The value entrée, from my perspective, was a grilled-cheese sandwich ($9), despite being more George Foreman than the greasy pressed sandwiches of my own nostalgia (although it did come with spinach and tomato). You get a side order, and if you pick tater tots, you get almost as many as I had to share with my two sisters in the old days, all to yourself.
On to the pizza. A pie named "Popeye" could have seafood (this one doesn't), but has to have spinach (this one does). Five Horses adds arugula (not all chefs are aware the arugula loses its bite when baked), goat-cheese mozzarella (which melts granular as any soft goat cheese), and olives. There is a wisp of tomato sauce, and probably some olive oil. Popeye was a crusty sailor man, and this thin-crust pizza does him reasonably proud.
At the time of our visit, Five Horses had no desserts. Our server said they were thinking about them, but didn't want to start with anything too complicated. Desserts too complicated? Well, the beer list takes a lot of thinking, I suppose. And they have decent wines and a few cocktails — I find the current beverage programs a lot to review; they must be even more time-consuming to plan and assemble. But this location on the wrong side of Davis Square, which has killed a few very decent restaurants, isn't close to a dessert specialist. High-craft beers have enough sweetness and carbs to be a kind of dessert, so maybe a beer bar doesn't need desserts. We'll have to go back and check, and given the multitude of rotating taps and many, many bottles from which to choose, there is motive to revisit.
The space is also somewhat a work in progress, offering several kinds of seating on two levels. Sound design is presently loud everywhere, and our server alluded to wanting to tune that to have some quiet spaces. Aspiring to be a neighborhood hangout, one has to consider that some percentage of the neighbors likes to chat when they go out.
The décor is modernized from the previous Sagra, with a very amusing mock-chandelier made out of beer-tap handles out front. There's all kinds of potential here — my thought for food would be to strengthen the middle of the order. The chef likes to fry, so why not fish and chips? A vegan pad Thai entrée is cute, but Davis Square is loaded with ethnic restaurants and comfort food. Keep hitting that low price point with familiar dishes, and you could sell a lot of premium microbrew.
Meanwhile, the column expresses sympathy for all sports bars in the bind of a Red Sox collapse and basketball lockout. Keep the faith — hockey starts in a week.
Robert Nadeau can be reached at robtnadeau@aol.com.
