Walkers’ opened in late June in a corner building on lower Greenville Ave. by the sibling team of Rosemary Walker-Green and Russell Walker.   They offer lunch as well as a bottle and market shop during the day, supplemented by a dinner menu in the evening.  Open Wed through Sunday the dinners are called “New American cuisine” and the large bar features many creative cocktails.  When you enter you immediately are taken by the U-shaped stone topped wood bar which divides the room.  On the entry side are shelves with wines and foods along with some seats which are mainly for lunch service.  The other half has a low wall dividing the bar from where the small closely set tables for dinner are placed.   The corner building has windows to the street which they’ve tinted and partially covered with drapes, as the sun glare is hot and harsh.  Otherwise the lighting is lowered.  It’s an attractive layout with a lovely wood floor, fun art and well padded bench seating along the wall but the noise level is deafening.  It was packed with people but the thumping music in the background only made them talk louder.   On a happier note the menu has already had some changes so I can hope they continue to add new items.  The dishes were varied and appealing as well as tasty but loud places just aren’t my thing, however if you want buzz, this is the place for you.

Set-up

 

Food

We tried a couple of their cocktails.  The Old Fashioned was made with date infused rye and cognac, apricot, orange bitters, angostura, peychauds bitters and came with one big clear ice cube.   It was an interesting less sweet twist on the standard Old Fashioned.  The Paloma was made with Patron blanco, Dolin blanc vermouth, grapefruit, citrus and soda and came on crushed ice garnished with a slice of grapefruit.   It was tasty with lots of citrus flavor and fairly low in alcohol.

 

The cavatelli was mixed with an eggplant sauce topped with manchego cheese.  The delicate pastas were perfectly cooked and the sauce adhered nicely to them.  The cheese blended into the mix which came out very steamy hot.  We both liked it.

 

It was a long wait for the entreés to get to the table and the server came by to apologize but her explanation was lost to the noise level.  I thought they’d offer a glass of wine to make up for the 30 min delay but they did not.  The halibut was plated with wild timur (pepper) and chanterelles on a creamy sauce.  The nice sized piece of fish was cooked fairly well, but most of the moistness was supplied by the surrounding sauce.  The pepper should have had a more tongue tingling effect but I didn’t notice it, however overall the dish was good.

 

The pork chop was sliced, sitting on collard greens and topped with plums and mustard seeds.  When eaten alone the plums were very salty but in conjunction with the pork they were okay.   The pork had a lovely char crust on the meat and some kind of meat jus on the  plate for additional flavor.  The pork was cooked nicely and retained some moisture in the meat.  This was another good dish.

 

We looked at the dessert menu but passed, as we were full and ready to get outside.