterscotch frosting, and an average tasting apple pie.

Alchemy has a great beer selection, and on one visit a couple of months ago -- just for drinks -- I tried Ale Asylum's Madtown Nutbrown Ale. It was so good I had a second pint. Tap beers rotate regularly, so it's not available anymore. It's been replaced by Ale Asylum's Hopalicious, an American pale ale.

The owners -- Michael Randall, Josh Wacker and Amanda Versch -- are in their mid to late 20s, but have a lot of bar and restaurant experience between them. They know exactly what they are doing with Alchemy and deserve a lot of credit.

ALCHEMY

3 1/2 stars

Address: 1980 Atwood Ave.

Phone: 204-7644.

Hours: 11. a.m. until bar time daily.

Notes: Street parking; wheelchair accessible; no smoking; no credit cards, personal checks accepted.

Samara Kalk Derby — 8/12/2008 3:15 pm