Restaurant Review: Henry J Bean’s, Tower Street, York (From York Press)

Restaurant Review: Henry J Bean’s, Tower Street, York

1:34pm Saturday 18th July 2009 in

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SOMETIMES, bigger is definitely better. Diamonds, bank balances, glasses of wine – all are best on the large side. But food is an exception – I much prefer quality rather than quantity.

Americans are famous for their massive portions; for towering burgers and artery-clogging milkshakes. Having eaten in the United States, I can testify that they usually taste good too.

That is something that American restaurants over here strive to achieve. In York, American grill Henry J Bean’s, in Tower Street, claims to be famous for some of the best burgers and hot dogs in town.

It certainly carries off its Americana label, with comfy booth-style seating and juke box-style music. It is also a cocktail bar, with an extensive menu of stress-relieving classics, shooters, shorts and smoothies.

We arrived after work on a Friday, midway through the men’s semi-final at Wimbledon.

Perhaps that is why the bar staff seemed slow to attend to people.

Slouched in leather couches under the TV screen, my other half, John, and our friend, Seb, tried hard to resist over-facing themselves with the burger list, priced from £7.25.

Wraps, sandwiches, salads and grills just weren’t going to cut the mustard, so they ordered the Texan burger – billed as twice the size of a normal burger – and a bacon cheeseburger.

I wanted something lighter, debating over roasted vegetable wrap, tuna steak salad and marinated roast chicken. I chose steak fajita wrap with fries.

For starters, we ordered nachos (£7.50) “the jumbo Cadillac of starters” with paprika tortilla chips and added crispy bacon for an extra £1, as well as eight Chicago wings with the Tennessee glaze and Jack Daniel’s (£5.50).

We could also have chosen mozzarella sticks, cheesy garlic bread, potato skins or filo-coated king prawns.

The nachos deluxe were tangy and covered with melted cheese, jalapenos, whole black olives and salty strips of bacon, with salsa, guacamole in sour cream in separate pots, while the chicken wings were gloriously gooey, hot and sticky with a sweet, spicy kick.

Both lads’ burgers were served in sourdough sesame buns with lettuce, tomato and sliced red onions and came with fries, salad and coleslaw.

The side salads were lovely and fresh, the fries chunky and the scale of the burgers impressive, but the tasteless meat was disappointing.

Seb was unable to clamp his teeth around the Texan in its entirety, managing just one of the burger patties topped with onion rings and beef chilli and some of the bread, but was not sorry to leave the rest. The burgers looked good, he said, but tasted poor compared to the burgers he had eaten in America. John agreed.

The steak strips cooked in my fajita wrap were meltingly soft when they arrived. The were covered in cheese, which had not been mentioned on the menu, but it was easy to scrape off. The mixed peppers and jalapenos were tasty and I enjoyed the fries, salad and coleslaw.

Full but too greedy to resist desserts, priced from £5.25, we pondered over apple crumble and custard, banoffi pie and warm American-style pancakes with fresh maple syrup and vanilla ice-cream.

John and I shared the HJB Sundae, priced at £9.50, while Seb ordered chocolate fondant (£5.25) which he said was soft, chocolatey and smothered with summer fruits.

The HJB Sundae was huge, but this time the large portion hit the right notes. The topping of whipped cream, chopped nuts and chocolate sauce hid a slab of gooey chocolate fudge cake, smashed meringue, ice-cream and fruit cocktail.

The bill came to £61.70, including a cherry fizz non-alcoholic cocktail (£2.75), a coke and a lemonade (£1.50 each) and, despite the slow service, we enjoyed the atmosphere and most of the food at Henry J Bean’s.

However, a bit of ‘less is more’ when it comes to size, and more ‘TLC’ when attending to customers would go a long way.

• Charlotte visited on July 3.

• Henry J Bean’s, 1 Tower Street, York. 01904 464727.