Chris V.
Yelp
The food might be pretty good, but it's not the cure for all of their woes.
Distill is a local chain of bars that has recently expanded around town, resulting in this new and far more convenient outpost for Henderson folks. I received a flyer in the weekly ads in the mail, and my curiosity was piqued by the presence of a buy one, get one free offer. I finally used this coupon today along with a friend.
This location is not really close to anything else of import in food or beverage, and navigation depends on your starting point because it's equally far from Gibson and Stephanie. I was able to spot their sign just fine coming from Gibson, and I also immediately figured out that they're on an elevated lot with its own parking area accessed from American Pacific, not from the small side street.
Once inside, my friend and I were greeted and seated quickly after indicating our preference for a (high-top) table rather than the bar or the armchairs. We were able to order fairly quickly, but because I had selected a certain menu item, it would end up taking over half an hour to receive the order. This wasn't an issue because I was in any sort of hurry, but because I wasn't informed either by the menu or the server that it could take 30 minutes or more.
Anyway, the food finally came out. The Cure ($10.95), a burger which I'd often heard over the years as being the best burger in town, ended up being pretty good, maybe even great. It's not amazing or by far the best though. The meat patty, a blend of beef and pork, was quite delicious and came cooked roughly to my requested medium; however, it does comes off as oversized, especially in comparison to the supposed "brioche" bun that couldn't hold everything together. I agree with the saying that hunger is the best sauce, but despite being quite hungry, I wasn't blown away.
The burger came with a side, and naturally I gravitated to the fries. Unfortunately, I was underwhelmed. Yes, I know that I can add salt, but they were undersalted. On top of that, the crispy texture wasn't the right feel, and the interior lacked any fluffy character. I'm pretty sure that most fast food places produce better fries. And as a note on the sides, they need to edit the menu to make it clear that certain items come at a +$1 premium, such as my friend's fries, or have the server confirm the choice. Yes, this is exactly the same issue as the wait time for The Cure, but it annoys me enough that I have to harp on it again.
I also had a taste of my friend's Western Bacon Burger ($10.50). I wasn't wowed by the onion rings, but the other ubiquitous ingredients were fine. There were also lettuce and tomato on the side, which my friend would've appreciated actually being placed in the burger but which I now recall aren't typical ingredients in a Western Bacon. The main problem here was that his "medium rare" came out as more of a medium well. It still tasted fine, but I'm certain that it could've been even better.
The other overarching problem is that their ventilation here sucks. I was sitting at least 20 feet away from any other patrons who might've been smoking cigarettes, but I was still getting a nose-full of the stench every time. Never mind the health impact of secondhand smoke, that's just going to detract from the flavor of the food each and every time. If you want a counterpoint, just walk into the bar at nearby Henry's American Grill when it's busy and notice how it doesn't smell of smoke unless you're sitting right next to someone. That's how you should run a smoking establishment.
I'll probably be back to Distill occasionally when I decide that I want to try some different burgers or other potentially interesting options, but I can't say that I'm a fan based on my meal today. At least they have a lot of room for improvement. And for me personally, maybe review #1200 will be more memorable than #1100.
