The Hungry Foodie: Vera Mae's Bistro Suffers

Rating: 3 years ago I would have rated it 10 out of 10; today it has to be an 8 out of 10. Still worth the trip, for sure.

Address: 207-209 S Walnut St

Phone: (765)747-4941

Website: http://www.veramaes.com/

I want to say something wonderful about Vera Mae's. But it's difficult to do that after our last dinner there.

Vera Mae's Bistro is-was-the pinnacle of culinary delight in Muncie until last year. The first and subsequent times we have gone the food has been incredible. Every bite of steak melting in your mouth; a cornucopia of flavor bursting from the meat. The sides and the appetizers have all been superb. One example of the incredible cooking ability of the chef(s) there is that I tried the asparagus once. And I loved it. Okay. I am to loathe asparagus. The compliment is that I could stomach the flavor. The chef was masterful in altering the strong flavor of such a rancid vegetable. My hat went off to that chef.

However, after about half a dozen visits in a matter of three years, we didn't go for about two years. When we decided to have our anniversary dinner there recently, we were shocked. The steak I had was tender, but nothing like the tender, easy-to-cut-with-a-butter-knife, melt in your mouth steak with which I had fallen in love so many other times. This one, as I said, was tender, but it lacked...love. One could tell before that the chef or chefs took tremendous pride in their preparation of out meals each of the previous times. This time, it was just high quality steak cooked to medium-well and plopped on the plate.

One must realize that one goes to Vera Mae's for the atmosphere as much as the food. And to bite into a juicy looking steak, as you have so many other times, only to get a regular old steak I could have easily cooked to that tenderness at home was a letdown. The atmosphere blown. My wife felt the same way about her Chicken de Santa Maria. Compared to other restaurants it was still heads above the rest, but compared to the times we'd been before, it was lackluster.

What had not changed was the fantastic service you get from the second you step in the door and the hors d'oeuvres. The service as usual is nothing less than stellar; well beyond the service at every other restraint I've been to in this area. The owners train their wait staff very well and it is what saved our last dinner meal there. The appetizers, in particularly the Hot Crab and Artichoke Dip, is sensational, a burst of seafood and artichoke with a hint of mild spice in each bite certainly does well to awaken the palate-which probably shouldn't have been awakened this particular time.

My review, I know, is itself lackluster. Remembering that so-so meal has depressed me somewhat. I can't say if the owners got themselves a new cook or not (I am an anonymous critic after all; asking would risk blowing my cover), but something happened that decreased the perfection that used to be Vera Mae's Bistro.