Brimfield Family Steakhouse 
 Kent, Ohio (Brimfield)           Date of Visit  10/26/13                https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brimfield-Family-Steakhouse/582875678408580

We got a chance to catch a friend’s band, the only catch, the gig is in Brimfield. What’s to eat in Brimfield? Well, a quick internet search brings up the Brimfield Family Steakhouse. Scare factor number one…everyone online says not to get the steak. They do have good things to say about the fried goodies on the menu and that will work for us. We pulled in not long before they were likely to close as they were setting the tables for breakfast and attending to the last couple of tables. Our server was sweet as pie regardless and kept referring to us as “honey”. It was another moment I was waiting to hear “kiss my grits” hollered from somewhere in the place.
 

Special Damp Rolls

 It seems the last lingering diners are salt of the earth/farmer folk, one table of which engaged the staff in discussion of distant relatives and tricky s-curves on country roads. I began to think we might have discovered a bastion of comfort food…of home cookin’. The people are authentic, the food turned out to be not so much.
We ordered fried mushrooms and a cup of chili to start. While we were waiting we were delivered a basket of rolls and butter. Real butter, whipped; but the rolls were fresh out of the bag with a tell tale dampness from being in the bag in a hot kitchen. Less than appetizing. The shrooms were okay but I’d put down good money against them being out of a Sysco box in the freezer, I’ve even dunked a few of them in the fryer myself. The chili is where I had a sinking feeling. I didn’t know if there would be something special about “Brimfield” chili as it was branded on the menu. It’s not special. Essentially tomato water, a #10 can of kidney beans and an overly healthy plop of chili powder. I’ve had a lot of mediocre chili’s. This was just bad, I would have danced for mediocre.
 

We also ordered chicken and fish dinners. Both fried. One with jojos and cottage cheese, one with fries and slaw. The fries and slaw came with my fish dinner.  They are certainly not skimpy with the portions. Four healthy filets of Pollock were served with a pile of fries. The fish was fried functionally but had just the first whiff of ammonia about it. What really disappointed me was the crust. I’m not entirely sure how this was accomplished, but the batter was devoid of seasoning (okay, I know how to do that); the crust itself had taken on a strangely leathery and flexible texture without any discernable crunch. I honestly would have no idea how to make this happen in a fryer. Strange. Not in a strange way. The chicken was better. Its breading was too. There was some discernable salt and crunch in the batter on all four pieces of chicken. The jojos were enormous. Large potatoes were scallop-cut into fat wedges and probably cooked through before being breaded and fried. I wonder if these were also prefabs out of a box but like the shrooms and fries were just under average. Sadly, the prefab stuff at Brimfield was the best we got. Part of me wonders if breakfast is more in their wheel house. Dinner isn’t. It might have been bad enough we would never go back to try breakfast. Fortunately the band was better, the bar was serving food, it didn’t look all that good but made me wish we had waited.