Firkin & Fox: Canadian Import That Should Work

(Sunday, January 30, 2005) - The last time a Canadian restaurant group entered the Capital Region, the effort was a flop. It's doubtful that will be the case with the latest entry. The Firkin & Fox, locally run as a franchise of The Firkin Group of Pubs of Markham, Ontario, opened recently on Colonie's busy Wolf Road in a building with a history of pub-style dining.

It's part of the latest wave of chain dining to hit the area. Carrabba's Italian Grill, familiar in Florida and the Southwest, opened its first Capital Region unit last month in Latham. D'Angelo Sandwich Shops, a Massachusetts soup-and-salad shop chain with 211 units, plans to open a number of units in the area. The Kvockas, John and John Jr., at first wanted to debut their Firkin (the name refers to a small English keg) in Saratoga Springs. When that didn't materialize, they selected Colonie in renovated space formerly occupied by the Lexington Grill and then the Big House Grille. If all goes well, the Kvockas plan to open other Firkin & Fox restaurants locally. The parent company has nearly 40 spread across Canada, and are hoping the Colonie location will be the start of an equal number in the United States. Unlike Old Duluth, the Montreal steakhouse chain that flopped here in the late 1990s (Garcia's now occupies that Colonie space), Firkin & Fox has a format that already has been embraced across the Capital Region. Put the words ''casual,'' ''pub'' and ''TV sports'' together and you have a fairly strong foundation if your food product is consistent. The Firkin & Fox has all that, along with a traditional English pub feel, from its red fabric upholstery in the numerous booths, to solid dark wood throughout, a large, well-stocked bar with 14 beers, several dining rooms, and a pool-and-darts area. Flat-screen TV sets are strategically placed to allow for viewing without being intrusive. Combine that with pleasant, competent servers _ such as Jaci, who Constant Companion and I had at our table on a recent weeknight _ and enough standard U.S. tavern food (nachos, onion rings, burgers) to round out a menu dominated by salads, grilled items and a trio of mind-boggling platters containing such things as two pounds of wings plus barbecue ribs, or four pounds of wings, or wings, calamari, coconut shrimp and ... well, you get the idea. We began with a pair of Jim Beam Manhattans, perfectly balanced and a good beverage with a shared platter of coconut shrimp _ a half-dozen lightly battered and perfectly deep fried to preserve the flavors of both the shrimp and the coating. Half the eight salads offered are available in small versions to go with a meal rather than being one. Thumbs up for the house salad, loaded with cucumbers, red onion, greens, tomatoes, bacon crumbles, topped with a nice balsamic vinaigrette. The Caesar salad had the requisite fresh Romaine, crisp croutons and shredded cheese. The dressing, however, was more sharp vinaigrette than the creamier classic dressing I much prefer. We decided on a pair of English pub classics as our entrees. Companion's fish and chips was a generous fillet with a batter coating that puffed to a rich brown hue in the frying, plunked atop a mound of good fries and sided by a bit of coleslaw. The Firkin kitchen knows how to handle a deep fryer, with obviously fresh oil and just the right amount of cooking time to keep the main ingredients from absorbing it. My steak and mushroom pie is a healthy version of the ghastly steak and kidney pie that inexplicably has long been a Brit favorite. Here, the dish is a crock of bite-sized pieces of the title ingredients, cooked down in a savory dark gravy, topped with a light piece of puff pastry. Good mashed potatoes and pedestrian mixed vegetables (please, chefs of the world, just pick one vegetable and serve it properly) rounded out a generous platter. The dessert course elicited a chorus of mmm's: a delicious creme brulee cheesecake and a cinammon-perfumed apple dumpling that tasted as if Grandma was back in the kitchen. A good thing if your grandma could bake, and mine certainly could. Our bill, before tip, was $56. We're off to a nice start. Revisiting the Dead In last Sunday's review of Franklin's Tower, a new Albany restaurant named for a Grateful Dead song, I mentioned I was unable to ascertain whether the Dead ever played the song in Albany. About a dozen loyal Deadheads came through for me, dropping e-mails citing three such instances _ March 24, 1990 (their first visit to Albany), one year later and then again in 1995. Thanks for the help.William M. Dowd can be reached at 454-5411 or by e-mail at wdowd@timesunion.com.

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