Tiburon: Foodniks - John Snell's (The Meetinghouse) food to go

[rworange]

Located in The Cove Shopping Center next to Sweet Things Bakery, this is mainly a take-out serving sandwiches, soups and hot entrees from a steam table .,.. but don't get the wrong idea ... It's not a supermarket deli.

There is a printed monthly menu with six dishes that will be available that day. New Year's Eve the menu included
- Dungeness crab cakes
- Eggplant and tomato tart
- Truffled mashed potatoes
- Roasted rack of lamb
- Liberty Duck Breast
- Herbed Salmon Fillets

There are alos fresh-frozen entrées, casseroles and hors d’oeuvres to take home, ready to bake and serve.

There are a few shelves specialty groceries. The bread is by Panorama or La Brea. A back counter with baked goods offers the breads by the loaf. The coffee is by San Rafael roaster La Coppa. The website says they try to use local products whenever possible.

There are two large picnic type of tables inside for those who want to eat there.

The day I stopped by I had the butternut squash soup which was very good. It was made with a rich stock and had a deep sweet squash flavor. Three other soups were also availale.

John Bryant Snell is the Executive Chef and Owner. According to the bio on the website he worked " first with Bradley Ogden, then with Heidi Krahling, eventually opening The Meetinghouse restaurant with former CIA classmate Joanna Karlinsky"
http://www.foodniks.com/chef.htm

This was my first visit. Any locals more familiar with the food. It seems good.

[little big al]

I think this is the same location as the former "Let's Eat" which we used to refer to (some years ago when it meant something) as "the twenty dollar deli" after the time a former business partner of mine who (for good reason) was kept by his wife on a strict weekly allowance of $20 walking around money blew the whole wad on one sack of lunch. I don't know if I'll be so keen to check it out however, seeing the small (okay, not so small) print at the bottom of the menu specifying a 15% "service charge" added to all menu items. Makes a $9.50 sandwich an $11.00 sandwich. Ouch! Like the hundred dollar airfare that costs a hundred and fifty bucks.

[rworange]

You can't base anything on the business that previously occupied the location. There is no such statement about service charges at the bottom of either menu I'm holding in my hand. I still have my receipt for my soup and there is no service charge on it. It is take out for heaven's sake. There's a tip jar on the counter if one wants to contribute. The most expensive sandwich on the menu is $7.95 not $9.50.

Even the box lunches (minimum order six) top out at $11.75 ... and they include sandwich, salad fruit and cookie.

I haven't checked the online menu but they are also a caterer so if that is where you are getting info from that may be the situation.

Snell opened the business in 2006. What went on there before that is irrelevant.

[Mick Ruthven]

>I haven't checked the online menu but they are also a caterer so if that is where you are getting info from that may be the situation.<

All their online menus have that 15% service charge statement at the bottom. If they 're not charging it, they sure should remove it from the online menus.

[rworange]

Ya know, pdf files download painfully slow on my pc. However, I looked at them all and given the exception of the sandwiches, prices are by the piece, dozen, pound, etc and there are menus are for things like hors d'oerves and party trays, and there are hundreds of menu items, I would say they are catering menus especially since except for the sandwhich list, the menus from the shop are different.

Perhaps they should be clearer they are catering menus and the little link at the bottom reading "click here for catering guidlines" is too subtle.

That being said i didn't see one sandwich on there that was $9.50 and it still has nothing to do with whether the previous owner charged high prices. My $4 container of soup would have cost me more at Safeway down the street and would not have tasted as good.

And just for good measure let me look one more time ... nope ... not even on the online menu do I see a $9.50 sandwich

[Mick Ruthven]

Thanks for posting about this place. I probably haven't been in since the ownership and name change; if fact I didn't even know about that. They would do themselves a favor if they made their website agree with what's offered and clearly distinguish between deli items and catered food.

[little big al]

Of course you're right. I was just sharing a not entirely relevant food reminiscence. Thanks for the heads up. Next time I'm on my way to the yacht clubs (business, not pleasure) I'll gladly check out the $7.55 pastrami sandwich (cheese included.)

[rworange]

My guess is that at this place, the thing to focus on would be the prepared dishes and soups rather than the sandwiches. The reason for this is cold cuts are cold cuts. Maybe ask what brand of cold cuts they use ... oh yeah, I'm guessing from the links page on the website that the pastrami is from Roberts Corned Meats, so that could be a good sandwich option ... or the meatloaf.

Also, La Brea and Panorama wouldn't be my first bread choices ... La Brea is so ... Whole Foods. They probably get these ready to bake like WF, so fresh-baked would be on their side ... on the other hand ... it's La Brea. It was partly what kept me from getting a sandwich rather than the soup. That, and I didn't think a sandwich would give me any sort of feel for the place.

Still it has the potential for being a good picnic fixins stop since next door there's Sweet Things for dessert.

Since I was in the area that day for other business, my real destination was the new patiserrie in the old Swedish bakery spot. Still not open. So the drive wouldn't be a total waste, I thought I'd check out what was in the shopping center.

[little big al]

To paraphrase Kipling, "Cold cuts are just cold cuts, but a good pastrami is a smoke." But seriously Krys, I took your advise and went for the crab cakes. At about $22 a lb two generously proportioned ones cost about $12. I'd say they were superlative and went perfectly with some Sconehenge english muffins(which were just the right density for the job.) Just 6 minutes in the old toaster oven at the shop (which might be too much like cooking for you) made for a perfect lunch to make me forget all that morning's grief.(Not chow related.)P.S. no "service charge. So fuggedaboudit.

[Robert Lauriston]

The note at the bottom of the PDFs says "All prices quoted are subject to 15% service charge and 7.75% sales tax," but but in fact the sales tax in Tiburon is 9%.

The catering guidelines say they don't have service staff, so there's no logical reason for them to add a service charge to catering orders but not to takeout.

[rworange]

Ya know, Chowhound is supposed to be about food and sometimes gets off on these tangents. I'd say there are errors on a good percentage of the websites I've looked at ... my 'favorite' error is when the take-out menu, website and opentable all have different restaurant hours.

If someone is that concerned about a possible charge or is considering this company for catering, I would hope you call them directly to get the info.

However, other than my piddly bowl of soup, we have nothing here about their actual food ... which what was I was trying to get at by posting ... hoping someone who has actually eaten there has some opinions.

Yelp isn't really very helpful on this one as it veers off into attitude. There's the estatic review that is in mostly uppercase, someone from CT whose only post is about this joint ... yeah, sure ... someone in 2008 complaining about the prices ... in fact mentioning a $10 sandwich ... they must have dropped prices or this person had a lot of add-ons ... and let me warn everyone at this point I would not find it humourous if anyone suggests perhaps the $10 was due to the addition of a 15% service charge.

Who knows? Maybe the sandwich if it is $10 is worth $10; Jeez ... how much are sandwiches at some of the better places ... these could be wonderful sandwiches .. the stuff of legends ... bypassed, snubbed ignored by a possible imaginary service charge ... if only someone knew ... if only someone knew.

I only know that even Andronico's or Whole Foods wasn't offering take-out Liberty duck breast and truffled mashed potatoes on New Year's Eve ... and guesses about the taste of a to-go Liberty duck breast wouldn't quack me up either right now ... (takes deep breath and smooths ruffled feathers)

And my yelp favorite ... the one bitching about wait time ... "The situation is always the same. I am waiting IN LINE ... some (typical Mill Valley) housewife will come storming in with her three kids, and announce that she NEEDS TO GET A NUMBER. As everyone who has been waiting IN LINE tries to explain there are too few of us to necessitate the number system, the Mill Valley housewife will explain to us idiots that there is actually a NUMBER SYSTEM ... and on and on"

I didn't notice a number system, btw, but there was only one other person in front of me mid-afternoon

And now ... this ... on Chowhound.

Has anyone besides me ever eaten any food here?

[Mick Ruthven]

>Has anyone besides me ever eaten any food here?<

I went for lunch today and had a "cup" of split pea soup ($4.95) - I put "cup" in quotes because the cup was a container that had to be close to a pint. It was very good soup, not the thick pea-puree type but real soup that had several flavors and ingredients. I also had a plate with green bean salad which was great, with a lot of things in with the beans, and curried turkey salad, a very good Americanized curry, not an Indian one. The plate with the two items, with moderate quantities selected by myself by eyeball, was about $5. All items were top class; this is a very good place.

[rworange]

Did they add a service charge? ::-)

Thanks for the report back.

[Mick Ruthven]

>Did they add a service charge? ::-)

Ha ha, after all this discussion about it I forgot to check the receipt. But I sure don't think so.

[walker]

I used to go there now and then before the last guy bought the place. (I've been only once since.) Before, the place was GREAT even tho it was expensive. They had many different things, more things on the weekends but always the curried turkey and the chinese chicken salad. I LOVED those 2 items. The quality seemed to have gone down quite a bit since earlier times. Maybe I should give it another try since Mick seems to like it.

[melisky]

I've been coming to this space since the 80s when it was Let's Eat and that Chinese Chicken Salad was and is one of the best retro renditions around. It was very expensive and maybe the quality may have dropped a bit, but it was the old recipe and worth the trek. Now, I guess I'll get my salad at Comforts in San Anselmo, which is very good or at the much more reasonably priced Kitti's Place in Sausalito.

[walker]

I've been meaning to try those places; I'd love to have the recipe. It did not even bother me that it was iceberg lettuce and not crispy. Let's Eat used really good quality ingredients. It just did not seem half as good the last time I tried it.

[Mick Ruthven]

>It just did not seem half as good the last time I tried it.<

Was that with the new or old owners?

[walker]

New owners. The old owners, in my opinion, had excellent quality. I used to live in Marin and now just go over there now and then.

[Cynsa]

yes, there is a number system, but if no one is in line, no one takes a chit
Soups today: chicken noodle, turkey mushroom, roasted veggie, and tomato-fennel
Best sandwich: #11 or #13
Best salad today: sweet corn and tomato salad
Best soup today: tomato fennel
note: the iceberg lettuce in the Chinese Chicken salad was soft and limp from sitting in the dressing - not crisp and crunchy -
I have a photo to attach but nothing happens... http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/622756