LOWVILLE — On the outskirts of town toward the Adirondacks on the Number Four Road, there's a comfortable restaurant called Memories.
Memories Restaurant & Lounge has been around for about a decade, but the hundred-year-old building that houses it has been home to various restaurants over the years.
Steve Fuller became the owner and operator in 2004. He was right there when we arrived, doubling as greeter and bartender.
There are three good-sized dining rooms, but only one is open this time of year, the slow season. A wood stove was keeping the room plenty warm and adding a nice ambience on a chilly winter night.
We weren't sure the TV in the dining room or the sports trophies sitting on the beams overhead enhanced the fine-dining atmosphere, but I guess you didn't have to look at them if you didn't want to.
And considering it was the first Saturday of the new year, usually a quiet time in the restaurant business, they had a pretty good crowd.
The menu boasts "Fine dining in a casual atmosphere." Appetizers are a mix of made-to-order and freezer-to-fryer. Steak Diane and steak au poivre caught our attention. Haddock, shrimp and scallop preparations were pretty standard.
Ginger-marinated tuna and chipotle tilapia looked interesting. Chicken dishes and pasta dishes appeared pretty predictable. Polynesian chicken did entice us for a second.
A nice feature — many entres are available in regular or light portions, nice for people wanting to watch their waistlines (or their credit card lines) after the holidays.
Appetizers were hot and cold, figuratively speaking.
Baked stuffed mushrooms ($6.95) were filled with an enjoyable seafood stuffing. They were the favorite of the four appetizers we tried.
Coming in second, mesquite shrimp kabob ($7.95) consisted of four lightly grilled medium-sized shrimp with a little zing to them, served on a skewer.
Homemade French onion soup ($4.75) was served lukewarm and tasted rather bland. We liked the Swiss cheese on top, but didn't care for the croutons holding it up.
Clams casino ($5.95) were nasty. Not the kitchen's fault — they're not made there. They looked suspiciously like Matlaws, the brand you see in the supermarket, rust-red colored from an overdose of paprika. And they looked better than they tasted. The filling was like a cross between canned ham salad and bad bacon, smothering the clam buried way down below.
The appetizers were nicely garnished with kale and a twist of lemon.
A basket of warm bread arrived, filled with fresh, soft and chewy dinner rolls and lemon-poppy seed mini muffins. A big two thumbs up!
Salads contained a nice mixture of bite-sized greens, green pepper, radish, cuke, a wedge of tomato and shredded carrot, served on glass plates.
Salad dressings were mostly made in-house. Italian had a nice vinegary bite to it. Raspberry vinaigrette could have used more vinegar. Honey Dijon was quite sweet, and Thousand Island pretty straightforward.
A small ramekin of orange sorbet was a pleasant surprise, served just before our entres arrived.
Stuffed filet of sole ($16.95) was nicely presented. The fish was wrapped around a tasty scallop and crab stuffing, attractively dusted with paprika and parsley.
We could have gotten a sirloin or a New York strip, but how often do you see steak Diane ($25.95) on a menu these days? And surprise, surprise — it was prepared tableside.
Steve wheeled his little cooking cart over to our table, and we had a ringside seat as he skillfully prepared the butterflied filet mignon: pan seared it; deglazed it with brandy (flames shooting toward the ceiling); added Dijon, mushrooms and onions and beef stock; reduced sauce.
It was a fine piece of meat, and the sauce was subtle enough as to not compete with the flavor of the tenderloin. Steve cooked it perfectly to our request of medium-rare, on the rare side.
A half portion of Frenched rack of lamb ($14.95, five chops) had a decent flavor, but there was more gristle and fat than we're used to with this prestige piece of meat. A full rack is available for $18.95.
Tomato basil shrimp ($13.95) was interesting. Tiny shrimp ranging in size from a nickel to a quarter were sauted in butter and olive oil with chopped fresh tomatoes and penne pasta. There were so many tomatoes and noodles, you had to really look to find the shrimp. And while they used dried basil rather than pesto like the menu said, the dish did have an overall good taste to it.
Entres were accompanied by a fresh vegetable medley consisting of cut green beans, sliced carrots and corn.
A plasticized dessert menu stared at us all night long from the side of the table with full-color photos of the dessert offerings. They were admittedly not made in-house, but who cared? Let's give 'em a try.
New York-style cheesecake was just fine, creamy and dreamy with a dose of canned cherries on top; raspberry walnut cheesecake was laced internally and externally with berries, nicely presented, but "of Sam's Club variety," according to the person who ordered it.
Lemon pie was very rich and very sweet, mellowed out nicely with after-dinner coffee.
The in-house dessert we ordered, Bavarian cream puffs, were still slightly frozen in the center and had Hershey's syrup drizzled on them. We did enjoy what we thought was real whipped cream, or a darn good imitation.
A little weird was our server offering coffee refills from a small carafe in hand, saying they'd rather not brew another pot. And while she was pleasant and efficient, we felt a little smile would have gone a long way.
Our tab for four, factoring out a few cocktails at the bar on the way in, came to $115 before gratuity. The wine list had some nice bottle offerings, but by-the-glass was quite basic.
Memories' "fine dining" menu is, for the most part, decent, but definitely dated, matching the look of the dining room. Adventurous diners may be a little disappointed.
You can contact Walter E. Siebel via e-mail: wsiebel@wdt.net.
Memories Restaurant & Lounge
6218 Number Four Road
Lowville
376-6650
"Fine dining" in a casual atmosphere
HOURS: Serving begins at 5 p.m. Tuesday though Saturday
3 p.m. Sunday
Closed Mondays
APPETIZER PICK: Seafood stuffed mushrooms
ENTRE PICK: Steak Diane
DESSERT PICK: Raspberry cheesecake
Rating: 3
