What words describe autumn in Valparaiso? Crisp air, brightly colored leaves and…rain. Luckily there is another word to cheer us up on dreary days, namely, turkey. Unfortunately, attending class does not leave me much time to roast a traditional turkey, with all the trimmings of course. As the holiday season approaches and we long with sentimental fondness for family gatherings, I am grateful that there is a place in town where we can go and get our fill of comfort food. I am speaking of Strongbow Inn, located at 2405 East U.S. 30.
Opened in the early 1940s and named for the Potawatomi Chief who lived on the land in the 1800s, this restaurant has a history as rich as its desserts. The menu includes traditional turkey dinners, as well as turkey pie, and even turkey schnitzel. There are also non-turkey options, if you want to avoid the tryptophan. However, if you want a turkey dinner with all the trimmings, I recommend going on a Wednesday evening when the restaurant boasts an incredible spread, commonly known as the turkey buffet.
To review my test for evaluating a restaurant, I consider four elements, none of which are decisive in my conclusion. These elements are: ambiance, service, cost and taste. Ambiance can best be evaluated by considering the decor of the restaurant, the table arrangement, whether there is music and whether there is entertainment available. In looking at service, my main concern is the speed and accuracy of the wait-staff, but friendliness and charisma are also important. Cost must include quality as a factor, because even if a restaurant is inexpensive, I will probably never return if the quality is poor. Finally, and of primary importance is taste, in which I consider my personal enjoyment of the food, as well as the originality of it. The review of Strongbow Inn’s Turkey Buffet is as follows:
1. Ambiance
The main dining room at Strongbow Inn is elegant and spacious. However, I strongly encourage that you to ask to be seated in the Wild Blue Yonder Lounge. We were lucky enough to have a friend in the know make our reservations so that we could sit in this small room. Located just off the main dining room, the lounge includes a bar on one side, with booths and small tables filling the rest of the space. The walls and ceiling of the room are designed to make you feel as if you are seated in the Enola Gay, with “window” lining the walls and views of distant scenery. Decorating the ceiling are model planes from various eras. On the night we were there, we were lucky enough to experience a jazz singer, and we were told that there is live music every Wednesday for the guests to enjoy. Overall, it was an extremely pleasant place to eat a fun meal.
2. Service
Service is not as relevant at a buffet as it is at a restaurant where dinner is plated, however, it can increase the experience overall. All of the wait-staff at Strongbow Inn were extremely cordial, and our drinks were never empty. They attended to our special requests graciously, and were always friendly and polite. I was especially impressed when we mentioned to our server that the buffet was out of the restaurant’s special pastries, discussed below, and he brought us some from the bakery area to try. All in all, the service at Strongbow Inn was quite amenable.
3. Cost
The menu at Strongbow varies from thirteen dollars to thirty dollars per meal. However, at just under fifteen dollars a person for the all you can eat turkey buffet, Wednesday evening is the most cost-effective meal at the restaurant. For those fifteen dollars, you can eat so much delicious turkey you will want to sleep until Thanksgiving. This buffet excels at both quality and quantity; therefore your money is by no means going to waste. It is definitely worth every penny.
4. Taste
At the turkey buffet, you will find a soup, salad and dessert area; a to-order pasta station; and a buffet with ribs, red cabbage salad, seasonal vegetables, yams, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy and cranberry relish. Most important of all, you will find a turkey carving station, where you can request your favorite part of the bird. Of course, the best thing of all was the giant turkey legs, which August ate with characteristic gusto.
The salad was nothing special, but that was alright, because we were there for comfort food, and not rabbit food. I tried the turkey noodle soup, which was amazing, with a perfect consistency and delicate seasoning. I moved on to the rolls, which were homemade yeast rolls, and reminded me of something my great-grandmother used to make. The red cabbage salad brought back memories of Christmas in Sweden, and the yams were delicious, with a hint of lemon. The carrots and squash were a bit undercooked for my taste, but I prefer that to their being mushy. However, the mashed potatoes were perfect, with a light buttery flavor and even a few lumps to make it seem even more home made. I was not a huge fan of the stuffing because it was somewhat blander then I am used to.
The pasta station was nice, with a variety of veggies, pastas and flavorings to be put in, but when I said a little garlic and a spoonful was added, I was not so happy with the vampire-repelling effect. Gus enjoyed the ribs, which were flavorful, with a little bit of a kick. The turkey was roasted to perfection and so juicy you hardly needed the gravy. It tasted especially good with a bit of cranberry relish, which was a fresh and sweet accent to the meat.
Now let’s talk about dessert a little while. There was a pastry paradise on the dessert table. Gus and I decided to try several things together. The pastries were tasty, as was the carrot cake. But who would notice those next to the huge slices of beautifully decorated cake? We tried one slice of a yellow cake with a surprising citrus icing. It was refreshing, and made us believe we still had the room in our stomachs to try the other cake, which was a dense chocolate cake with a mocha flavored icing. Either one is worth the calories for sure. Finally, at the recommendation of a friend, we requested a special puff pastry that is usually served at the buffet. Our server called it a swan, but we thought it looked more like a turkey, possibly as a side-effect of our meal’s theme.
Conclusion
All Gus could say at the end of the meal was, “I’m stuffed.” We both were. It was like being at home for the holidays and overeating with our families, which was perfect for an autumn evening in Valparaiso. I would recommend the turkey buffet at Strongbow Inn to anyone feeling a little homesick and very hungry. However, a word of warning is in order: make reservations, because the entire restaurant began filling at five and stayed full the entire time we were there.
Kirsten is a 3L and can be reached at Kirsten.Haalboom@valpo.edu.
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