What with the stuffed Thanksgiving feast just behind us and the Christmas groaning board just ahead, now is probably not the ideal time to tell you about Bobby s Kitchen in Temperance. Or, more particularly, about Bobby s Bad Boys.
For people with a lust for food, these Bad Boys are a sight to behold: seven sandwiches that contain preposterously large amounts of meat roast beef, turkey, ham, bacon, and ground beef served in various configurations and topped or toppled with cheese, vegetables, and other ingredients that will conquer the most ravenous appetite.
The mother of all sandwiches is Bobby s Ultimate Club, a $10 colossus that contains brace yourself, trenchermen a half-pound of turkey, half-pound of ham, and half-pound of bacon dressed with lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, and American cheese. All in one sandwich. Yikes!
Piker that I am, I had troublesimple high-rise construction of meat piled between two teetering slices of bread. It looks big enough to sustain a family of three for several days.
Bobby s Kitchen, a satellite of the original restaurant on Dixie Highway in Monroe, opened at Lewis Avenue and Samaria Road in Temperance last June. An airy, low-slung building with a small counter and a good-sized dining room, the place offers expansive window views of the bumpy crossroads and surrounding farmland of southeast Michigan.
Actually, most of the home-cooked dishes are served in saner portions, with moderate prices to match. The fare runs from morning omelets, griddle cakes, and eggs benedict to lunchtime salads, burgers, grinders, coney dogs, and deli specialties. Suppertime brings flaming Greek saganaki among the appetizers; steaks and seafood, downhome dinners, and Mexican burritos, nachos, and taco salad. Bobby s also touts its broasted chicken, calling it Michigan s best.
Except for the uniformly prompt, friendly service, our visits proved to be a checkered affair. For instance, of the cheeseburgers ($3.69) we ordered over a two-week period, the first was deliciously juicy while the second was unaccountably dry. Hot meat loaf with mashed potatoes and gravy ($5.99) tasted good, but the meat couldn t have been more than a quarter-inch thick. Chicken noodle soup ($1.89/$2.19) brimmed with flavor, but the chili ($1.99/$2.29) tasted like warmed-over spaghetti sauce with beans.
On the brighter side, don t pass up the fried lake perch dinner ($8.99), with three generous, lightly breaded fillets so good that I skipped most of the fixings (soup, salad, vegetable, homemade bread). Bobby s broasted chicken may indeed be Michigan s best. In an eight-piece, $12.99 takeout order, the succulent moist chicken was enveloped in a crunchy coating with broasted potatoes, cole slaw, and dinner rolls on the side. And don t forget the crisp, addictive cottage fries. Bet you can t eat just one.
Contact Bill of Fare at fare@theblade.com
First Published December 21, 2006, 4:19 p.m.
