
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, August 18, 1995                   TAG: 9508180074
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 1   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: DOLORES KOSTELNI SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Long

BUCK MOUNTAIN GRILLE CHANGES NOT ALL FOR BETTER

Just as I was getting comfortable with the menu and the engaging food at Buck Mountain Grille, the restaurant changed hands. Since January, the new owners have been Almerindo and Joann Mazzarella. They have repainted the interior, replaced the old carpet and added heavy linen napkins for all meals. Although the menu hasn't changed, many of the dishes I ordered recently had shaky and disappointing moments, while other preparations maintained the expected level of quality.

Although Mazzarella runs the Buck Mountain kitchen, the sous chefs from the previous management have stayed, thereby imparting a measure of consistency to several of the original menu's vegetarian and Southwestern specialties. Mazzarella introduces Italian and Mediterranean-style dishes as daily specials. One of these, grilled polenta with gorgonzola cream sauce and roasted walnuts ($3.95), won over my tastebuds as a delightful appetizer. Another version of the polenta, served with a dark, old-tasting and overcooked tomato sauce, proved woefully inadequate. I couldn't eat more than a forkful of it.

Al Mazzarella's cooking background extends 24 years, beginning with the two-year hotel and restaurant management training he completed as a young man at Vico Ecuente, a culinary school of repute in his native Sorrento, Italy. From there, he worked at hotels in Salerno, Italy; Lugano, Switzerland; and Hanover, Germany. Before coming to Virginia, Mazzarella was chef at Graziano's Restaurant, Point Pleasant, N.J.

Although Buck Mountain Grille still turns out capably prepared dishes, my enthusiasm has diminished for a few I had once considered the menu superstars. The costliest item on the dinner menu, the six-ounce crab cake ($17.95), proved an expensive and all-around disappointment. It lacked flavor, character and sensuality. If I hadn't known I had ordered a crab cake, I wouldn't have known what this fat, soft, homogenized burger was.

Even more regrettable were two dishes with shrimp. The shrimp crepes with dill sauce ($11.95) had a thick, heavy crepe and tough shrimp in a greasy pool of melted butter. The shrimp on the shrimp kabob of the fisherman's platter ($14.95) were inedibly hard, though the rest of the platter presented sweet, gently cooked scallops, a small, crisply sauteed crab patty and a perfectly charbroiled petite filet of salmon.

More than the inedible food, the inconsistent and unprofessional wine service annoyed me and my guests on three separate occasions. We ordered an Australian McGuigan Brothers black shiraz ($3.95/glass). Without fail we were served glasses less than one-third fulll of wine. Our refills were a little more than half full. At another dinner, the second glasses contained differing quantities - but were the same price: Perhaps a measuring cup should be used to guarantee uniformly filled glasses of wine at all times.

Chicken saltimboca ($9.95), a boneless chicken breast that the menu describes as "filled with thin slices of provolone cheese and prosciutto ham," arrived with the stuffings on top instead of inside. In any event, the dish was tasty and the chicken easy to cut.

Basil pesto cream over a beautiful tangle of fresh fettuccine with a nice heap of vegetables julienne ($6.95) endures as one of the restaurant's classics. Charbroiled salmon filet with an herb-scented maple glaze ($13.95) bursts with good flavors and succulence. Both these dishes are worth a visit.

One of the best kept secrets is lunch. Beautiful salads ($5.95-$7.95) and hearty, neat sandwiches ($4.95-$7.95) for all palates are prepared by Jane Savage, who formerly owned Star City Cafe. These delights alone would get me to Buck Mountain Grille for the midday meal. I thoroughly enjoyed Steve's Cobb ($6.25), a plate mounded high with fresh romaine, red leaf and butter crunch lettuces and topped with julienne of chicken breast, bleu cheese, corn kernels, avocado, real bacon pieces, hard-cooked egg, shredded cheeses and salsa.

Better than ever, the Quarry Club ($4.75) fills you deliciously. Cradled within the delightfully chewy, but tender, Wildflour cornmeal baguette are thinly sliced smoked ham, Italian salami, provolone cheese, tomato and lettuce, all moistened with a tasty vinaigrette dressing.

For dessert, I find the lemon meringue pie ($3.25) irresistible. I am almost at a loss for words to describe how I inhaled this lofty, light-as-a-cloud, lemon-filled slice of honestly flavored tart and sweet pleasure. I wasn't as pleased with the New York-style cheesecake ($3.25), which came not only with an appropriately decadent filling, but with white, wet and unbaked bottom and side crusts. A mile-high piece of carrot cake ($3.25) looked like a picture, but the texture didn't live up to the appearance because it was crumbly and too dry to eat.

There's no reason excellent meals can't continue to be served at the new Buck Mountain Grille. The menu presents a variety of dishes that incorporate variations of basic cooking techniques. For capable chefs, this is fun.

\ BUCK MOUNTAIN GRILLE

U.S. 220 South

Roanoke

776-1830

HOURS: Lunch: Tuesday through Sunday: 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.; Dinner: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday: 5 p.m. - 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday: 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

BEVERAGES SERVED: full range of alcoholic and nonalcoholic

CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED: American Express, Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club, Discover

PRICE RANGE: Lunch: $4.50-$7.95; Dinner: $4.95-$17.95

RESERVATIONS REQUIRED?: not necessary

NONSMOKING SECTION?: the entire restaurant

HANDICAPPED ACCESSIBLE?: No

Dining Out's handicap-accessibility ratings are provided by The Blue Ridge Independent Living Center.

Dolores Kostelni is the author of "Cookies by the Dozen," which will be published in October by Warner Books.

by CNB