The Deft Palate

Some restaurants have reputations that are hard to shake. McDonald's, for instance, will have a hard time changing its fattening image no matter how many salads it offers. And in Fairbanks, many people still view Wolf Run Restaurant as a coffee and dessert place. With its unfortunate location, hidden in plain sight next to the Johansen Expressway, Wolf Run has had to fight to gain recognition as a full-service restaurant that offers lunch and dinner seven days a week.

The original Wolf Run owners converted a house into the restaurant, and the result is an odd layout with a fireplace and a few tables downstairs and most of the tables on the upper level. The downside to this cozy arrangement becomes evident when the restaurant is crowded: Laughter from a nearby table drowned out our own banter on a recent visit. "The acoustics are definitely not conducive to quiet conversation," Tom noted.

The menu is small but diverse, ranging from a crab mushroom cheesecake appetizer to a Cornish game hen entree. I opted for the surf and turf with a cup of potato dill soup ($22), while Tom selected ravioli Florentine with the Wolf Run salad ($16). Wolf Run also has a beverage menu that would rival many coffee shops', with an assortment of drinks and a full range of teas.

The soup arrived quickly, and I eagerly slurped up a spoonful of the creamy base that was visually awash with dill. Dill was an interesting choice: The flavor is distinct, yet even in large quantities it doesn't overpower the dish. When I bit into the large chunks of potato, I found myself missing the dill flavor. The garlic bread that accompanied the soup, however, was not as exciting. The slices of French bread with a hint of garlic and melted cheese were largely flavorless and made a poor foil to the soup. Tom's salad was a small serving of a house specialty: fresh greens, mandarin oranges, caramelized almonds and a tarragon-vinaigrette. The mandarins added a vibrant splash of color, but the sweet, crunchy almonds and the tarragon dressing dominated the overall flavor.

My surf and turf came with a flat iron grill and shrimp sauteed in citrus butter. A chef with a deft touch can sprinkle a cut of meat with salt and pepper and still make each bite savory, and that was the case here. The cut was flavorful and tender, but I found that the "medium rare" was a touch too rare for my tastes in the middle of the cut. The shrimp’s citrus butter flavor was barely perceptible, noticeable mainly when the sauce was sopped up with bread. The plate was decorated with a smattering of steamed fresh vegetables — four snap peas and five carrots — good for presentation, but not much in the way of a side dish.

Tom's pasta was served in a large bowl, where the cheese and spinach ravioli floated serenely in a pool of pesto-cream sauce. The sauce was thin, with the cream barely diluting the punch of the fresh pesto. The taste was so vibrantly green that it seemed the perfect dish to herald the arrival of spring on a sunny evening.

To round out the evening, we painstakingly narrowed down the impressive dessert selection, until finally arriving at the Kentucky derby pie ($5.50), a concoction of pecans, chocolate, walnuts and bourbon sauce. Wolf Run used to serve mainly desserts, and it seems to be their specialty still. Our large slice of pie arrived at the table with its center artfully collapsed. The chewy top layer yielded to a densely sweet layer of chocolate and nuts. The pie was delicious until we got to the crust; flaky but flavorless, it detracted from the filling. Unlike a pizza crust, a pie crust does nothing for the dish.

Later in the week, I returned to Wolf Run for lunch to try their assortment of sandwiches. I sampled the soup and sandwich combo ($8), choosing the veggie sandwich along with Greek lemon chicken soup. Based on the description, I was hoping for something similar to an avgolemono, with a creamy lemon tang, but was disappointed to receive a cup that was closer to a generic chicken and rice soup. The veggie sandwich soothed me with its thick slabs of homemade bread slathered with both an avocado spread and a cream cheese lightly spiced with dill and black pepper. Generous helpings of tomatoes, cucumbers, sprouts and greens rounded out the satisfying sandwich.

Wolf Run serves a selection of quiches each day, and I was tempted by the snow crab and blue cheese quiche with a side of German potato salad ($8.50). I was pleasantly surprised when the potato salad arrived: Warm, thick cuts of potato soaked with onions and chopped bacon rested in a slightly sweet vinegar glaze. As I ate, I reflected that onion, bacon and vinegar would make a wonderful potato chip flavor. The quiche sounded promising on paper, and it's hard to fault the technique: The eggs were light and fluffy, encased in a flaky, crisp brown phyllo crust. However, a strong blast of oregano overpowered the other flavors, leading me to suspect I'd received the wrong dish by accident. Unfortunately, I had not; the oregano was deliberate and disastrous. Oregano should be saved for a Mediterranean quiche, as it overpowered even the pungent blue cheese, leaving the snow crab lost in the mix.

In the end, Wolf Run had a few misses, but also scored many hits. The entrees were reasonably priced, our server was attentive and the desserts remain some of the best in Fairbanks. "It's more satisfying than our recent pricey meals," Tom said as we finished. Tucked down a confusing cul-de-sac, Wolf Run is a lot harder to find than it is to see, but it's definitely worth the effort.

Review published in the Anchorage Press.