Review: Blinkers Tavern

Awhile back, we received an email from staff member from Blinkers Tavern asking us to include them to our list.  We love feedback and loved that someone ASKED us to come in! So a couple weeks ago my two good friends, Anne and Tina, and I decided to get dinner together. Tina was dog sitting near Covington, so I suggested we try Blinkers Tavern.  It is located across from Keystone Bar & Grill in the old Chalk location.  I like the location because there is plenty of parking nearby and great sights to see on the street as well.  It was a nice night out, so we decided to sit outside and take it all in.

There are a variety of drink specials throughout the week, and Tuesday is half off bottles of wine! Can't beat that.  So Tina and I ordered a bottle to share.  I didn't go inside the restaurant, so unfortunately I can't say much about the interior, but it appeared to be a bar and grill type feel.  The menu, on the other hand, definitely has a mix of choices different from a typical "bar and grill" menu.

Anne and I both were in the mood for different things, so we decided to get two dishes and share!  I love sharing, so this was perfect for me.  We got the black and bleu burger which is served with a side of fries and the pork tenderloin with a raspberry sauce.  All entrees are served with a side salad and a choice of a side, so we shared the salad and went with the order of mac n' cheese.  Needless to say, we had PLENTY to eat!

Christina was debating over a couple things to get, but we suaded her into ordering the shrimp risotto which is pan seared with mushrooms and red and green peppers.

I have to say that service was really great here!  Our server was very friendly, had great suggestions, and was on top of everything.  I was really pleased with the service this night.

So onto the food.....the salad was a pretty standard side salad. It seemed like it came from a bag though and just had one cherry tomato cut on the side with shredded carrots. We had ordered a sun dried tomato dressing, which I was a bit disappointed with, it sounded much better than it tasted.  It was almost too sweet for me.  I don't think I would go out of my way to have this salad again.

We ordered the burger medium, and we thought it was overcooked, but it was still good! I loved the blue cheese topping and the bun had a nice toast to it.  Even though it was cooked more than I liked, I would order this again.  The burger itself had a great seasoning to it as well.  The fries were really good too! They were crispy, not soggy, and good sized.  I don't usually like shoestring fries, and thought these were pretty good.

The pork tenderloin was pretty good.  It was served with a spinach-type topping, but we really weren't quite sure what it was and onion straws.  I liked the greens with the pork and thought the raspberry glaze was a good combination with the pork, but the onion straws were just okay.  It seemed like an afterthought to the dish.   Overall, this dish didn't wow me.  I thought the pieces of pork were a bit thin but loved the glaze.

As for the mac n' cheese...not impressed.  It used a nacho-like cheese sauce and tasted pretty much like Velveeta shells and cheese.  With Keystone across the street, I would never get this again!

Tina loved her shrimp risotto.  She thought the shrimp was really tasty and a good portion of shrimp in the risotto.  I didn't try it, but she really enjoyed this dish and said she would get it again.  She ordered a side of broccoli with the dish.

Anne and Tina were in the mood for dessert, and Tina LOVES chocolate so they got a chocolate cake-type dessert.  They didn't really care for this.  They thought it was way too rich and thick.  It was hard for them to eat because it was so thick in their mouth.  It looked good though!

So, overall, I thought Blinkers was okay.  I would maybe go back again to try some of their other sandwiches or appetizers, it seems like they may excel in those more so than their entree dishes.  They have a wide variety of their menu, but I am a bigger fan of Keystone across the street, so it would be pretty hard for me to pass that up to go back to Blinkers, but we'll see!
~Kate

Food: 2.5
Service: 4
Overall Experience: 3

Guest Blog: Open-face Buffalo Chicken Pizza Calzones

Thank you so much to our good friend Anne for a great Friday Guest Blog today! Looks delicious - and great photos!!
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Many thanks to Kate and Kris for inviting us to guest blog!

As avid Internet recipe hunters, Ryan and I found this gem of a food blog called Baked Bree, where we’ve had good luck finding simple yet delicious and fun food to make.

One of our recent favorite recipes is a spin on her Pizza Skewer concoction, which is an ooey-gooey pizza roll/open-face calzone appetizer. But instead of making pizza-flavored bites, we substituted blue cheese, hot sauce and chicken to create a buffalo chicken version. But just to be clear, the pizza ones are equally as good so do yourself a favor and try those, too.

Ingredients
• Pizza dough (1 Trader Joe’s pre-made crust)
• ½ cup of flour for rolling
• 1 ½ cups of chicken (leftover rotisserie chicken chopped into bite-sized pieces)
• ¼ cup ranch dressing (plus additional for dipping sauce)
• ¾ cup finely grated, sharp cheddar cheese
• ¼ cup buffalo hot sauce (I like it spicy, so use less if you don’t)
• Crumbled blue cheese

Recipe Steps

Ryan and I have a bit of an obsession with homemade pizza, and we’ve been experimenting with what pizza dough gets the best results. I read on a blog that Trader Joe’s pre-made pizza crust is pretty tasty and easy to use. This has become our de-facto standard whenever we are craving homemade pizza or calzones.

Trader Joe’s pizza crust also works great in this recipe. Before you roll out the dough, you’re going to want to take it out of the fridge and let it sit for about 30 minutes until it becomes close to room temperature. This will make it easier to roll. Once the dough is ready, roll it out to about a 12” pie. Remember to use plenty of flour (on the rolling pin and cutting board) when rolling it out so it doesn’t stick. After the dough is rolled, layer the ingredients as you would a pizza – first spread the ranch, then the buffalo sauce and then sprinkle the chicken and cheddar cheese.

I know it might be tempting to throw this into the oven, but wait! Next, roll-up the pizza like you would a cinnamon roll as shown below.

Cut the roll into 1” segments and discard the ends of the roll. Grease a cookie sheet or pizza pan, and prop up the 1” segments with about 1” – 2” apart.

Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 20 minutes. Pull out the sheet, and make sure the dough is fully cooked before brushing additional hot sauce and sprinkling the blue cheese crumbles on top. Place back in the oven for an additional five or so minutes.

Serve with ranch dipping sauce and some carrots and celery to cool your mouth down and for a healthy touch. Ryan says he likes these just as much heated up again the next day, or a late-night drunken snack.

Thanks again to Kate and Kris for letting us share our yummy take on this appetizer! Enjoy!