By Marty Rosen
Special to The Courier Journal
Situated on the site of an old limestone quarry near the peak of the dramatic Knobstone Escarpment that forms Floyds Knobs, the RockWall restaurant is as aptly named as any restaurant could be.
Diners can choose between a sheltered patio or a pleasantly appointed indoor dining area set off with bright wood trim, wooden chairs, white tablecloths and the bright, peaceful feel of a metropolitan cafe.
 RockWall's plantation salmon is a filet topped with crab meat in a pecan-caramel sauce. The entree can be grilled or blackened. By Michael Clevenger, The Courier-Journal |
On a couple of recent dishes, we encountered wavering quality — some dishes were outrageously good, while others were embarrassingly bad.
One night for instance, my wife, Mary, and I ended a meal with a chocolate vanilla hidden truffle cake ($7) that was flat-out amazing. Pastry chef Ada Silva King had created a cake as ephemeral as a cocoa cloud; sharp-flavored and fine-grained, it surrounded a melting fudgy center, and was topped by a full-flavored scoop of house-made vanilla ice cream.
Likewise, shrimp linguine ($17) was superb — a generous supply of plump, tender shrimp and vegetables (red bell peppers, mushrooms, green and yellow summer squash) topped toothsome pasta. And the whole affair was garbed in a light, lively sauce that mixed a rich fabric of cream with the piquant heat of Asian Sriracha hot sauce.
A rib-eye ($26), topped with a melting pool of shallot-thyme butter, was cooked perfectly to order, tender as could be, and had the satisfying grid marks. Horseradish-infused mashed potatoes had a hearty flavor and a creamy texture. But a side of sugar snap peas arrived at the table dripping oil.
A Cobb salad ($12) bordered on insult — both to the general concept of a Cobb salad and to the general standard of quality found elsewhere on the menu.
A handful of shrimp were plump and fresh, and a few nuggets of fried chicken breast were acceptable. But the rest of the ingredients included cold, half-cooked minced bacon, clumps of tasteless shredded yellow cheese, huge florets of broccoli and cauliflower (these big chunks were inconvenient and out of place in one of the world's definitive "chopped" salads), and a paltry quantity of mixed greens — which was just as well, since the greens showed mottled brown signs of deterioration.
Service on my visits was attentive and friendly. And on Tuesday nights, bottled wines are half price — an attractive bargain if you're interested in that bottle of Stag's Leap Petite Syrah ($65) or a Chateauneuf du Pape ($50), though the mostly affordable list is scanty on details like vintages. We drank a peppery Cline Ancient Vines Mourvedre (2004, $36) that nicely bridged that Sriracha sauce and the char-grilled rib-eye.
Couple that wine special with appetizer options like flautas made of rock game hen ($8), fried green tomatoes ($7) and shrimp cocktail ($11), and you have a recipe for a fine evening in the Knobs. And a rich bacon artichoke dip ($6), accompanied by crisp grilled slices of Blue Dog bread, is the kind of voluptuous appetizer that can easily satisfy four folks out for a beverage and a snack.
Freelance restaurant critic Marty Rosen's review appears on Saturdays. You can e-mail him at cjdining@gmail.com.
3426 Paoli Pike, Floyds Knobs, Indiana
812-948-1705
Rating: 2.5 stars
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