Ah, gravy. When I think of gravy, I’m reminded of the smell of my grandma’s house from my childhood. Not that she cooked much. It was actually the musty smell of the old house saturated with years of cigarette smoke. But it always reminded me of gravy.
Needless to say, my life has been somewhat lacking in gravy glory — and I think we would all fare better with a little more in our lives.
I invited my review buddy, the incredible Egg, to join me on fulfilling this culinary craving at Gravy restaurant in Goshen. It's a new undertaking for owner Harvey Golden, who expanded his catering company into this space and opened the restaurant in front.
The first thing we noticed walking in was the design of the dining room. It is spacious, with tall chairs and big tables. Tall booths sit along one side and an abundance of light fixtures hang around overhead.
We both agreed that something about the ambiance was off and we deliberated for a while trying to pinpoint it. I tapped into my interior design knowledge gleaned from fanatic levels of HGTV viewing. (I’m not ashamed of it.) We decided the lighting was just a little on the bright side for dinnertime — a characteristic that helped us conclude that Gravy is probably a nice breakfast or lunch destination. They don’t serve alcohol and they have copious amounts of biscuits and meats — sounds like breakfast to me!
We started with the Biscuit and Gravies Sampler ($3.95), which was pretty great. The biscuits were everything biscuits should be, but sadly they only came with three gravies of the seven available. My favorite was the brown gravy, which was rich and a little salty. The trusty Egg liked the sausage or sawmill gravy, a white gravy chock full of breakfast sausage crumbles. The third gravy was a yellow chicken gravy that we didn’t neglect either. The menu also lists red-eye, tomato, onion and God’s gravy.
After eyeing the breakfast and lunch offerings (served all day) I remembered that this is a dinner review, so I went for the Barbeque Ribs ($11.95) instead of the Stuffed Tomato Salad. I really had high hopes for these because I don’t usually order ribs or anything that requires direct hand-to-sauce contact. But in this case there was barely any such contact because there wasn’t much sauce on the ribs. That’s all well and good if they’re still delicious, but they weren’t.
What I did enjoy was the small bowl of hot water our server brought out for me to rinse my fingers in. I only wish my meal had come out that hot. Two sides come with every entrée, and I chose the Sweet Potato Casserole, to compare to the one my mother makes, and corn because my first choice (Fried Apples) was unavailable. (Hey, they’re new and it was Tuesday.) My sides were plain but tasted OK.
I have to say that my mom’s sweet potato casserole happens to be the ultimate sweet potato preparation, so these didn’t suffice. The corn was drab but flavorful.
Miss Egg considered the Thanksgiving Casserole but settled on the Chicken ‘N Dumplins ($7.95), which she said tasted just like her mom’s chicken soup, adding that the broth (or gravy as it were) was very good. She was tempted to peek into the kitchen to see if her mom was really back there. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t. Egg then proceeded to combine all her food into one bowl claiming it was better that way. I don’t know where I find these people.
Our server brought us a couple extra sides because we were being indecisive and she was nice. Egg thoroughly enjoyed the fresh homemade Coleslaw. I loved the Cucumbers and Onions, which were cold, crisp, sweet and a little tangy. Perhaps cold sides are the way to go here.
Dessert offerings range from Apple Pie to Moon Pie. When we asked about the moon pie our server told us she saw one brought to a table and, sure enough, it was the packaged marshmallow cookie concoction we’re all familiar with. We thought that was a pretty original touch. We decided, however, on a bowl of Banana Puddin’ ($2.50), which was loaded with banana slices and crumbled vanilla wafers. The custard part was scarce but overall it was a good dish.
Egg and I agreed that if we lived near Gravy, it would be a regular breakfast or lunch stop. But dinner at Gravy leaves something to be desired — namely, breakfast at Gravy.
GRAVY
Go: 1513 Ohio Route 28, Goshen
Call: 513-576-6789
Hours: 6 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday
Entrée Prices: $7.95-$11.95
Payment: Major credit cards
Red Meat Alternatives: Not much, mostly sides and salads
Accessibility: Fully accessible
