Come In, Look Around

The Steady closed after a few years in business. I never attended any of its night-time shows though I dropped by now and then for some food. After a brief fallow period, the location has re-opened as Open House. On Saturday, I checked out the new place for dinner.

They've essentially kept the same laid-back vibe, possibly even more casual. A difference in furniture, a change to the wall, that's about it. You can sit at the few tables in the front near the bar or head to the larger section at the back, especially if you were part of a big group. The laissez-faire attitude extended to the service. You order booze at the bar and food from the kitchen (through a diner-esque service window) separately. Maybe Open House is a joint venture with two owners?

In any case, the main specialty of the kitchen is 5-point Nashville fried chicken. You can pick the level of spiciness and "cut". I got the thigh-and-leg ($11) and some hot cakes ($5). A Blanche de chambly ($7) from the bartender completed the meal. Similar to other trendy fried food joints, the hipster side-of-choice is plain white bread. But it didn't go great with the fried chicken. Also, the latter had too much greasy batter. The seasoning was ok, but overall I'm not sure the dish was worth more than double the cost of Popeye's down the street. I liked the hot cakes though, it tasted like savoury pancakes. A little too heavy with the chicken, but good on its own.