Par For The Course

The Wooden Iron is like a country club without the greens (unless you count the salad).

A few years ago David Brooks’ celebrated book, Bobos in Paradise, depicted Wayne, Pa., as a bastion of “bourgeois bohemians.” Maybe so, but the town center still looks like the Epicenter of Prepdom. And the new restaurant, The Wooden Iron, has taken root on the town’s Restaurant Row (Wayne Avenue) as if it had been planted there 100 years ago.

On a night when neither man nor dog should be out, the Iron is throbbing with people. We cut through the smoky haze that blankets the entrance, where a huge bar runs down the left-hand wall and where the sources of that haze are lined up neatly, as if they had been there for some time. Straight ahead is the lounge, and it too is misted over with a fine patina of nicotine. For a moment, I think I’m in Clyde’s restaurant in Georgetown, a onetime watering hole of JFK’s that also has leather booths for two running down both sides as in a dining car. But further inside, I realize it’s not Clyde’s this space evokes, but rather the men’s dining room in every elegant country club in the country.

The walls are warm, wood-paneled and covered with handsome country scenes and golfing prints, with indirect lighting set above them that bathes the room in a becoming glow. The leather banquettes are PGA green, and all the blazers have brass buttons. Even in this handsome room, the smoke wafts in, so be advised to take a table as far in the back as possible.

We sit down to one of the most approachable wine lists I’ve seen lately. It features 24 wines by the glass, and 40 wines under $40, heavily Californian with a nod to Australia, Italy and France. A Peachy Canyon Zinfandel 2000 at $38 is about as high as you can go, or you can have a glass of Greve Chianti for $8 or a Raymond Chardonnay for $6. The waiters are all courteous, but their grasp of English is slim and sometimes it’s hard to understand them or make oneself understood. They all wear striped shirts and club ties, as does the jovial maître d’, who came here from the Prime Rib (only he wears a blazer as well).

The menu is also of the country club genre — you know, Continental, like jumbo shrimp cocktail, oysters, salads called The Wedge, The Rough or The Greens, and standard grills. Then there is a section of roasts and sautés — including something called Eastern Shore Chicken Oscar, which is done with Old Bay seasoning, or jumbo lump crabcakes. (The chicken is a version of that old standby, veal Oscar.) There’s even a parmesan artichoke dip with sourdough bread that’s a bar favorite. I’m skeptical about the lobster bisque, but try it anyway, and it turns out to be quite good. Its russet color, sharply tinged with saffron, and the lobster-thick flavor indicate that it was made the true way, by sautéing the lobster shells with vegetables first. It feels hearty and soothing on such a cold night. A companion’s Caesar salad looks fine, but lacks punch. An extra anchovy, a dash more lemon juice, would help immeasurably. The Rough, spring mix and tomato with a nice vinaigrette, is marred by the addition of shredded carrots.

For entrees, we steer clear of the more elaborate descriptions on the menu and stick to standards. The filet mignon is a plump piece of tasty meat, shining beneath red wine demi-glace, shot through with pieces of Saga blue cheese, and surrounded by a pile of scalloped potatoes and sautéed mushrooms. Chef John Wolfert, who comes from the Savona group, has a firm hand on his cooking, although embellishment seems to be a preoccupation. There is nothing on the menu that is as simple as we would like, and everything comes with a sauce, be it balsamic-soy, rosemary demi-glace or Pommery mustard.

The steak and potatoes are a given, and the creamy potatoes certainly augment the steak. But the halibut, I discover, is submerged (after it’s grilled) in a saffron-herb broth. Sure, it has attractive baby vegetables around it — some wild mushrooms, string beans and zucchini, and even tiny dumplings made like toy beggar’s purses, but I wish the waiter had told me that the saffron broth is the base for my bisque, and that therefore both dishes would have the same flavor. The fish is flaky and firm, but the sauce becomes tiresome. I see that Wolfert also uses it to sauce mussels for an appetizer. All that saffron can get expensive.

For desserts, which come on a separate list (an immediate plus), there are lots of down-home dishes to choose from, like bread pudding and crisps. We try a warm berry crisp, composed of blueberries, cherries and raspberries, and baked to a crimson mélange beneath a lattice crust. The vanilla ice cream, melting into its depths, just makes it more enjoyable. There’s also an impressive list of single malts and brandies, should you desire a postprandial sip. They use some of that single malt to glaze some salmon at lunchtime, and they also feature things like breaded fried oysters with chicken salad, tinted with curry, and a good old-fashioned beef stew. When do you ever see that on a menu anymore? I think I may prefer lunch to dinner, because of the terrific burger, and the savory pulled pork sandwich with gooey cole slaw. Good salads too — baby shrimp, bacon, iceberg lettuce with Russian dressing is suspiciously and deliciously like the Milan salad of yore.

The Wooden Iron is handsome and clubby, right down to the crossed clubs that are the restaurant’s logo. I’m told that a wooden iron refers to a golfer who chooses to use a wood instead of an iron for all shots, even his short game, because it gives him more power. And here I’d thought it was an ancient method of pressing clothes. Once you look at the busy bar and cozy dining room, you can almost imagine that there’s a lovely swath of green golf course right outside the window. Unfortunately, for now it’s covered with snow. Still, I hear that at Friday-night happy hour, people are overflowing onto the sidewalk.

Lunch: Mon.-Sat., 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Dinner: Sun.-Mon., 4:30-9 p.m.; Tue.,-Thu., 4:30-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 4:30-11 p.m.

Wheelchair accessible. Smoking section available. Reservations are accepted. All major credit cards.

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August 18, 2005
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