Good evening to ya! We've almost plowed through mother nature's annual bi-polar crap-fest known as "March", and consistently decent weather is finally just around the corner. I can already feel the sun on my face, and smell the flowers and Morel mushrooms soon to be in full bloom. Spring in Kentucky is truly an experience to behold and I personally can't wait. I'm sure you're in full agreement (except maybe those of you with allergies. You have my empathy).
Anyway, a couple weeks ago I found myself bored and alone. My girl was on a school trip with her daughter, and my friends often times have differing work schedules, so I was destined to spend a nice quiet weekend to myself...or not. I actually wound up driving over to Pikeville and hanging out with an old friend from college. I wound up crashing on his couch, but not before we took a short walk over to one of the area's best places for grub. I'm always up for grub.
I'd heard about Chirico's for several years. Many of my friends are regular visitors there, and they're always speaking pretty highly of it. Somehow, I've never been able to accompany any of them in the past. Since I hadn't had the opportunity to review an Italian joint yet, I seized the opportunity. I'm a sucker for Italian, to the point that I often pretend Chef Boyardee is high end delicacy straight out of Sicily. Red Baron Pizza does the trick sometimes, too.
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| Ristorantes are better than restaurants. |
We arrived there at approximately 7:30pm. It was rainy and cold, so some good home cooked Italian will be just want the doctor ordered. We walked in and I was immediately engulfed with the smell of the food. I went from 'pretty hungry' to 'savage' in about 10 seconds. I was already going through potential options in my mind. A nice hostess sat us, and apologized for us having to wait. They had clearly just been slammed by a Saturday night dinner rush, so I assured her that no apology was necessary. Considering it was less than 5 minutes, especially.
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| It gave me an opportunity to snap a few pics, anyway. |
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| I'm sure those people appreciate me doing this. |
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| I usually don't like that shade of yellow, but for this place, it honestly works! |
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| This place is chock full of history, and a nice pictorial representation of it. More on that later... |
So yeah, a 5 minute wait is well worth it if it means I can snap a few pictures. We were sat, she again apologized, I again told her it was fine, and she proceeded to take my drink order. It was out in less than a minute, which I'm sure is some kind of unofficial record.
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| Ha! You thought I ordered Mt. Dew, didn't you! Well I have high blood pressure now, so the joke's on you. |
She gave us a few moments to peruse the menu. I needed those few moments because everything on here sounded fantastic. They have everything from brick oven pizza, to various subs and Stromboli, to all the classic Italian-American dishes we're all familiar with.
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| Also, a great collection of appetizers. |
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| I need to work on my photography skills, like yesterday. Wow. |
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| I don't know what a "Frankwich" is, but I'm intrigued. |
As you can see, the usual suspects are here, along with some original works. It's all fairly priced too, so that's some good news. I had an honest conundrum trying to decide, so I did what anyone else would do in that situation, and ordered a sampler platter called the "Tour of Italy". It was a helping of baked Rigatoni, Spaghetti with a homemade meatball, 5-layer lasagna, a baby calzone with one item (I Chose ham), and a side of ground Italian sausage. This was over two weeks ago, and I'm getting heartburn just typing this. Could I handle it? Could I conquer 'the tour'? Who knows, but it's a given that I was going to have a heck of a time trying. It also came with a nice bowl of tomato bisque soup, which is a rare treat, honestly. I'm a fan of such a soup, but I almost never get an opportunity to indulge.
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| And indulge I did. |
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| Ohh I so did. |
It was very robust and flavorful. The presence of garlic was very obvious, which is fine, because I like garlic. It was nice and thick, and plenty of it. The croutons on the side were a nice addition. The complimented each other very well. All the flavors were there with a nice texture and consistency. Very nice. But, nothing could have prepared me for what happened next.
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| Absolutely....NOTHING. |
I need to see that again....
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| Sweet, sweet salvation. |
I know I've said this far too many times, but I mean it probably more so this time than I have any other....I didn't know where to start. Do I dive straight in to the spaghetti? Do I maul the meatball? Do I tear into the baby calzone? The lasagna? Dive in to the Italian sausage? What does one do in this situation??
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| I guess arbitrarily choose the baby Calzone...because it's there. |
The bread was slightly crisp on the outside, warm and fluffy on the inside. Very buttery flavor. The inside? Gooey, melted mozzarella, a nice dab of white cream sauce, and smokey chunks of ham. I only wished it wasn't a 'baby' calzone, but a full grown, overweight big brother calzone. That would be the only thing that could make it better. Where to next??
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| You all remember that song, right? Well, now it's going to be stuck in your head. |
This was a very, very good meatball. Thick, dense, full of rich flavor, cooked to perfection. It had a nice blend of seasons that really went well with the already existing natural flavor. The red pasta sauce on its own was great as well, but it really complimented the flavors of the meatball. Very good combo there. The noodles were al dente with a nice texture. All too often pasta is overcooked, or worse, under cooked, and you're left with a weird, sometimes sticky texture. Not here. It was nearly perfect.
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| I see you, Italian sausage! |
The side of Italian sausage was much of the same. Rich, meaty flavor with a great blend of Italian spices and seasonings. It went very well with the red sauce and the accompanying Rigatoni (as well as everything else on the plate!) I promise there was a 5 layer lasagne in there somewhere too. It was great. Definite layers, as I could feel my fork slowly slicing through each one as I made the cut. Great noodles, great sauce, and the layer of ricotta cheese in the middle was a nice surprise. I know I didn't take a picture, but just imagine along with me.
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| "We came, we saw, we kicked it's A**!" -Peter Venkman, Ghostbusters |
What's really scary, is that I still somehow managed to muster up the inner will to order a dessert. Don't ask me how, because I have no answer. We'll assume it was some kind of metaphysical, divine intervention of sorts.
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| Whoops sorry, that's not dessert. Though just as tempting. |
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| Ahhhhh there we go. |
Cannoli. No contest. Though these other items sound great, I can not pass up a chance on a good house made Cannoli. In case you're wondering, it's a fried pastry curled around almost into the shape of a soft taco. It's then filled with various types of creams or cheeses. Traditionally it's some blend with a ricotta base, but this one simply describes it as "sweet cream cheese", so now I'm more curious than ever. It's also mixed with chocolate chips, and drizzled with chocolate sauce. It's Heaven on a plate, and I can't pass it up.
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| Nor, could it pass me up. |
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| It's almost hypnotic. |
Crisp pastry shell, golden fried but not greasy, and that sweet cream filling....wow. I've never had anything quite like it, in taste and texture. There's not even anything really familiar tasting about it, except maybe the presence of sweetened condensed milk? Maybe? I don't know, but it's the best I've ever had. The chocolate chips mixed in with it really set it off as well. Amazing dish.
We sat there for a little while, allowed our food digest at least to the point of not being miserable, and just enjoyed each others company. I decided I was going to get up and walk around a little bit. There was an entire section of this place that I hadn't even seen yet, because it's down a narrow hallway opposite of where were were sitting. As I mentioned earlier, this place has a lot of history, being that it was once a house...and the home to many members of the famed McCoy family. Their 'spat' with the Hatfield family has reached legendary status at this point, and the entire area is now a tourist attraction due to the battlefields and so forth. But this house in particular seems to hold a lot of history for at least one side of the feud, and it was really cool getting to learn that. I believe you can 'feel' history, and its presence was definitely felt in that once old house.
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| Additional dining in the back. |
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| More additional seating in the back. I've enjoyed the decor at this place, too. |
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| One of the many pictures hanging on the walls, this one of Roseanna McCoy. |
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| Sam McCoy, who clearly enjoyed hunting squirrels. |
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| And....stairs? My God where do they go??? I must find out! |
And this, ladies and gents, is where the journey gets interesting....because a nice lady up front said she would be glad to take us on a tour of what lied above those steps. Not everyone got to do that, so I guess we were special.
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| Made it to the top! |
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| I was told people have actually gotten into the tub to take pictures before. I was too lazy. |
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| It's a white room...but no black curtains. |
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| An old kitchen area. |
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| Very, very nice carpentry work and architecture for the time period. These folks had funds. |
It was very cool getting to tour such a piece of history like this. I couldn't imagine what kinds of conversations had taken place within those walls, or even what types of actions may have taken place. It had that 'old house smell' to it as well. Surely you know what I'm talking about. It was also cold. And dark. You could almost see your breath as you traversed the hallways. It was down right eerie at times. It had an ambiance unlike any other. It's very hard to describe being in such a place. Teena, thank you again for taking us up the steps. It's still much appreciated.
Let's recap!
Food Quality:
I've never been to Italy. I've wanted to go since I was a child, and hopefully I'll get to make that trek someday. This food is what I've always imagined it to be like across the pond. Large, hearty servings full of flavor. The sauce was great and house made. The homemade meatball was dense and flavorful, you could really cut it with your fork. The noodles were al dente and had great texture. No stickiness. The Italian sausage was very good and flavorful as well. Great texture and it complimented the pastas very well, along with the meatball. The lasagna had distinct layers and tasted great. It was a bit buried underneath everything else, but it was still there. The Cannoli was out of this world. Great pastry shell, even better, unique cream cheese filling, along with chocolate chips and chocolate sauce. It was great. Very authentic flavors all around! It in total cost me around 20 bucks for everything, including tax. Not bad at all for the sheer amount of food I got, and especially for the quality.
Overall food quality score: 4.5/5
Ambiance:
Chirico's is very much an Italian joint. The walls are that yellowish-beige color that we all think of when we hear "Italian". The walls were adorned with various paintings, with grapes, ivy leaves, and many other pictures of the Hatfield and McCoy families. The area upstairs is amazing and really sets the mood for the surroundings. If you have the chance to go up there, do not cheat yourself out of that opportunity. The music was your run of the mill Italian music with horns and string instruments. The temperature was comfortable and even though the restaurant was basically divided into two sections, it doesn't feel cramped and it has a nice air flow to it.
Overall Ambiance score: 4.5/5
Cleanliness: I went out of my way to try to find something dirty, and I couldn't. Even after being blasted with a huge Saturday night dinner rush, the floors were still clean, the tables were in the process of being cleaned, everything was wiped down and sterilized, and the wait staff were all dressed nice with clean uniforms. The restrooms were spotless and well stocked. No problems with cleanliness at all.
Overall cleanliness score: 5/5
Service: Our service was wonderful. Our initial server apologized twice for having to wait for about 5 minutes before being seated. I told her it was fine. She was very attentive and kept our drink glasses filled. She was knowledgeable about menu items and even though she was tired after a long shift, she was still smiling and was very friendly. She did great. The other server who took us upstairs for the house tour was great as well. Very friendly and more than willing to take us up there and tell us all about the history of the house and the families. Very, very cool, and not a treatment you would get just anywhere, for sure.
Overall service score: 5/5
Chirico's is a not-so-hidden treasure right in the middle of downtown Pikeville, in walking distance from the theater, and the East Kentucky Expo Center. I'm glad i finally got the opportunity to dine here after years of hearing how great it is. I can now consider myself one of the lucky ones. Great food, great service, great staff, and lots of history. There's nothing to dislike, and I'll be returning in the future without a doubt. They have a website here if you want to dig a little deeper, and a second location in Logan, WV.
April is going to be epic. Lots going on, and definitely more than one blog could possibly hold. Maybe even more than two...or three. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!
