ADVERTISEMENT

    Restaurant Review: Pat and Gracie’s

    Pat and Gracie’s doesn’t seem like the sort of place to open in a super-sized shopping center. With its deep woodsy tones, it feels more like a Downtown or Short North sort of stop. Instead, it’s pioneering a place for itself in Graceland Shopping Center, near a Michael’s Crafts and across a ginormous parking lot from a Target.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    The name of the joint is tied to the shopping center itself. Before it was a mecca for soccer moms, Graceland was a horse farm owned by Pat Murnam. According to the pub website, he named the farm “Graceland” in honor of a local brothel owner, his beloved Grace. Pat & Gracie’s, then, is named for the original owners of the land. It opened quietly this summer with a full bar and dining menu.

    The dining menu is built on upscale hamburgers and sandwiches. There is a particular angle: the burgers are double-patties, each one weighing in at three ounces. There are familiar burger options (and a build-your-own), but the Pimento Cheese Melt ($10.50) mixes the familiar with edgy retro accents of sweet bread-and-butter pickles and rich, lush pimento cheese. There’s bacon in the mix too, the perfect briny foil, and peel-on skinny fries on the side.

    pat-gracies-06

    The Salmon BLT ($11.99) is notable, even for skeptics. It’s built on a generous slab of salmon finished with crisped edges. That particular treatment sets the fish flesh apart, making it competitive with the sandwich’s bacon in terms of appealingly addictive savory features. It’s crowned with thick toasted bread, slices of tomatoes, and julienned lettuce shoved into some vaguely spicy sriracha mayo.

    pat-gracies-08

    P and G might also build a reputation as a destination for house-made tator tots. The price tag is daunting ($7.95), but the labor involved in such an endeavor probably justifies it. They’re bigger than regular tots, crowned with crystals of salt, they taste like taters with a crackling shell as opposed to tasting like randomly starchy freezer cubes. Maybe they’re not a regular score, but the tots are worth at least one try for novelty.

    pat-gracies-05

    Conversely, the bargain of the year is the cheese fries ($7.99). The kitchen takes its house hand cut, peel-on fries, encases them in melted cheese — and not the pourable stuff, real honest-to-goodness, stretchy, melty monterey jack and cheddar cheese. Then it crowns the whole concoction with biggish chunks of bacon. Served with ranch dressing, which truly isn’t needed, the fries have become a personal obsession. Finishing off the heavy hitting cheese fries might hurt a little, even when shared with the table. Still, they are worth the pain.

    You can score some Mac and Cheese as a side ($3.50) too: a good-sized portion arrives built on big, firm spirals (cavatappi) in a creamy, natural tasting sauce.

    Pat and Gracie’s has burgers, sandwiches and sides; there are also a few big ten-dollar salad options for the veggie crowd. For the drinking crew, the bar features craft beers including lots of options from Ohio brewers (Seventh Son and Elevator, for example). There are house cocktails too, it runs a solid happy hour from 3pm until 7pm, and lunch hours launched in August. You’ll find it all at 138 Graceland Boulevard.

    For more information, visit www.patandgracies.com.

    All photos by Walker Evans.

    pat-gracies-02

    pat-gracies-03
    pat-gracies-07

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Subscribe

    More to Explore:

    French Bistro Slated for Prominent Downtown Corner

    Another new restaurant is coming to the corner of...

    Cheap Eats: 6 Breakfasts on a Budget

    What’s the old saying? Breakfast is the most important...

    14 Easter Brunches in Columbus

    No holiday calls for a big, fancy brunch quite...

    A Guide to Clintonville’s Brewery Scene

    With three brewery taprooms in Clintonville, all opened within...

    The Thurman Cafe: Truly the Tastiest Burgers in Columbus?

    The Thurman Cafe is a Columbus staple. It’s hard...
    Miriam Bowers Abbott
    Miriam Bowers Abbotthttps://columbusunderground.com
    Miriam Bowers Abbott is a freelancer contributor to Columbus Underground who reviews restaurants, writes food-centric featurettes and occasionally pens other community journalism pieces.
    ADVERTISEMENT