Gregory's Bar & Grill

Apple & Onion Soup

Restaurant: Gregory's Bar & Grill
Cuisine: American
Last visited: October 8, 09

Area: Seatac/Seattle, WA
18220 International Blvd (at The Red Lion Hotel Seattle Airport)
Price Range: $10-20 USD

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 3.5
Service: 3
Ambiance: 2
Overall: 3
Additional comments:

• Homestyle hearty American food with simple twists
  
• It was like introducing a manly man to a little "gourmet"
• Bar/Pub atmosphere
• Casual
• Fresh ingredients
• Quite typical bar food, but made FRESH
• Love for cheese...some type of cheese in almost every dish
  
• Quiet during non-peak hours

**Recommendation: California Grilled Chicken Sandwich, Apple & Onion Soup

I had a flight to catch so Gregory's was the first non-chain thing we came across with decent signage. From the outside this place looks more like a grill but upon walking in you definitely feel like you've entered a bar...which was not what I was looking for. There was hardly anyone in there except for a few people drinking at the bar, so I was quite nervous about the food and my expectations were set low.

To my surprise the food was definitely better than your typical pub/bar food because everything was fresh. I don't know, maybe my expectations were so low that I got impressed? For what it was, the food was a bit better than good. As I was eating it I could tell that they had a cook who was really passionate about food. I mean what kind of "bar" offers homemade apple & onion soup? Also, the fact that they had more than mozzarella/cheddar cheese on their menu tells me that there's an inspired cook/chef working in the kitchen. Sure the usuals were on the menu, but the way the chef/cook approached the usuals - with fresh ingredients and simple twists is what impressed me. It was a nice surprise.

On the table:

• **Apple & Onion Soup 4/6
• This was really good and homecooked! It was a solid attempt at fine dining - it's how you would make a gourmet soup at home. It was actually quite hearty and rich for a clear based soup...definitely thanks to the shredded cheese! Yes it was oily and greasy from the cheese, but it was still really good!

• It was basically a French onion soup with added apples for a sweeter taste. It even had a slice of baguette loaded with cheese and then baked until melted, bubbly and golden brown.
• The onions were so cooked they literally melted in your mouth. For a bar - it was great. If it was fine dining I would suggest that they slice the onions thinner so that they're nice and stringy rather than chunky. You get mixed up between the onions and apples because they look the same and they're both caramelized and sweet so you can't tell which is which. The soup base was a savoury onion base and it was balanced with the sweet apples. There was also salty melted mozzarella cheese throughout. I found myself eating curds of melted cheese, but that's expected because cheese (fat) doesn't melt into water. The only complain I have was that the baguette was stale! It was the only thing that wasn't fresh out of everything we ordered. The soup was so good though, so I'll let that one thing slip.
  
• 
• Clubhouse Sandwich 3.5/6
  
• Turkey, tomato, Swiss cheese, avocado, romaine & bacon on a toasted kaiser bun.

• This was almost like a clubhouse burger rather than a sandwich. The kaiser bun made it more burger-like, the Swiss cheese made it more "gourmet", and the avocado was a great Californian inspired twist.
• I would have liked it better if the Swiss cheese was melted, but it was served cold. I was quite surprised with how much turkey we got and that the Swiss cheese was a full slice. It did need more romaine though, it was missing that crunchy texture especially since our kaiser wasn't toasted enough.
• The fresh avocado slices were a great touch. It added this creamy texture and the tang of the tomatoes just cut right though it.
  
• The kaiser was nice and soft too, not the crusty chewy kind of bread. It actually really suited the sandwich.
• Fries 4/6
• I have to mention the fries. They came as the side, and they were really good. I'm almost sure they were the McCain frozen fries, but it didn't matter. They were good and I don't expect a place like this to hand cut their own fries. These fries tasted extra good because they were deep fried in a new batch of oil. They also fry them a bit longer so that they're extra crispy! The fries were never soggy and stayed crispy until the very end of the meal.
• California Grilled Chicken Sandwich 5/6
  
• Grilled chicken, Pepperjack cheese, Mayo, avocado, tomato & lettuce on toasted kaiser.
• This was not a frozen chicken breast - this was a fresh chicken that was grilled upon order! It was a nice big and thick piece and I wouldn't be surprised if the chef grilled it first and let it finish cooking in the oven. It was really juicy and seasoned well.
• The second best part was that the menu said "mayo" in the sandwich, but what they really used was garlic aoili! What a nice surprise! It was spread over the kaiser and made it taste like garlic bread especially since they toasted it too. I think they even put some butter on it to enhance the flavour. Again it could have used more lettuce, but at this point I was drawing up a picture of the chef and was able to put his cooking style together: don't skimp on the good stuff...good stuff being meat, cheese and avocado. With that being said he was really generous with the avocado. It came with 5 wedges of fresh avocado!
• The flavours came together so well and it had a little spice from the Pepperjack cheese, which was all melted and gooey! It was eating a chicken sandwich with fresh avocado on toasted garlic bread - how amazing does that sound? It tastes better than it sounds and much better than it looks. Don't underestimate this sandwich.