Reviewed by Wini Moranville
Photos by Duane Tinkey
One of the first things I noticed on my inaugural visit to Table 128 Bistro and Bar was the seemingly incongruous choice of rough-hewn dishtowel napkins atop the sleek black tables. It wasn’t long, however, before the effect made perfect sense to me.
A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., chef Lynn Pritchard co-owns the restaurant with his wife, Sarah Pritchard. Previously, the duo owned Tartine, a casual French café; earlier in his career, Lynn was the executive chef of the Red Crow Grille in Bettendorf, where the couple met.
Yet in spite of Lynn’s classic French training and experience, he is, at heart, a Midwestern farm lad, having grown up on a family farm in Annawan, Ill. Hence, the dish towels—a down-to-earth, farmhouse touch—cross the urbane sophistication of sleek black tables.
Again and again, the two sensibilities meld harmoniously on the plate. In Lynn’s kitchen, potato soup, a Midwestern favorite often served in thick, chunky renditions, emerges as a smoothly pureed, silky and light first course that does what first course soups do best: It rouses (rather than subdues) the appetite.
Kale, a green that’s as rugged and leathery as they come, gets massaged into something more civilized yet still true to itself, its softened leaves polished to a sparkling emerald green and brought to life with a vivid Caesar dressing.
“Our job is to tell the story of food well,” says Lynn, who considers himself a medium for the ingredients. “I listen to the food and let it tell me what I should do with it.”
He listens and reacts, of course, with a well-tuned ear and well-trained hands.
Trout—one of our region’s all-time great freshwater fish—has all but disappeared from local menus. Pritchard brings it back with aplomb, serving it atop a potato pancake for a sense of place, Marcona almonds and saffron aioli for worldliness, and beautiful brown butter that’s rooted in the classics (look closely, and you’ll see the dish is, in its soul, a playful rendition of trout amandine).
As I tucked into the lovely grilled rack of lamb—perched atop its gratifying parsnip potato puree and detailed with butter-poached radishes and lamb jus—a wide swath of mint “paint” (a vivid and refreshing complement) teased my eye. Looking up from my plate to the artwork on the wall, I noticed equally broad-brushed strokes in the food-themed paintings.
Indeed, Pritchard paints in broad strokes, and in doing so, he proves that hearty, gratifying food can be just as masterly as ultra-detailed tweezer food—in a way that a broad-brushed Franz Kline is as artful as a pinpointed Seurat.
In Pritchard’s hands, the tenderloin—that most precious of steaks—arrives with chorizo and a pinto bean ragout vaguely reminiscent of chili con carne, with luscious creamed corn and expertly fine-tuned spices. Down to earth, yet refined: If an ambitious, classically trained chef were cooking on your chuck wagon, this might be what you’d get.
Table 128 also offers a signature approach to wine service. Yes, you can enjoy chardonnay, pinot, cabernet, et al. on the “Tried and True” side of the wine list; however, adventurers may want to hold out for the “Leap of Faith” wines: lesser-known varietals—arneis, blaufränkisch, and cabernet franc, for example—often from under-the-radar (or forgotten) regions. Sure, you’ve had malbec from Argentina, but have you tried one from its ancestral home of Cahors in southwest France?
In addition to overseeing the front of the house, Sarah Pritchard drives the wine list. She credits her close friend Abbe Hendricks, the wine pro at Gateway Market, as a mentor in her quest to get serious about her passion for wine; the two have traveled the country together for sommelier conventions, trade tastings—and fun. Last year, Sarah passed level one of the Court of Master Sommeliers’ arduous four-stage certification program; she is currently working toward level two.
“When it comes down to it, I just enjoy trying different varietals and particularly enjoy finding the perfect bottle of wine to share with my husband’s food,” Sarah says. “I also feel that there are lots of great wines in the world, and they don’t have to be outrageously expensive to be great.”
Indeed, in a culinary landscape where diners may often have to pay $12 for a glass of wine, Table 128 veers off that beaten path by pricing wines mostly in the $7 to $10 range, though splashier choices are available.
Likewise, the menu offers everything from the $12 T128 Burger (with Swiss cheese, aioli and La Quercia prosciutto) to the $29 beef tenderloin. Such a range is an integral piece of the restaurant’s ethos.
“While I absolutely love haute cuisine,” Lynn says, “sometimes I just want a great burger. My intent … is to foster a love and appreciation for the craft of great food, while keeping it true to my love for all foods, fancy and simple.”
