WEEKENDER | BILL OF FARE

Spread your wings at Fowl & Fodder

2/14/2018
BILL OF FARE
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    Grilled chicken wrap with sweet potato chips at Fowl and Fodder.

  • Fowl & Fodder is a place to spread your wings, so to speak, and try some new and exciting flavors from sustainable, locally sourced farms, distilleries, and bakeries.

    Owner Scott Bowman has opened his second Fowl & Fodder location in downtown Toledo, providing more opportunity to check out the quirky and the healthy, without putting aside the delicious.

    The Adams Street restaurant, which has been serving breakfast and lunch for about three months, just started opening for dinner as well.

    Fowl & Fodder features a separate beverage menu that weighs heavily on healthy, cold-pressed juices and a food menu heavy on fruits, vegetables, and lean meats. Its nice mix of flavors doesn’t leave much room for the bland and boring.

    A server explained that Bowman was able to open his first restaurant at 7408 W. Central Ave. with the help of a Kickstarter campaign, and that the many names on the wall of the Adams Street location honored those who gave to a fund-raiser to buy a cold-press juicer for the second location that cost “as much as a car.”

    Fowl & Fodder, downtown location

    Rating: ★ ★ ★½

    Address: 614 Adams St.

    Phone: 419-214-1588

    Category: Unique menu using locally sourced ingredients

    Menu: Breakfast entrees, lunch and dinner salads, soups, sandwiches

    Hours: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sundays

    Wheelchair access: Yes.

    Average price: $$$

    Credit cards: MC, V, D, AE.

    Website: fowlandfodder.com

    Ratings: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Outstanding; ★ ★ ★ ★ Very Good; ★ ★ ★ Good; ★ ★ Fair; ★ Poor

    The machinery won’t drive you from Point A to Point B, but we had some pretty tasty juices made with it while we were there.

    I was initially disappointed that I couldn’t try a bloody Mary with a late Sunday brunch, but was talked into the Fowl & Fodder version. The Green Mary ($9.99), a mix of greens, celery, apple, lemon, ginger, horseradish, hot sauce, cucumber, and moonshine from Toledo Spirits, was a pleasantly surprising mix of spice, sweet, and sour.

    At a weekday lunch, my colleagues and I tried two nonalcoholic juices: the Algae Bloom ($2.99, shot; $5.99, 8 ounce drink) a mix of pineapple, mint, apple, spinach, celery, and spirulina — a natural blue algae high in protein and antioxidants — was a surprisingly delicious blend with the celery and apple providing much of the flavor.

    Dirty lemonade ($4.99) included activated charcoal, a touted health benefit for teeth, digestion, and skin. Not much of a health nut, I only really cared about the flavor, and the organic lemon juice and agave proved to be a winner.

    Enough about juice, let’s talk food.

    Both a late Sunday breakfast with friends and a weekday lunch with co-workers proved more happy than sad.

    The chicken and waffles ($13.99) is a must try, even if you don’t normally mix sweet and savory. Thick waffles were covered with sliced almond chicken, Ohio-made maple syrup and a milk gravy, and somewhere in the mix was a spice that kicked it up a notch. I added a perfectly cooked over-easy egg and it became the one dish we passed around the table with gleeful anticipation.

    The avocado toast ($10.99), with avocado, squash compote, cashew cream, dukkah, micro greens, and toast (my friend chose paleo bread made by local trainer Tracy419 and was delighted that it wasn’t dry), was also a hit.

    The only disappointment was the muffin sandwich ($6.99) with egg and house cheese on a homemade english muffin. My friend found it heavy on bread, and said it could have used a condiment or sauce to liven it up.

    A key piece of information to arm yourself with during breakfast here is that the eggs, thick-cut bacon and house-made tater tots (they are akin to miniature potato pancakes) are all must-dos, but in many cases are add-ons that will also add to your bill.

    For lunch, duck tacos ($13.99) featuring braised duck, cabbage, cilantro, and apple ginger pico on corn tortillas, were flavorful but dry. Either the duck needs an overnight marinade, or the pico could use some saucing up.

    An appetizer of fried goat cheese balls ($4.99 for four; $8.99 for 8) was crispy and creamy, and served with a spicy jalapeno jam.

    One dining companion confessed that he always judged a new restaurant by its burger, but since that day's beef delivery hadn't arrived, he opted for the Cuban sandwich ($12.99) as a default choice. He found it perfectly flavorful, packed with Cuban pork, ham, cayenne bacon, pickles and garlic mayo on a whole grain bun. His sole complaint was that the bacon was overcooked. He also found a cup of black eye pea and sausage soup ($3.99) quite hearty, but lamented the excess saltiness of this side dish.

    A second co-worker found the grilled chicken wrap ($10.99) to be a nice, basic meal with lightly seasoned grilled chicken and tons of fresh spinach with a bit of creamy goat cheese rolled in a multigrain wrap. A cup of a spicy squash soup was the perfect addition for a bit of adventure.

    Contact Bill of Fare at: fare@theblade.com.