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Woodsmoke Lodge
11335 Campbell Lakes Dr.
966-1160

by Les DuLunch

Do you like it wild? No? Well, that's alright. But if you've grown tired of ribs and grilled chicken breasts, make a visit to the other side of vanilla by checking out Farragut's Woodsmoke Lodge, a Stokely-owned restaurant that specializes in game food.

Don't worry, there's nothing too outré like rhinoceros horn powder broth, grilled lion flank, or zebra steak, and there's nothing too familiar like horse haunch, doggie du jour, or samples from the other four-legged friends who've so far managed to escape America's meat processing plants. Quail, game hen, duck, venison, elk, and buffalo roam right alongside more traditional offerings like seared fresh-water striped bass, crab-stuffed trout, roasted chicken, and several cuts of beef.

Needless to say, vegetarians won't find much grazing room on the menu, although they could make do with the inevitable sautéed vegetable platter. And Animal Planet devotees will probably be appalled by the decor, which includes dead animals—flocks of stuffed Canada geese and the heads of various horned beasts—as well as live ones, a variety of birds kept in a glass aviary in the waiting area. Naturally, anyone with any qualms should know better than to darken Woodsmoke's door and simply follow the scents of patchouli and curry to the nearest laid-back, veggie-friendly trattoria instead.

Arriving late on a weeknight evening, Fredro and I were ushered through two vast but vacant dining rooms appointed in various shades of tan, hunter green, and burgundy to a large table in the overly warm bar area. The room was dominated by the colossal head, curved horns, and black shoulders of a water buffalo—it appeared as if the massive creature had simply burst in through the wall and turned its head quizzically to one side, perhaps puzzled to find itself in such pleasantly masculine environs.

The game got underway with an appetizer of deep fried elk and venison strips ($7.95). I'm not sure which was which (presumably, the elk was larger of the two varieties), but both can be best described as reminiscent of a particularly good breakfast steak. The dark, moist meat was surrounded by a crisp, roughly ground batter and came with two sauces for dipping—a fluffy horseradish and a rich, brothy Zinfandel.

Next up were two small loaves of thick-crusted bread and the Lodge salads ($3.95), medium-sized bowls of tangy field greens, julienne vegetables, avocado, and tomato tossed in a chunky, onion-sweet basil vinaigrette. They were followed in quick succession by our entrees.

Chicken is the most frequent comparison drawn to most unusual foods (frog legs, tortoise, alligator). Not surprisingly, pheasant resembles its feathered friend but the white meat of this wild bird bears the firming imprint of more natural oil. It isn't nearly as greasy and hard to work with as quail, though. The bacon and apple-stuffed breast ($19.95) Fredro ordered came in inch-thick slices. The smoky spark of bacon suffused each bite of meat but the apples' sweet flavor went completely unnoticed. Previously unmentioned bits of carrot added their own subtle tang and a crisp texture instead. Since Fredro had forgone the accompanying hollandaise sauce, the breast was a tad bit dry, but a sip of Chardonnay sufficed to moisten the palate for another bite. Firm, sautéed green beans and seared cakes of nutty wild rice rounded out the meal.

I'm rarely a steak eater; in fact, a year could've passed since I last ordered one, but I found myself zeroing in on Woodsmoke's buffalo strip steak offering ($22.95) while sipping from my glass of mellow Merlot. The server had recommended I order it medium, and I complied, hoping that he really meant medium rare, my preparation method of choice. Cutting into the thick strip of meat, I was rewarded with an electric pink center and a delicious gush of blood. There was so much of it that it pooled in the bottom of the plate and collected in the accompanying roasted red potatoes and the lush bed of perfectly sautéed spinach. Transferring that cut to my mouth revealed a chewy consistency, more so than for beef cooked a similar amount of time. No taste emerged that was markedly different from that of a domesticated steak, despite the presence of a promising ancho and lime glaze. All in all, the buffalo steak was a slight disappointment, but can be relegated now to the list of wild things tried.

Woodsmoke's dessert menu toned down the untamed tenor. It did include a Stilton cheese, crackers, and port option that would've served as an interestingly sophisticated postlude, but since our sweet teeth were making their wishes known, I opted to investigate the creme brulee ($4.95) while Fredro chose a blackberry cobbler ($4.95).

Once you've eaten a truly masterly creme brulee, little else can compare. Woodsmoke's version suffered from a heavy and very granular shellac. So I horned my spoon in on Fredro's dessert instead. What mine lacked in refinement, his more than made up for in sheer heavenly taste. Individually baked and served in a little crock, the lusciously tart fruit filling was topped with a sinfully butter-laden cloud of doughy pastry. A small scoop of real vanilla bean ice cream supplied the icing on the cake, so to speak.

Ultimately Woodsmoke Lodge is an interesting and fun walk on the wild side. It's just tame enough to appeal to the whitebread demographic while still pleasing to the adventurous diner—and either way, guests will leave just as stuffed as that water buffalo.