"A Classy Twist"
- Written by Greg Burliak for
The Kingston Whig Standard, July 3, 2010
After being closed for more than a year for repairs after a fire, the venerable eatery is open again, serving the kind of food for which it was once renowned.
Lynette became a hostess at the Golden Apple in 1998 and fell in love with the owner-chef Silvano Fernetich, who sold it in 2001. When things didn't work out with the next owner, Lynette bought it.
"Someone wanted to bulldoze it and turn it into a steak house and I couldn't let that happen," she said.
Lynette then sold it again in 2005. When that didn't work out either, the couple took it back again in March 2008, only to have the fire on Christmas Eve of that year.
It's like an albatross around our neck," says Lynette, who nontheless married Silvano in the Apple's patio in 2007. The previous owners had made the restaurant more casual, putting in a pool table and bar into one of the dining rooms, but those are gone now, replaced by cloth napkins and nice tables and chairs. More importantly, the menu has changed from casual to a little more upscale for dinner, although lunches remain casual.
"Nowadays people don't want to dine, they just want to eat," says Lynette. "We're just trying to see if they want to dine again. My husband is back cooking at dinner and my son, Stephen McLellan is cooking at lunch. Another son, Robert McLellan, does our menu design and computer stuff."
I'm pulling for Lynette. I think restaurants that emphasize service are getting fewer and further between. The night we were there was Ladies Night on Wednesday and the Golden Apple was full of women enjoying the restaurant. My youngest daughter and I did too, as we had a nice sampling of the restaurant's menu.
Bruschetta has become so standard on menus that it's hard not to stifle a yawn when someone serves it. However, the Apple's pleasantly suprised me it was much more than tomatoes cemented onto baguette slices with a layer of cheese. This one also had marinated mushrooms and onions as well as a heavy dose of garlic. It was a very tasty treat. We also tried the stuffed mushroom caps, which were also yummy although I couldn't tast the Stilton cheese that the menu said was supposed to be on it.
Also in the appetizer section are items like baked French onion soup, escargot, calamari and spinach and artichoke dip. Seeing what Silvano did with the bruschetta, I wouldn't be suprised if they had neat little twists to their preparation.
From the mains, we started with asparagus stuffed chicken, a very large chicken breast in a white wine shallot sauce with cheese in there as well. Then there was a classic, veal marsala, pan-seared in a lovely marsala and mushroom sauce with some lovely pasta to sop it all up with.
The menu doesn't say much about the salmon, except to say that it was pan seared and seasoned, but I think there should be more fuss made over it. It was fork-tender and had lots of pepper on it, which to me only enhanced the taste. I think it's definitely a crowd pleaser, and I'm usually not a big salmon fan.
There are some other mains I'd like to try some other time, like the veal scallopini in a brandy sauce, jumbo shrimp in a lemon garlic sauce, or maybe some of the baby back ribs or steak gorgonsola with sweet onions, red pepper, mushrooms and that lovely Italian blue cheese.
All the desserts are freshly made. Some come from the nearby Panache Bakery. However, on this day we dicided to try a couple of the Apple's own pies. My daughter and I quickly devoured the butterscotch and strawberry rhubarb pie put in front of us. The strawberry pie had a different, more captivating flavour than most I've tasted.