By LEE B. ROBERTS
lroberts@journaltimes.com | Posted: Sunday, June 28, 2009 12:00 am
There's no place like the kitchen for Louis Koutromanos. Having worked in the restaurant business for 45 years, Koutromanos feels very much at home in the kitchen. And the food he is serving up at the new San Francisco Grill is proof not only of his knowledge and experience, but his passion for creating good things to eat.
After all these years, Koutromanos still loves to cook. That's why he decided to go into business with his daughter, Michele Vogelman, who opened the San Francisco Grill - a casual lunch and dinner establishment - about six months ago in the space that was once the Ground Round.
Running a restaurant also seems like a natural choice for Vogelman, who learned the business from her father who owned five establishments in southeastern Wisconsin throughout his career, including the Around the Clock diner on Rapids Drive back in the 1970s. When the building at 6300 Washington Ave. became available, the father/daughter team decided to give it a go.
"I knew I would probably always be in this business," said Vogelman, who grew up in Racine and now lives in Hartford.
Together she and her father developed the menu, which does reflect Koutromanos' Greek heritage in items such as his Saganaki (flaming cheese) and special Pastitsio (Greek style lasagna), but also offers a good variety of sandwiches, pasta dishes, steaks and seafood. Having had some formal training at a Canadian cooking school after coming to North America from Greece as a young man, Koutromanos said he enjoys preparing a wide range of dishes - with soup being one of his favorite creative outlets.
His Seafood Bisque - a rich, creamy blend of broth and seafood - is always on the menu, along with a baked French onion soup. The chef also adds a special selection soup to the mix each day, choosing from the more than 200 he says are in his repertoire.
Every soup served, along with all of the restaurant's sauces and most of the salad dressings, are homemade, Koutromanos said. And each dish that leaves his kitchen must be "A-1", or he won't serve it.
"I tell my cooks that every plate of food they prepare should be something they would want to eat themselves," Koutromanos said. "If you don't like the plate, you shouldn't put it out."
It's all good
That rule has served Sharon Janus and family well. Janus, who dines frequently at the San Francisco Grill with her mother, Lorraine Mikulecky, and their friend June Vlasak, said that they haven't had a dish yet that they didn't enjoy.
"Everything is very tasteful," Janus said. "And the portions are very generous."
So far they've tried the Chicken Pomadoro Bruchetta (chicken breast tossed with tomato, basil, garlic and olive oil on angel hair pasta), the Salmon Florentine (topped with sauteed spinach and champagne sauce), the Chicken Walnut Salad (grilled chicken with walnuts, apples, blue cheese and special dressing), a giant brownie/ice cream sundae concoction (which they split three ways) and more. They all agreed that they wouldn't hesitate to order any of those dishes again.
Both times that 10-year-old Alyssa Kennow has joined the trio, she's ordered the "humongous cheeseburger," which she said both she and her father loved. The half-pound Angus beef burger was so big, she took half of it home for her Dad.
While Kennow is a classic burger fan, choosing American cheese, mustard and ketchup as toppings, other choices are available from mushrooms and Swiss cheese to avocado, bacon and several other types of cheese. Those looking for a smaller burger option, can choose the San Francisco Grill's "Sliders" - two 3-ounce burgers topped with cheddar cheese.
Bar food, too
The restaurant also offers a selection of at least 10 appetizers, including spinach cheese pie, hand-breaded calamari with homemade dipping sauce and Pacific Coast Crab Cakes, which Vogelman says are her favorite.
"My Dad's crab cakes are to die for," she said.
A Racine foursome who came to the restaurant in search of wings a couple of Sundays ago found Koutromanos' San Francisco Wings to their liking as well.
"They are excellent," said Eric Hamler.
The heat of the wings was "hot enough to make your nose sweat, but tolerable," he said.
And, while he and his friends, Joe and Stacy Adamek, licked wing sauce off their fingers, Hamler's wife, Heather, enjoyed an Avocado Chicken sandwich - one of the restaurant's cable car signature items (others include a Parmesan Encrusted Tilapia, Chicken Tetrazzini and a Cobb Salad Wrap).
An open-face grilled chicken creation on sourdough bread, piled high with fresh avocado, bacon and colby jack cheese, Heather's sandwich tasted as good as it looked, she said.
"The fries are really good, too," Heather said. "It's all good."
Hamler and crew chose to do their dining in the restaurant's bar area, which has an open, inviting feel created by lots of cherry-finish wood and natural light. The San Francisco theme of the restaurant is carried through in its decor with images including those of the California city's famous bridge and harbor.
Designed by Koutromanos' wife, Kileen, in conjunction with Vogelman and her sister, Lorri Koutromanos, the decor is another example of how the San Francisco Grill is truly a family business. Lorri, who is a schoolteacher, also helps out at the restaurant when she can, as do Vogelman's 17-year-old twin daughters.
"We put everybody to work," Vogelman said with a smile. "We all do what needs to be done."
If You Go
WHAT: San Francisco Grill
WHEN: Hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday.
WHERE: 6300 Washington Ave., Mount Pleasant
COST: Sandwiches and salads range from $7.95 to $9.95 and entrees start at $6.95 for a quarter rotisserie chicken dinner and go up to $17.95 for a hand-cut filet dinner. A selection of daily lunch ($6.95) and dinner ($8.95) specials are also offered.
PHONE: (262) 886-6600.