The Bennet-Curtis House in Grant Park -- You Call this a Brunch? (as seen in the Dec 4 issue of Southland Voice) After having dragged my sleepy self out of my warm and cozy bed on Sunday morning, taken an early wake-up shower, dressed-up well enough for public consumption and having driven the almost 40 miles, well into Kankakee County, out to Grant Park, my expectations for the Sunday brunch with 49 of my horse club friends, in the oh-so-charming and historic Bennett-Curtis House were admittedly high. Jim and I arrived around 10 am to find no parking lot in this charming residential neighborhood, only on-street parking. But who knew that such simple expectations could go so terribly wrong? There was paint peeling from the side of the old mansion. (In all fairness to Bennet-Curtis House, there is an old Victorian house, only a block away in worse condition, with just about all the exterior paint peeling off, with the veranda, literally collapsing.) The stairs leading up to the front porch had several sections where the wood appeared to be rotting. However, I was assured that the stairs were triple-reinforced from underneath. “I dunno,” I said under my breath. We walked across the green indoor/outdoor carpeted, wide veranda with an old church pew to our left and white wooden lattice to our right. I wondered where the porch swing that had been bought at Marshall Field’s by George Bennet, the man who’d built this 18-room mansion back in 1900, was. As we walked through the heavy front door, we entered a world of Oriental carpeting, dark, heavy velvet drapery, Tiffany lamps and stained glass windows from a hundred years ago, a more genteel time. (Perhaps the serving staff ought to have been clued-into the gentility bit? More on that, later.) We were ushered into the dining room, the original front parlor of the house, through heavy sliding wooden double doors, directly to our left. Right as we entered the room, I couldn’t help but notice what looked almost like a chintz cafe’ curtain, gathered onto curtain rods, both above and below, except the curtain was drooping off the rods on one side. Upon further examination, there was a window air-conditioning unit in the wall, behind the dusty, chintzy curtain. There were dusty electric imitation candle sconces on the walls. Come to think of it, there was a light to heavy coat of dust on most surfaces. I even found a cob-web. YIKES! The chairs we were expected to sit upon at the folding banquettype tables in this once-elegant, but faded and decidedly threadbare front parlor dining room, were of the rickety wooden folding- chair variety, that one might have found at local tent-meetings in the early 20th Century. I made the mistake of trying to move one, which almost came apart in my hands. Good thing I didn’t try to sit on that one! Sadly, the decor was a mash-up of antique and vintage, with left-overs from Marshall Field’s Display Department’s Occasional Dusty Trunk Sales. After greeting our friends, we eagerly and hungrily, went up to what I would have only have referred to as a “’brunch buffet” in jest. There were pans of room-temperature scrambled eggs that tasted funny, cooked pork sausages so cold the congealed grease that coated the links was a translucent white and bacon so over-cooked and crispy that when I tried to pick a strip up with tongs, it disintegrated like a vampire being spiked by Buffy and her cohorts on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The rubbery fritadas came in two, what one might laughingly referred to as flavors -- cheese and veggie. The cheese fritada was so bland, I reflected on how I’ve had better food in the hospital. The poor excuse for a fruit tray had assorted melons, grapes and a small handful of strawberries, all cut-up in pieces the size of canned fruit cocktail and haphazardly tossed on the tray. Finally, there was what they facetiously called a pastry plate -- a small plate -- with mini-muffins and bagels, with no cream cheese, along with tiny bits of pastry. For heaven’s sake, I get larger pastry samples at my local Jewel, without the l-o-n-g drive, having to spend $15 for inferior food and being expected to tip an inept waitron. How DARE they even call this cold, crummy breakfast buffet a brunch? I can get a comparatively sumptuous brunch buffet at Old Country Buffet, for less money, a much shorter drive and far less attitude. Attitude? How about a smart-alack waitron asking, “Are you gonna keep coming back for more?” THIS is hospitality? I’ve also had better FREE motel breakfast buffets, than this one that Bennet-Curtis House hyperbolically calls a “brunch buffet.” It was a far cry from the Easter Brunch Buffet described on their flyer thusly: “Enjoy over 50 items: fresh pastries, fruit, salad bar, breakfast station, lunch station, carving station, omelets made to order, juice bar, sweet station, featuring our chocolate fountain.” Hey, I would have taken half of those “stations” and skip the chocolate fountain for $20 -- even $25. Oh, and speaking of inept and negligent waitrons, my used plate sat in front of me for over halfan-hour. And when she finally decided to clear the plates away, the poor clumsy girl dropped silverware and dishes all over, which might have been moderately funny, were it not so annoying. How can one enjoy one’s friends at a meal with dirty dishes pilingup, and dishes and silver being dropped all over, when they’re finally cleared? We left earlier than we’d planned to leave. We just didn’t feel welcome. Besides, I could hardly wait to get home to to have a ham sandwich made with leftovers. But first I had to make a pit-stop. Can you believe it, in a public facility that boasts of being able to accomodate 275, they have only ONE washroom? With one of those really small toilets that are hard to get-up from? As we drove back to Route #1 on the way home, we passed a lowslung diner kind of restaurant, called USA Family Restaurant. I couldn’t help wonder how much more enjoyable our brunch might have been...if only. Oh and I found this out after we left, as the treasurer of our group went to pay almost $750 for our brunch he mentioned most of the people were not happy and would not be coming back.. The owner...not a server but the actual owner said... Oh well. Hows that for taking the money and running!
Posted on: Thu, 16 Jan 2014 20:59:21 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015