Family Restaurant Woos With Savory Saloon Fare

The Roost, 120 N.W. Gilman Blvd., Issaquah. 392-5550. Open for breakfast M-Sat, 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. (Sun until 2 p.m.); lunch M-Sat 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Sun noon-4 p.m.; dinner M-Th 5 p.m.-9 p.m., F-Sat 5 p.m.-10 p.m. and Sun 4 p.m.-9 p.m. MC/V/AE/D, checks OK. Reservations recommended. Banquet facilities. ---------------------------------------------------------------

Let's be clear from the outset: I am not - repeat, not - related to the Two Steves. Nor is this a budget cut - you will continue to see their joint byline. Just call me . . . the Lone Steve.

With that settled, on with the show:

Question: When is a saloon restaurant not a saloon restaurant?

Answer: When it is a family establishment like The Roost in Issaquah, where kids eat free every Wednesday and management guarantees your dining satisfaction.

Anyone familiar with owner Mick McHugh's string of successful restaurants around the Seattle area could be forgiven for assuming The Roost is merely another in a long line of saloon successes.

The dining room is decorated in brass and dark wood paneling, with dark green carpeting and maroon plastic tablecloths. (Oddly, for a McHugh restaurant, there are no booths.) The clubby decor is exemplified by the framed photos of customers, staff and friends displaying fish they've caught or trophies they've won.

But you have only to listen to the chatter of the children to realize that The Roost courts families assiduously.

The back of the children's paper menu contains puzzles and scenes for coloring with crayons supplied in a large tin cup, and children get to select a treat from a basket of toy trinkets. Up to three children can eat free on Wednesdays with the purchase of one adult meal. Mondays and Tuesdays, diners can gorge on all-you-can-eat fried chicken dinners for $7.95.

As with every McHugh restaurant, our service was quick and efficient, and the portions were huge. "There's nothing we won't do to satisfy a customer," proclaimed manager Mark Crippen.

The fried mozzarella appetizer ($3.95) was excellent, but the accompanying marinara sauce, although tasty, was too thick and chunky for a dip for the cheese.

The basket of quick-fried seasonal vegetables ($4.50) held large, delicious onion rings. The breaded broccoli and cauliflower were tender with a light, crispy crust, and remained adventurously unidentifiable until sampled.

The interesting curried lamb soup ($1.95 cup, $2.95 bowl) was too gelatinous for my wife but tasted fine to me after some judicious salting. The menu also includes clam chowder and chili.

McHugh's vertical rotisserie, with its slow turning process to preserve natural juices, is supposed to produce lean, but tender results. My roast turkey dinner with all the trimmings ($10.95) was good, but not as moist as that produced by McHugh's former partner, Tim Firnstahl, at his Sharps Fresh Roasting restaurant in SeaTac.

The turkey and its trimmings, which covered a 12-inch platter, arrived in a warmer and proceeded to cool quickly. The herbed stuffing was unremarkable, but the cooked carrots were tender and delicious.

As might be expected at any self-respecting saloon establishment, McHugh's steaks are standouts. The petite top sirloin of certified Angus beef ($11.95), aged 28 days, was a perfectly cooked medium-rare. The accompanying steakhouse mushrooms were very good, sauteed in butter and garlic, then finished with demiglace and brandy. The side salad of mostly romaine lettuce also was very good, with a tangy lemon taste underlying the Dijon dressing.

The London broil ($8.50) featured slices of flank steak marinated in olive oil, red wine vinegar and garlic. Even sliced thin, the beef was chewy but good, needing the accompanying au jus. The steak was much improved by the freshly grated (mild) horseradish that came with it.

Curiously, the carrots with both the steaks - the same kind so delicious with the turkey dinner - were so undercooked as to be almost raw. The baked potatoes with each of our entrees also were undercooked slightly.

The restaurant boasts that its 20-ounce, 1 1/2-inch thick "Ultimate T-Bone" ($15.95), aged 21 days, is the largest on the Eastside. The menu also includes several pastas (from $6.75 to $10.75), seafood ($6.95 up to $16.95, with daily market price specials), burgers, sandwiches, ribs and entree salads ($4.95-$7.95).

If you still have room, be sure to sample the Snickers pie ($3.95). The devilishly tempting homemade dessert, towering in a pool of caramel sauce, has a cookie-crumb crust, vanilla ice cream, roasted peanuts and dark chocolate topped with meringue. Do not attempt to finish this dessert without a ready supply of milk.

And don't forget to take the freshly colored children's menu home to display on the refrigerator.

Restaurant reviews are a regular Thursday feature of the Seattle Times Eastside Life section. Reviewers visit unannounced and pay in full for all their meals. When they interview restaurant management and staff, they do so only after the meals and services have been appraised.