Like his father, Fred, Steve Wayne is a graduate of the
Cornell School of Hotel Management, and he’s been in and around restaurants almost
his entire life. Fred Wayne ran the WayneHotel in Lyons — named for the county, not the
family — when Steve was a boy. But for 45 years, the Wayne
family has been synonymous with The Holloway House in Bloomfield. Forty-five years is impressive,
but the Holloway House actually has a nearly 200-year history, of which the Wayne chapter is just the
latest.
Originally established by blacksmith Peter Holloway, it
started as an inn for stage coach travelers in 1808. The Munson family ran the
Locust Lawn restaurant there from 1910 until about 1929, and the Seel family opened The Holloway House in 1939. The Waynes
took over in 1961.
How unusual is this? Most restaurants close within three
years. And the restaurant business has changed enormously, with extreme
emphasis these days on trendiness. A 10-year-old
restaurant is considered ancient. A 67-year-old?Absurd.
And everybody knows about the place, right? Mention The
Holloway House to almost anyone and you get, “Oh, yeah, that’s a nice place. I
went there with my mother/in-laws/son/daughter once.” It’s the historic place
with the Colonial Williamsburg feel, the place you might go to celebrate an
occasion.
It’s got that historic feel, with its elegant dining rooms,
antique waitress uniforms, old-time service, and beautiful china. All that is
reason enough to drive the 25 miles to check it out. But The Holloway House,
beyond being a local institution and treasure, is a great restaurant by any
measure.
The menu features deceptively simple food: roast turkey with dressing and fixin’s,
pot pies, chicken and biscuits, turkey a la king. But everything is done well,
and scores of touches both in the mains and the sides make it just outstanding.
Consider that turkey a la king. The cream sauce is delicate,
the turkey tender, the sherry added with just the right hand, the mushrooms
large, succulent, and cooked perfectly. At lunch, $10.95 gets you that along
with unlimited portions of the three homemade breads. Two have been made since
1939. Sally Lunn bread is a semi-sweet,
yeasted egg bread, akin to challah, but better. Your
kids will go bonkers for it. Orange rolls are the other, and you’ll have to
force yourself not to pound them. There is no better bread offering
in area dining.
Steve Wayne speaks with disdain of the “cheap Charlies” with whom he competes. But the value at The
Holloway House, when you consider the quality, is solid. You’ll pay $17.95 at
dinner for roast turkey with dressing, giblet gravy, and orange-cranberry sauce
(homemade, of course). But that includes a salad, potato, vegetable, and those kickass breads. For $5, you can add a relish tray, soup,
and a dessert.
As a member of the Finger Lakes Culinary Bounty, The
Holloway House is a genuinely regional restaurant, cooking with local potatoes,
cabbage, apples, and even meats at times (buffalo and wild boar from Wild Side
Ranch, for example). And the wine list features more than 30 New York wines from vineyards including Dr.
Frank, Heron Hill, Fox Run, Casa Larga, Arbor Hill, Glenora, and Warm Lake Estates. The Finger Lakes
International Wine Competition just gave it the Willy Frank Award for its
outstanding NYS wine list.
The list of great touches goes on… how about some “Killarny Kress,” a proprietary,
green, dill-flavored sauerkraut? Or some of Pam Graham’s fresh-baked biscuits
or marvelous desserts like fresh fruit pies (including the only sweet cherry
pie in the country in season), crรจme brรปlรฉe, or what
Michael Warren Thomas proclaims “the best banana cream pie ever.”
It’s the whole
package at The Holloway House. It’s history and
professionalism: 80-year-old dishwasher Grace Howard, for example, just won the
NYS Restaurant Association’s statewide “Back of the House” award. “We know lots
of our customers personally,” Steve Wayne says. “I’ve been to their houses,
even been to their funerals. We send them birthday cards. It’s kind of
different.” Routes 5 and 20 are an old-time lifeline across the country. Wayne’s son lives on the road in Oregon,
his daughter works near it in Massachusetts.
It’s an amazing unbroken cord that The Holloway House sits upon and within. And
it’s a great restaurant. Make it more than an occasional destination.
The Holloway House,
Routes 5 & 20, Bloomfield,
657-7120. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, lunch 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m., dinner 5-9 p.m.;
Sunday 11:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. (champagne brunch, $16.95, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m.).
Food tip
Joey B’s old location at 617 Whitney Road didn’t remain vacant
long (Joey B’s is now next to the canal in Fairport). Renรฉ Kiulman
brings a Dutch theme to the region as the chef and owner of Renรฉ’s Cafe. He
serves breakfast seven days a week, and lunch every day but Sunday (388-7480).
— Michael Warren Thomas of www.SavorLife.com.
This article appears in May 24-30, 2006.
