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Friday, June 27, 2008

The "Heart of Hamilton"

I missed Channel 2's "Dine on a Dime" story, but it seems that Clementine's continues to give Hamilton good press:
Can you feel the Heart of Hamilton. This is the town I use to go get my vaccum cleaner fixed or go to church at St. Dominic’s.

Or get confused as to where the old Hacienda Restaurant was…was it on Harford Road or Bel Air Road. The answer is at the bottom. If you haven’t visited this part of town in a while, it’s starting to grow up like Canton.

Believe me when I say that. It doesn’t take buildings, it takes people to build a community. Right there on Harford Road you now have Chameleon Café, Alabama B-BQ, Brewers Art and Big Bad Wolf’s House of Barbeque, and here’s a new restaurant that won’t blow your house down or destroy your budget.

It is the two week old Clementine’s. Winston Blick and his wife Cristin opened this place, three blocks from their home. Winston, or Winnie use to run the Sobo Café and before that McCaferty’s in Mt. Washington.

This is his first time owning his own place. The place is packed for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is all locals…all your neighbors. You will go inside and within 3 minutes you will know someone you haven’t seen in 15 years.

The prices are very reasonable and you will see many families coming in to dine. Any place that sells Stewarts Root Beer is a place you want to visit. Hacienda was on Bel Air Road.

4 comments:

Rachel said...

While I enjoy the food at Clementine and love the idea, I have been there several times now and each time they have been out of a substantial part of the menu. Only having 2/3 of the lunch menu available at noon is just plain odd. It is not that extensive of a menu nor does it change much day to day. Everyone I've talked to who has been there has had this same experience.

I really hope they get that under control or they are going to have a hard time hanging on to repeat customers, especially if they are interested in bringing in customers from outside of the immediate community who would have to make a special effort to dine there. I know by the fourth time I was there and they didn't have what I wanted (and it is a different item each time) I started to question going back despite my wish to patronize local business.

Sue J said...

That's disappointing to hear. I haven't been there yet. Hopefully they're still getting a lot of details straightened out?

The food must be pretty good,though, since you keep going back!

Anonymous said...

I think they're just experiencing growing pains. There have been a couple occasions where the item I wanted was not on the menu, but whatever I've substituted has always been fantastic. My husband and I usually go for breakfast every weekend, sometimes both Saturday and Sunday! I hope you don't give up on them! I'm sure that once they get more settled in, they'll have a better idea of how much to order and prepare for the day.

krazy kat said...

I agree with Kristin. We went for breakfast and they didn't have what I ordered; however, what we did get was very good. They got another very good review from Elizabeth Large in Sunday's paper (7/14) three stars on everything. I think we should all keep trying and going. I am sure loving the growth and the positive direction it is going in. Peace Out