I have always been skeptical of sport celebrity restaurants. Could someone as adept at flipping pucks like Wayne Gretzky transfer his skills to flipping steaks and tossing salads? No doubt the allure of such places is not as much the culinary skill of the owner as it is the kind of crowd such a place attracts - sports buffs and occasional appearance by the stars themselves.
Hot Rod Hundley is now trying to capitalize on his sports notoriety with a restaurant that bears his name (once the site of Hare Hollow and a few other defunct eateries.) While he flipped more than his share of baskets in his college and pro career, most locals know him for his epiglottal flips (and occasional quips) as the excitable commentator for the Utah Jazz.I wondered if after our recent experience we could quote our host's admonition, "You got to love it, baby!"
Surprisingly, we enjoyed our dinner which we savored along with the Jazz's narrow win over the Orlando Magic last week. Everyone from diners to the busboys stopped their respective tasks from clearing tables to gulping down a bite of chicken wing to watch each key play during the final minutes of the game. We wondered if the crew in the kitchen was equally distracted.
Yet none of the miscues that so often plague pressure-filled games happened with our meal. Everything from the large platter of Texas Ranger Rings ($3.95), named after Nolan Ryan, to the tender grilled chicken breast with the fajitas ($6.95) displayed confidence and skill.
There is nothing fancy about the menu. It is, as most coaches explain, about the "basics." Appetizers, sandwiches and entrees, which range in price from $3.95 for the Choke Artist (my style as an athlete) to $29.95 for the Alaskan King Crab Legs fill the extensive bill of fare.
Sports puns and references yo yo across the menu, hitting just about every sport from baseball to golf. There's Trevino's Treats ($5.95), a nacho style appetizer with corn chips covered with meat sauce, melted cheese, sour cream and jalapenos, to the Ty Cobb Salad ($6.95), the classic blend of bacon, chicken, hard boiled eggs, olives and tomatoes, with piles of bleu cheese atop mixed greens.
Burgers and sandwiches also get the nickname treatment. Two prospects were Mickey Mantle's Melt ($4.75) and the Mailman's Slam Dunk ($4.95) with a variety of toppings at an additional cost (kind of like Karl's contract?)
The waiters and waitresses dress like referees, so we took their advice and tried the Stockton Burger ($4.50), a basic ground beef patty covered with sauteed mushrooms and melted cheddar. Medium rare, with a thin slice of Bermuda onion, tomato and lettuce, it was very good.
Another recommendation was the evening special ($9.95), shrimp and beef stir fry, complete with tender chunks of beef, juicy shrimp, baby pea pods, carrot slivers, all done just right. While the sauce was a touch too sweet and the rice a little overcooked, the rest of the flavorful and plentiful ingredients kept it off the trading block.
The fajitas (there is a choice of shrimp, chicken or beef) are served with a heaping platter of sauteed onions and green peppers and come with equally generous servings of sour cream, salsa, guacamole, tomato chunks, jalapeno slices to fold into the warm flour tortillas.
The Triple Play ($5.95) appetizer gave us a taste of the stuffed potato skins, spicy hot Buffalo wings, and chunks of fried provolone. Even the Boston clam chowder had a distinctive taste, creamy with plenty of clams, and devoid of any of the flour roux thickening that clogs many an inland chowder.
Dinners come with a nice salad, choice of dressings (the creamy Italian was tasty), and some bread sticks, surprisingly soft and non-descript, considering the character of our other selections.
Portions are more than generous, so most of our appetizers could easily be shared more than two ways if diners want room for dinner entrees. These include pasta entrees such as fettucini Alfredo, seafood choices like salmon and halibut, barbecue ribs and chicken, several cuts of steak, and four combination dinners with various beef and seafood selections.
Sandwiches, served both for lunch and dinner times, average around $6 and include barbecue beef, a monte crisco, grilled Russian, and Babe's Old Fashioned Reuben.
We couldn't find room for some of the dessert choices, which include a mud pie and several kinds of cheesecake. We needed to do some wind sprints to make room for any more (opting instead to puff out the door with our hefty array of leftovers.)
From the Louisville Sluggers on the door handles to the sports memorabilia on the walls, Hot Rod Hundley's hardly strays from its theme. Even the televisions, thanks to cable access, continually broadcast pro and college games (though the sound for non-Utah games is minimal). And the food we sampled reflected the same kind of concentration.
Rating: * * * 1/2
Hot Rod Hundley's Restaurant, 6121 S. Highland Drive, 277-7776. Open for lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. until 11 p.m. or later, depending on fan participation and sporty events (like Monday Night Football). Sunday, open from 4 to 10 p.m. Accepts checks with guarantee card and major credit cards. Reservations accepted.