As a golfing innocent, I've been driving by the Anchorage Golf Course, complete with restaurant and bar, for years without even knowing it. Recently, while driving down O'Malley, I noticed a sandwich board on the side of the road advertising live music on Friday nights and my curiosity was piqued. In South Anchorage, you can't afford to ignore any new place to eat or drink or be entertained. A little research indicated that, seasonally at least, O'Malley's on the Green is a full-service restaurant operating seven days a week. Who knew?
My daughter and I went for a weekday lunch on a beautiful day and were surprised to find only a few occupied tables in both the dining room and the patio combined. We opted for a table inside to avoid the heat. With two full walls of floor-to-ceiling windows, there isn't a bad seat in the house. Near us, two women had set up painting kits at their table and were painting the view. En plein air but with air conditioner and cocktails! Respect.
The view is, in fact, spectacular. It sweeps across the city to Cook Inlet. On a clear day, I'm told, you can see Denali. On the other side, the Hillside and Chugach mountains loom. And if you'd rather be entertained than awed, you can watch golfers practice their putting right below the window. It's probably very helpful if you golf. If you don't? It's weirdly hilarious. An outdoor patio and a beautiful view on a sunny day with no wait? We were sold.
Inside, the room feels a bit out of date: drab carpeting, beige tablecloths, banquet-style chairs and fake flowers on the tables. It's all a bit dowdy, though everything looks clean and well maintained.
I wasn't sure what to expect from the food. I couldn't help think of the scene in "Arrested Development" where Gob seductively reads a country club menu out loud to Liza Minnelli: "Fried cheese (pause) … with club sauce. Popcorn shrimp (pause) … with club sauce. Chicken fingers (extra long pause) … with spicy club sauce." It's a pretty good indicator of what we expect from the average golf-club restaurant: something dated, institutional, unoriginal.
O'Malley's menu is a bit fresher than that. It offers the standard burgers, salads and sandwiches, with a few surprises like edamame, ahi tacos and a shrimp and blueberry salad. We ordered the sausage and shrimp skewers ($11.50) to start, along with an O'Malley's salad ($6). When I ordered the salad our server asked for my dressing preference and without thinking, I asked for Italian. Later, I remembered that the salad is described as coming with an avocado ranch dressing, which is why I ordered it in the first place. It seemed too late to change it but it wouldn't have mattered. The salad was not good. It had clearly been pre-prepped and went to the table uninspected. Some lettuce was dried out and some was starting to get dark and slimy at the edges. The bacon was the "bits" that you can buy in bags at Costco -- fine in a soup or omelet but rubbery, even gristly when cold. A few bites in and I was done.
Happily, we liked the sausage and shrimp skewers ($13). The sweet, mild shrimp are the perfect foil for the salty, slightly spicy sausage, and the smoky, flavorful red beans and rice on which they're served could easily stand alone on the menu. We didn't quite understand the mustard dipping sauce that came on the plate. German/Louisiana fusion? Whatever. We ignored it (mostly) and cleaned the rest of the plate.
My daughter's barbecue bacon burger was fine if a little bit over-sauced. I was impressed at the charred flavor in the meat. Clearly, it was cooked by someone who shares my love for the taste of smoke.
The pulled pork on my Cubano sandwich ($12) was clearly hand-pulled and was stacked generously high. It was a bit dry, though, and I pulled some out to create a better, moister balance with the ham, melted Swiss and layer of pickle. And I loved the texture of the Dutch crunch roll -- crackly on the outside, soft on the inside. It's the perfect sandwich vehicle.
We left satisfied and strangely relaxed. No one there was rushing back to an office; no one was having a business lunch. It all felt a bit like playing hooky. And who doesn't want that feeling once in a while?
I returned with my friend Vanessa the following week for dinner. It was a lovely night and our plan was to eat on the patio but, unfortunately, it was reserved for the night. There was plenty of room in the dining room and we chose a spot by the window. As promised, a live band was in full swing. It wasn't, as I would have expected, a jazz trio, or an acoustic singer-songwriter, or some other subdued little combo but, rather, a full-on '80s cover band: Journey, Stray Cats, Pat Benatar. You get the idea. Little girls were dancing barefoot with their moms. The guitar player occasionally walked around the dining room to serenade individual tables. It was a bit weird, actually. Sort of like being at a wedding for a couple you've never met.
We decided to start with the seared ahi tuna ($17) and the edamame in togarashi butter ($8). The ahi tuna was perfectly cooked though I found the wasabi soy dipping sauce to be a bit sweet and not quite punchy enough. And while I liked the sauce for the edamame, it seemed to be all butter and no togarashi. Saucing soybeans in the shell is fine but I think it requires a more assertive sauce or the flavors don't marry. At $8 per plate they're nothing I'd order again.
I ordered the day's special, barbecue ribs ($18.50), and Vanessa opted for the blackened halibut sandwich ($18.50). The sandwich didn't look like much when it arrive, open faced, at the table. In fact, it looked very dry. Happily, it tasted much better than it looked when assembled as a sandwich with fresh tomato, onion and tartar sauce. And the potato salad on the side was excellent -- not the usual bland concoction but full of flavor with a nice dill-y zing.
My ribs also lacked curb appeal. The barbecue sauce was served on the side (which I appreciate because I often find things over-sauced), so the meat looked a bit gray and naked. But again, looks deceived, because these were good -- tender, juicy and with a great smoky flavor. Again, someone in the kitchen knows how to use smoke.
On the side of the ribs was, weirdly, our favorite dish of the meal -- a "Cajun" slaw with a bright acidic dressing with an addictive dash of wasabi. Coleslaw wouldn't make it onto my "last meal" wish list but I might make an exception for this one.
We decided to share the blueberry peach cobbler ($5) and, unfortunately, we should have left well enough alone. Some of the blueberries were very underripe, giving us an occasionally eye-watering, mouth puckering experience. The crumbly topping was irredeemably soggy and a strong undercurrent of nutmeg overwhelmed the dish.
We left somewhat bemused. Beautiful views, good service and (mostly) appetizing food were done a disservice by a few serious missteps in the kitchen. And the atmosphere (on Friday nights, anyway) is a little hard to predict. But the positives emphatically outweighed the negatives. I'll definitely be back with Outside visitors in tow. I'll steer everyone toward the grilled items and I'll beg for lots of extra coleslaw. Despite a few underripe blueberries, O'Malley's left a sweet taste in my mouth.
OMalleys on the Green
Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Mon.-Friday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday-Sunday
Location: 3651 O'Malley Road
Contact: 907-522-3363
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