Lindey’s is owned by Sue Doody who opened it in 1981 in the German Village neighborhood.  Now two of her sons are involved and both have found careers in the restaurant industry.   It’s a huge place serving American cuisine in a white tablecloth setting.  There are several dining rooms as well as private dining rooms in the 2-story corner building.  The 1884 building housed another restaurant prior to but earlier served as a grocery, a saloon, flower shop and hardware store.  Doody named the restaurant after the linden trees that used to grow on the property.  The small tables are on carpet with the walls covered with drawings and music somewhere in the background.  The entrance room had a long bar and tables but we were in the next room with windows to the street adding a bit more light into the room.  Service was friendly but jumbled and the food was mixed. Perhaps we should have ordered the daily special.

Set-Up

 

Food

The bread service contained some thin, seeded crispy crackers and warm doughy white bread.  Both were very tasty and a good contrast with one another.  It was served with a hard slab of butter.  There wasn’t much in the basket and it was quickly consumed so I asked if we could get a refill and the server brought a basket that could have served a table of 6.

 

Calamari and Shrimp were served with fried lemon and peppadew peppers with both remoulade and cocktail sauces.  The fried lemons curled up and looked like shrimp so they were a surprise sometimes.  The calamari was mostly sticks and just a couple of tentacle pieces.  The peppers were tasty and not spicy.  Both sauces were good and enhanced the flavor of the lightly coated ingredients.  It was fine but no new ground covered here, just simply well done.

 

The Tournedos of Beef was made with two 4 oz. filets on top of a baguette slice with bearnaise, buttermilk chive mashed potatoes, asparagus and onion straws.  The sauce on the beef was more like Hollandaise than Bearnaise, as the tarragon flavor was missing.  The asparagus was good and cooked perfectly. The onion straws were the best part of the plate – crispy with light non-greasy coating and sweet onion.  Both the asparagus and onions were sitting on a massive pile of unremarkable mashed potatoes. I found it odd to serve the meat on the baguette slice, in light of all those potatoes,  but it was easily removed.  The meat was tender and cooked nicely but the vegetables stole the show on this plate.

 

Lindey’s Post Mortem was made with a chocolate brownie, coffee ice cream and Kahlúa hot fudge.  The oddest part of this one was that it was served with fork.  That would have worked with just the brownie but here the ice cream and sauce dribbled through the tines.  The brownie was more a cocoa variety than dark chocolate but the sauce was rich and thick.  It had good proportions and was a big serving but somehow didn’t satisfy – maybe cause most of the sauce was still in the bowl.  It was better after I requested a spoon but then the ice cream had mostly melted.