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Log Cabin for home-style surf and turf

• WEEKender restaurant review archive

Stafford's Log Cabin restaurant offers good, solid home cooking with fresh crab, shrimp and prime beef.

By NEVA TRENIS
The Free Lance-Star

Date published: 10/18/2001

Stafford's Log Cabin restaurant is good home cooking--the kind you'd do if you had lots of fresh crab, shrimp and prime beef on hand.

On a recent Tuesday evening, the rustic split-log building was humming with customers, and the menu offered eight tempting specials as well as its regular surf-and-turf menu.

The waitress said the white crab soup ($5.95) is a customer favorite, so that's where I began. Here's where some of the home cooking showed--the soup was made with condensed cream of mushroom, a splash of wine and the addition of wisps of crabmeat and a few other fancies. If you've had Campbell's, you know the taste, and you know whether you'll like this one or not.

The spiced shrimp ($9.95) was the definite favorite at our table. Twelve hearty shrimp had been simmered in court bouillon until they were pearly pink, drained, then dusted with piquant spices. The shrimp were meaty and so fresh they still had the pleasant taste of the sea. With seafood of this quality, it was wise of the chef to add the seasoning blend after cooking--a nice touch that let the shrimp flavor shine.

The Log Cabin is known for its seafood, so I tried the pan fried crab cakes ($22.95). Made mostly from lump crabmeat held together by cream and a hint of mustard, they were crisp and brown on the outside and almost creamy inside. I recommend them, but watch out for shells.

Another delicious Log Cabin entree is the filet mignon ($23.95). I asked for it cooked medium, but when the thick, seared round arrived, it was more red than pink in the center. Good thing I didn't send it back--one taste let me know it was cooked to perfection. The meat was hot, flavorful and juicy, the outside criss-crossed with tasty char marks.

The restaurant offers domestic wines by the bottle ($10.95-$32.95) or the glass ($3.95-$6.95). I chose a glass of Kendall Jackson Pinot Noir ($6.95) with my steak. The subtle, fruity red with its pleasant, tannic aftertaste was a nice match to the butter-tender beef.

At Log Cabin, entrees come with the salad bar and a choice of side items: broccoli casserole, flame-roasted corn, wild rice, cajun potatoes, french fries or baked potato.

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Date published: 10/18/2001