KIN
740 McClelland Dr.
Windsor
(707) 837-7546
American comfort food
Lunch and dinner daily
Entrées: $14-$25
Good wine list
When owners Brad Barmore and JC Adams opened KIN on Windsor’s Town Green last summer, they set out to create a fun and family friendly destination. The place has something for everyone, including a casual bar area with high tables and a long bar, a dining room and an extensive patio for the warmer months. The kids’ menu is a kick, too, since it’s folded into an origami fortune teller (also called a “cootie catcher”) where you can flip open its different sections to see the choices.
The seasonally changing menu is a combined effort of several staff members’ family recipes and has all sorts of choices for appetizers, salads, sandwiches, artisan pizzas and entrées. There’s also an extensive beer list, including eight on tap. Racer 5 and Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noir started us off just fine, along with steamed PEI mussels that were plump and fresh in a rich broth of beer, goat cheese, plenty of garlic, onion, shaved shallots and butter, accompanied by grilled bread slices that were great for dipping. The sweet potato tater tots were small and crisp, served with house made ketchup. Our friendly server, Mary, also suggested mustard. We tried both, and the ketchup won over, although the tots were great without sauce, too.
Bartender Adam’s New England-style clam chowder was rustic and rich, with lots of clams, herbs, bacon, not too many potatoes (yay!) and a bit of a smoky flavor. The spinach and sweet beet salad was entrée-sized with lots of red and gold, bite-sized beets, sweet and crunchy candied walnuts, red onions and crumbled Pt. Reyes blue cheese with balsamic vinaigrette.
We didn’t try a pizza but it was a popular item among many tables surrounding us. One is called “Mac Daddy” and has homemade macaroni and cheese topped with breadcrumbs and smoked bacon. Wow.
An entrée called “Dinosaur Bones” was a must try. It had two huge, spice-rubbed beef ribs that were beer braised and grilled with sassy house made barbecue sauce (sweet, spicy, tangy) and a pile of sweet potato fries on top. The meat was tender and the fries were crisp. I was told my ribs were on the larger side, but even if they were only half the size I saw, it would still have been plenty of food. The portions here are large.
The roasted salmon with blood orange salsa (bright color and flavor) was a treat, roasted to perfection with lemon thyme butter and accompanied with Brussels sprouts and stick-to-your-ribs creamy risotto.
For dessert, we had baked hot chocolate, which is a flourless chocolate cake baked just until molten with toasted marshmallows on top, served very hot and, had Mary not told us, we’d never have known this rich, gooey dish was gluten-free.
