Foothill Flavors

Pot Roast for the Soul

By Antoinette May Herndon

Comfort food.

It has a ring to it, yes? Just say those two words and people emit surreptitious sighs, their eyes shine, their mouths turn up.

Wikipedia describes comfort food as traditionally eaten fare that provides the consumer with an easy- to-digest meal that’s soft in consistency and rich in calories and nutrients.

But surely you’ll agree that comfort food goes far beyond that pusillanimous definition. An element of nostalgia surely goes with the territory. We eat comfort food— which, though it’s been around forever, didn’t receive the designation until 1977—to relieve negative feelings and to pique our emotions in a positive way.

I tell you all this as preamble to an announcement. Myron Turk, my favorite chef in three counties, is now serving comfort food at the Black Bart Bar and Restaurant in San Andreas every Wednesday night.

Admittedly, I have mixed feelings about the Black Bart. Once the chef quit in the middle of our dinner. Once a waitress totally forgot us—not easy to do with only one table of diners in the whole dining room. Nothing like those experiences to make you feel warm and wanted.

Still, Charles and I continued to go back every now and then. Clearly, it’s the pull of the past not the present that drives us. The restaurant’s historic vibes are definitely an asset. There’s definitely an aura of bygone romance about the place that continues to intrigue. Maybe the notorious Black Bart really

did stay in the old hotel that houses the bistro. Maybe he really was tried in the courthouse across the street and incarcerated in the adjoining jail.

I love the tales of Black Bart. It’s said that the most successful Wells Fargo stagecoach driver in California history was a real gentleman. (He always said, “Please throw down that cash box.” Please, mind you. Such courtesy. I imagine Black Bart as a man with class. He never shot anyone with that big double-barrel shotgun of his either.

Oft times at Black Bart I’ve sought to summon the namesake’s spirit. Did I need to start a gunfight to get some service in that restaurant? The food, too, was unpredictable, more often just so-so.

But all that changed a couple of years ago when Myron Turk signed on as chef. Myron—a graduate of the Lederwolf Academy of Culinary Arts where he never received anything less than an A—is a true asset to the community.

His dinners are always good. Great steaks, great calamari and wonderful pasta. (That’s his true love. Myron knows 20 variations of cannelloni alone.)

And now there’s his new Wednesday night focus on comfort food. Charles and I could hardly wait to try it out. That night we each chose the ultimate comfort food, pot roast. ($10.95)

Pot roast is typically made by browning a roast-sized piece of beef and then slow-cooking it a long, long time until tender. The result should be tender and succulent, the meat deep, dark and crispy.

If I have any criticism to make of Myron’s pot roast was that the meat was a little too high end for me. This may

sound gross to some and surely isn’t caloric for anyone, but I really enjoy pot roast most when it has veins of fat running through it. I mean, really, do you cut the icing off the cake?

I realize that most will not agree with me (my husband, for instance). He couldn’t get enough of that lean, mean roast. It obviously started out as a top grade selection of beef. No stinting for Myron. For certain it was tender and succulent. I loved the mixed veggies: carrots, onions, celery and potatoes that had simmered in all those delicious meat juices. Still I would have loved a bite or two of rich, quivery fat.. . .

The salad bar is another new addition at Black Bart—a nice variety of crispy greens, onions, carrots, beats and assorted dressing and toppings. Very nice. ($2.99)

Yet the evening’s biggest treat was when Myron came out of his enormous cavern of a kitchen with a plate of his fresh made triple chocolate cake. (S1.95) . It was, as they say, to die for.

VITALS: Black Bart is located on San Andeas’s cute street, that’s 35 Main. Think foothills elegance: mahogany wainscoting, old pictures, vintage chandeliers, maroon tablecloths. Call 754-1015 and experience this “new” old place for yourselves. Hours: 5 p.m. until 9, Wednesday through Saturday.

PICTURES

A triple chocolate cake to die for at Black Bart Restaurant & Bar in San Andreas.

Myron Turk is king of the kitchen at Black Bart Restaurant & Bar in San Andreas.

The salad bar is an appealing attraction at Black Bart Restaurant & Bar in San Andreas.