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Type: American
Hours: Daily 11:30 a.m.-midnight, Sunday brunch 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Good choices: Giant stuffed quesadilla, jalapeno poppers, Rueben egg rolls, Caesar salad, French toast, corned-beef hash, sirloin steak, steak burger, veggie burger.
Credit cards: All major credit cards.
Access: Ground floor entrance; all facilities on one floor.Fully accessible.
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WHITE HORSE TAVERN
116 Brighton Ave.
Allston Village
(617) 254-6633
Restaurant reviewed 04/15/99 by Bob MacDonald
The White Horse Tavern is a big, sprawling place with three distinct sections: a dining room, a bar, and a pool room - an upscale pool room, we hasten to add, not the kind of place that will cause trouble in River City.
It has the roadhouse feel of nearby Harpers Ferry, with more light and less funk, and although the White Horse has some serious blues on its jukebox, it's kept at a nonintrusive level.
They've got the restaurant part right, too, and even though the White Horse has cut back on the choices because of a slow winter, we were delighted with almost everything we tried. And menu additions and revisions are under way.
Appetizers are more than starters at the White Horse. Add a salad to most of them and you've got a meal. Some qualify without a salad.
Red jalapeno poppers ($5.50) had a browned, crunchy exterior contrasting with the creamy inside, and a slow burn that tingled on the tongue as an aftertaste.
A giant stuffed quesadilla ($3.95) lived up to its name in size, stuffed with a balance of mild chilis and Monterey Jack cheese. Add grilled chicken, shrimp, or roasted vegetables for $1.75 and it's a meal. The red chilis used in making the tortilla itself produced a rich earth color.
Reuben egg rolls ($4.95) were a splendid marriage of two cuisines, an almost obvious match now that somebody else has thought of it. The ingredients of a Reuben sandwich - corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and Dijon mustard - are rolled in an egg-roll wrapper and deep-fried, leaving not a trace of oiliness. As an added fillip, they're served with apricot mustard or Russian dressing.
Chef Mark Zildjian doesn't claim this tidbit as his own creation, but he also doesn't know of anybody else doing what deserves to become the Buffalo wings of the '00s.
And if Buffalo wings have become ubiquitous, you can't beat them when they're done right. The White Horse version was notable for crackly crisp skins and a mild spiciness. The wings are $4.25 as an appetizer, or, as part of Monday (and Tuesday) Night Madness, you can get a pound for $3. In both cases, they are served with the traditional blue cheese dressing and a fistful of celery.
Other Monday and Tuesday specials are cheese pizza for $3 (we didn't get to that) and a steakburger and fries. The latter is meal-size, a burger that's well-charred yet moist inside, served with a mound of crisp fries you wouldn't want to spoil with ketchup, plus lettuce, tomato, and red onion.
A chef's veggie burger ($5.50) was surprisingly tasty compared to previous veggie burgers we've tried. At first bite it could fool you, and it's definitely something the cholesterol-conscious could eat without feeling deprived.
A 3/4-pound sirloin steak ($9.95) was well charred, tender, and intensely flavored. It was seved with crispy pencil-shaped pieces of zucchini, summer squash, and carrots, and mildly garlicky red bliss mashed potatoes with tasty bits of skin.
A classic Caesar salad ($5.75, $3.75) was exactly that, crisp pieces of romaine tossed so that they were evenly coated with creamy dressing, topped with big croutons and anchovies, the latter of which we tasted but didn't see. Add grilled chicken for $1.75.
A bowl of chili ($3.25) was an eye-catching presentation with red chili peeking out from under yellow shredded Monterey Jack, all surrounded by contrasting blue-corn tortilla chips. The chili was an even-handed mix of ground beef, beans, tomato, and crunchy onions with the same late-hitting spiciness experienced with the poppers. The tortilla chips had an addictive saltiness.
As befits a tavern, the White Horse's full bar serves a selection of draft ales and beers, and they're not overly pumped up with carbon dioxide. Newcastle Brown Ale came in a chilled glass at a frigid temperature that's probably punishable by flogging in its country of origin. Ask for a nonchilled glass and let the ale warm up. Pickwick Ale, a legendary name in Boston brewing, is now being produced by Massachusetts Bay Brewing Co. The new, all-malt version has even more flavor than the original.
The White Horse serves Sunday brunch until 3:30, including Bloody Marys that prove spicy doesn't always mean hot.
Pecan French toast ($5.95) was two thick slices of bread sandwiching pecan-flavored cream cheese and the occasional pecan half, the whole package dusted lightly with brown sugar. Bourbon maple syrup was almost redundant on this dish, which our taster likened to eating ice cream for breakfast.
Dropped eggs on corned beef hash ($6.95) showed that home is not the only place you can trust the hash, which was very meaty with flecks of potato and crisp onion bits. The hash was a post-St. Patrick's Day special that our server said may become regular. The toast was barely toasted, and we learned too late that we had a choice of breads, our only quibble with otherwise excellent service.
We failed to notice desserts in the latest White Horse menu. We're told there are two: decadent chocolate cake and apple crisp.
Tips & hits
