Not so boring in Orinda
Restaurants come, and restaurants go. Barbacoa in Orinda’s Theater Square went the way of all flesh, and now there is The Fourth Bore Taproom and Grill. They’ve redone the interior, and added a large and attractive firepit in the outdoor eating area.
I think my friend Randy Corr needs to go here and give me his opinion, because the specialty here is beer. Lots and lots of beer, all specialty, different and interesting. Since I don’t drink the stuff, I don’t have much opinion about the quality of the selection, but there sure are a lot of them on tap.
We ate outside, so we could bring the dog. We always eat outside these days It was a trifle cool, but they claimed to be out of propane for their heaters. Maybe so, maybe they just didn’t want to turn them on in the daytime. In either case, it’s tacky to have heaters but not be willing/able to use them for your customers.
Grilled line caught cod sandwich
Is is wrong if an eatery gives you too much to eat? Gail and I both had this sandwich, and it’s really too much food. It would be so much better on a couple of slices of toasted sourdough instead of that big bun. There were more chips (house made, it would appear) than a person could possibly consume. I had the fries, and the portion was absurd.
There was half an avocado on each, sliced as though it was designed to be fanned out across the sandwich but not actually fanned, just one huge chunk in the middle of the bun. I’m not sure why it was my responsibility to get my hands all covered with some kind of sauce while performing the necessary construction on my meal. I never have to re-make my Big Mac or Whopper.
So how was the meal? Meh. The cod was pretty bland, the bread overpowering, the fries needed to be cooked in hotter oil and salted more aggressively.
Service was decent. My iced tea came with the lime I asked for, which is often a surprise. The kitchen gave us both chips, although I ordered fries–but then the waiter quickly brought me a humongous plate of them. Neither of us got tartar sauce with our meal, but the waiter quickly corrected that as well.
I wasn’t very impressed or excited by The Fourth Bore, but I imagine 3 or 4 glasses of exotic beer would have improved my attitude. A few beers would improve my attitude all the time.
Totally Unauthorized 