Alexanders at Buckeystown - Chef Chris Smallwood in the Charming Alexander's Manor House

[ol_ironstomach]

So I'm browsing maps for roadfood (as is my wont) and casually notice that Google tabulates this country restaurant's customer review scores as 29/30. Even normalizing for the Frederick County countryside reviewer, this suggests some solid "modern Southern" cooking might be going on. The menu isn't groundbreaking, and I'm not expecting an Ashby Inn sort of experience, but everything seems to be either well-sourced or made in-house. At the least, it seems like an interesting alternative to Monocacy Crossing.

Has anybody been?

http://www.alexander....com/restaurant

http://www.frederick...?StoryID=139406

[jayandstacey]

An interesting alternative indeed. I didn't know this existed and haven't tried it but I'm also curious (bi-curious?). How long has it been there?

On a related note, my strongly liked Laurienzo's is opening a location in tiny Hyattstown right off I-270 south of Frederick. They are moving closer and almost deserve their own thread.

[ol_ironstomach]

Unable to contain my curiosity any longer, we stopped in for dinner yesterday. Alexanders is a good countryside dining experience, with a few quibbles that are readily forgiveable, and above all with an honesty to the cooking that is unimpeachable.

The reviews I found generally raved about the fried chicken, so naturally I had to give it a spin. The version here is excellent, and worthy of top-tier status, even if I slightly prefer Family Meal. For less than $16, you get a sizeable half chicken, in an outstanding cornmeal dredge whose seasoning kept reminding me of Old Bay minus the paprika...is it celery seed? I can only assume he runs his fryer a good bit hotter than I do, because there wasn't a hint of greasiness even though the blonde crust was beautifully crisp. However he preps the bird, however, leaves it with only average tenderness and moistness. Wednesday night is all-you-can-eat chicken night (reservations recommended), but I can't imagine finishing a normal order in one sitting, much less needing more. The thigh passed the "next morning cold leftovers" test with flying colors.

Also reportedly popular is the shrimp on a bed of well-made stone ground grits, so we gave that a spin as well. I thought the flavors were very good, and the shrimp was perfectly cooked, although it seemed to me that they were using a larger size than the small white shrimp of the coastal Carolinas...probably just the difficulty of sourcing that kind of quality shrimp.

Winners among the starters: try the sliders with the beef brisket option. It's a good bbq brisket to begin with, made better by the thin smear of sauce on excellent little county biscuits split in half. The bread plate holds housemade sweet potato biscuits, served with a molasses butter that's good enough to be a cupcake frosting. The fried green tomatoes are again covered in a light cornmeal dredge, and would be plenty good even without the corn/tomato/shrimp chutney on top.

Boudin balls are served as elongated croquettes along with a remoulade, but the mix is crazy generous with smoky pork barbecue (maybe 80%) and only a small amount of rice for filler...it's really more of a 'que dish than a boudin, if you were expecting Louisiana style.

Quibbles: the biggest problem is probably that they could stand to crank up the thermostat in what is, after all, a poorly insulated old Victorian mansion. The front parlor made for a keep-your-jacket-on sort of experience. My next observation is that they could benefit from upping their dessert game; we saw some nice but innocuous slices of cake go past, but I opted for the housemade ice cream, which probably strayed into the "too high % butterfat" zone, and could have used more sweetness and a much stronger vanilla. Finally, while you know how much I love Benton's bacon, it DOES act as a "flavor bully", imparting an uncharacteristically strong smoke flavor to anything it touches, and tending to linger long afterwards. I loved it in the exemplary "Southern greens" where it really gives the collards some punch, but found it overkill in the Hoppin' John, making the overall experience a bit too smoky, especially in conjunction with the abundance of the chef's own smoked meats. All in all, these were minor misses.

I have to say that prices were remarkably low, including the wine list, although in the latter's case there was little to choose from. Is this a Zagat 29-ish place? I would think perhaps something 24ish would be more appropriate. In more than a few ways, it reminded me of dining at Monocacy Crossing before that place became quite the local hangout. But it's a pretty friendly menu for a family outing, in a charming and nearby location when the outside temps aren't too low. Everything was very well made, even the few items I didn't completely love. And periodically I need a low country fix that doesn't involve attempting to cook it myself. We'll definitely be back.