Bill B.
Yelp
Since my homes are in Lawrence and Kansas City, I rarely dine in Topeka. But this serious new restaurant has been getting very encouraging reviews, so we decided to give it a try. We were very pleased by the service. The people who work there are highly qualified professionals. I have much respect for all of them, and I wish them well. In fact the service was better than we often receive in Lawrence and a match for the service at the best restaurants in KC. In addition the chef's preparations are sophisticated in the "new American" tradition. The restaurant is located in a building which is a National Historic Landmark, with easy parking on the street in front of the restaurant, as well as in a parking lot behind the restaurant.
We were immediately impressed when we were seated and offered a complementary half glass of the house Cava wine (a Spanish sparkling wine). It was very good. We then ordered a bottle, priced at an admirably reasonable price. We began with the house salad and the cauliflower soup. Both were excellent. However, we routinely request a pepper mill for fresh ground pepper to add to salads and soups. We were told that they do not have a pepper mill. Fine restaurants that do not have a pepper mill, usually can bring out a small bowl of fresh ground pepper from the kitchen. They did not have that either. All they could offer was salt and pepper shakers. The pepper shaker had two tiny holes in the top that could dispense small amounts of very finely ground pepper, if you shake it very hard. Use of the pepper shaker was barely worth the effort. I then asked if they had Tabasco, or another hot sauce, or crushed red pepper. They didn't. I know that it is a very new restaurant, but still this was hard to understand. Perhaps the chef does not want customers altering his preparations. I would have asked him, if he had come out of the kitchen to talk with us, as the only diners in the restaurant for the most of the time we were there. Since he didn't, we were not able to ask the reasons of the restaurant's odd policy in that regard.
We ordered a cheese plate, which was impressively excellent. We also ordered the seared grouper and the steamed mussels. The prices were lower than we would expect at a fine dining restaurant for fresh seafood. So before we placed the order, we asked the server whether the fish was fresh. His reply was that the seafood is "fresh frozen," not fresh. He also stated that it is not possible to do better with seafood in Topeka. Personally I would have preferred a higher price for really fresh, never frozen fish. But we ordered the mussels and grouper anyway. They were good, and we liked the preparations. But as originally a Bostonian, I know how to tell the difference between fresh fish and previously frozen fish. As the server had stated, the fish had been previously frozen. I could tell before I even tasted the grouper, by cutting into the fish with the side of my fork. Prior freezing changes the consistency of the fish.
As I have mentioned the taste was good, and the preparations were interesting. But if fresh fish really is not available in Topeka, this would decrease our motivation to try restaurants in Topeka. Many restaurants in KC receive fresh fish directly from the airport daily, and some restaurants in Lawrence receive deliveries of fresh fish two or three times a week. On the other hand, I do not recall having been served previously frozen fish at the Row House Restaurant, so I am not sure whether the server's statement about seafood in Topeka was correct.
After dinner, we ordered coffee. They brought out a French press and made the coffee at our table. It was excellent.
We enjoyed the dinner and would be happy to pay higher prices, if the chef decides to go more upscale with really fresh seafood (if available in Topeka) and availability of a pepper mill and Tabasco. But the restaurant does have one policy that rubbed me the wrong way. I made reservations online at Open Tables a week in advance. Open Tables says that the restaurant insists on a credit card to make a reservation with a 48 hours cancellation policy. If you want to cancel in less than 48 hours, Open Tables is not authorized by the restaurant to permit the cancellation. You must then call the restaurant, which reserved the right to charge a penalty, especially if less than 24 hours in advance. I use Open Tables regularly to make reservations in the best restaurants in KC and have never encountered this requirement before.
Yes, I know that the same policy exists at Thomas Keller's world famous French Laundry restaurant in Yountville, Napa Valley, California. But White Linen is not in that league, and is not (yet) a match for the best restaurants in KC. In addition, when we arrived at 5 pm, we were the only diners there. When we left at about 7 pm, there were diners at only two of the other tables. I hope for improvements in the future.
