Hearty lunches for ladies and gentlemen

The Taft House

by Margaret LeRoux

Taft House Café 122 Elm St. Millbury 508-865-2911 Hours Tues.-Sat. 11 a.m.-3 p.m. BYOB Major credit cards Handicapp accessible

I don't get to Millbury very often, I'll admit; braving the 146 construction maze certainly makes the drive an excursion. But a recent outing to the Taft House in downtown Millbury made the traffic hassle worthwhile. This is a charming lunch spot housed in an historic building, offering a contemporary menu with a few surprises.

First a bit of history: the Taft House is located on Elm street in a renovated, Greek revival-style mansion. It's one of those New England named buildings, the Torrey Mansion. You can't miss it -- look for the elegant white house with columns in front, directly across the street, and connected by underground tunnels to another historic mansion, the Waters House. According to local lore, the two homes were part of the underground railroad that helped runaway slaves escape from the south in the mid-19th century.

The owners of the Torrey mansion, built in 1835, were the grandparents of William Taft, the 27 president of the United States, for whom the restaurant is named.

The downstairs of the Torrey mansion has been transformed into two dining rooms, whimsically decorated with antiques, and a gift shop. In the smaller room, where I dined with two friends, the walls are adorned with a collection of hats. Since the clientele was predominantly female, it's fair to say that the Taft House caters to the "ladies lunch" crowd, but appearances can be deceiving. The fare at the Taft House is anything but delicate; be prepared to eat hearty.

The three of us had lots to talk about, so we chose the empty second dining room over the larger room, crowded and much noisier. Those high ceilings really amplify conversations. Discussing the menu was our first order of business. Lots of sandwiches and salads here, but as we were to find out, the hefty portions would satisfy anyone with a big appetite.

One of my companions went straight for the soup of the day, her favorite, corn chowder with the Taft House addition of chives ($2.25 cup/$3.50/bowl). It was a delicately seasoned, creamy version of a New England standby.

On an earlier visit, I tackled one of the Taft House salads, a healthy mixture of veggies with sunflower seeds and sprouts; not only could I not finish it, but the ample amount of leftover greens made a satisfying meal the next day. On this visit, I skipped the Popeye salad with cucumbers, Kalamata olives, feta cheese and hard boiled eggs nestled in a bowl of spinach; the tortilla taco bowl of greens topped with chili, salsa, sour cream and cheddar cheese; and Oriental chicken salad with mandarin oranges and Thai peanut dressing (all $5.95), as well as the quiche ($3.95).

The three of us decided on sandwiches; the Taft House variety offers something for everyone. Meat lovers will go for the "big Taft" ($5.50), roast beef, lettuce tomatoes and horseradish mayonnaise, or turkey hummus ($5.50); non-carnivores will enjoy the vegetarian delight ($4.95), roasted veggies with melted brie cheese on Syrian bread, or grilled portobello ($4.95) with roasted garlic and balsamic vinaigrette added to the grilled mushroom cap in a garlic dill sauce.

My choice was the southwestern chicken club ($5.95), described as spicy chicken, sliced cucumbers, roasted red peppers and bacon topped with pesto mayonnaise and layered between toasted bread. Here I have to digress with one of my dining rants. It's about sandwiches that are too big and too messy to eat in polite company. I'm always dismayed when I receive one of these mammoth creations, either bulging with half a pound of deli meat and cheese, or in this case, large pieces of chicken that would be more at home on a dinner plate. After trying to get my mouth around the layers, I gave up and dissected it. Picking apart the sandwich with a knife and fork, I soon had a jumble of sandwich components littering my plate, not a pretty picture. But to be fair, the chicken was well seasoned and even though the bacon was a bit soggy, the rest of the ingredients were satisfactory.

My two companions were more successful with their choices: nutty chicken ($5.50) was diced with celery, toasted walnuts and cranberries on French bread, a very tasty mixture; and tuna Laguna ($4.95) featured chive mayonnaise with a hint of lemon juice, red onion, lettuce and tomatoes. Both were sizable creations, enough for all of us to share. All Taft House sandwiches come with a choice between pasta salad and terra chips: thinly sliced veggies such as carrots and beets that are deep fried, a colorful and satisfying alternative to potato chips.

We'd ordered hot tea and were presented with a nice selection of herb and regular tea bags and large mugs of water not quite hot enough to steep the tea. When we pointed this out to our waitress she whisked the mugs away for a quick reheat in the microwave.

Desserts here are homemade and include cake, pie and our choice to share: a generously sized peanut butter chocolate chip square with caramel sauce and whipped cream ($3.95). This probably contains more calories than any three people should consume in one sitting, and was sweet without being cloying. We promised each other to add another mile to our next power-walk as we scooped up every bit of whipped cream.

Our bill before tip was $26.35.

Margaret LeRoux can be reached at
feedmefeedback@hotmail.com.

Margaret LeRoux can be reached at feedmefeedback@hotmail.com.