chalk

i have been so excited to try chalk! i had heard lots of good things from friends and i was really excited about a new wine bar. we decided to go for book club last weekend and i talked about it all week beforehand.

in a nutshell, the way i would summarize chalk is excellent food, excellent wine and drinks, and average-to-below average service. the whole experience started off on a weird note when we were not seated until 8:05 when we had made a 7:30 reservation. this in itself was not such a huge deal... there were 8 of us and a couple people were running late so really we were not all even there until about 7:45. but there was no apology or even acknowledgment of the fact that we were kept waiting for over a half hour. we asked a couple times if our table was ready and the hostesses were just like "no." when we were finally seated, the hostess did not say she was sorry for our wait and in fact acted like we should be happy to even be seated at all.

not a great start. it's the kind of shit i would expect from red. but come on chalk, you're in covington and your most expensive entree is $22. you have no excuse to have an attitude.

finally seated after a loooong wait

our server was pleasant enough but nothing special. he had to be repeatedly coaxed to even make a recommendation. and when we asked questions about a few food items, he just did not provide enough information. for example, emma was thinking about the winter fruit salad. she asked what was in it. he just listed the fruits. no recommendation about the flavors or the dressing or whether it was good or if something else was better. he seemed to have no enthusiasm or excitement about the food. it was not a deficient performance on the part of the server... it's just that i expected more.

the food was really excellent. absolutely not a single miss among everything we ordered. some of the best things we had were:

calamari appetizer (not pictured). it was prepared in two ways: one was breaded cubes... yawn. well the other style was amazing. it was the tenderest, thickest, most luscious and toothsome calamari which had been skewered and just barely cooked and covered in this sweet, tangy, polynesian-ish bbq sauce. sooooo wonderful.

duck sloppy joe. tender, sweet, chewy, salty, rich, awesome.

scallops. i am a scallop freak and order them constantly and i honestly think these were the best scallops i have ever tasted. they exceeded my wildest dreams.

pork belly. melt in your mouth wonderful.

the fish special. i forget what fish it was but it was in a green curry/coriander/cream sauce. i actually did not get a chance to taste this one but everyone raved about it. on the side are the day's mashed potato special - these are made with sun dried tomatoes and roasted garlic. very yummy.

after all that we of course had to have dessert. we tried the strawberry panna cotta, "flight of the cupcakes," and the special for the night: irish car bomb cake. all were rich and luscious, with interesting flavors and textures. however dessert was probably not the best idea because i spent the last part of the evening unbuttoning my pants and bitching about my stomach ache.

flight of the cupcakes

we also tried several wines and mixed drinks and liked all of them. we especially recommend the pomegranate fizz, which is light and refreshing and not too sweet.

overall i definitely recommend chalk. they just opened a couple months ago so let's hope they get their service in order.