Winchester, VA
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
My daughter and I had lunch on Monday, November 16, 2015, in the American Classic Bar & Grill at 419 Gateway Drive, Suite 1, Winchester, Virginia. This location is in the Gateway Plaza Shopping Center, off Route 7 just east of I-81 Exit 315.
Hours are Sunday-Thursday, 11:00 AM-11:00 PM; Friday & Saturday, 11:00 AM-1:00 AM. The telephone number is (540) 773-3095. Carryout service is available.
Four sidewalk tables are behind a colorful rope barricade. The entrance in the center has a vestibule, and opens into a single large room. The floor has large, light-colored vinyl tiles and the ceiling is dark corrugated metal.
Large, round HVAC ducts are suspended below and meander around under it, and their silver color’s contrast is not unpleasant. The room has only front windows, but they and the interior lighting make for a pleasant venue.
The left wall is red brick; the right wall is painted a color which some may call red and others, a dark shade of pink. The bar in the rear of the room repeats this color, and has perhaps eight stools.
Seating has booths along both side walls and tables elsewhere in the room. There are seven TV screens; the largest is behind the bar. Each side wall has two large screens and a smaller screen in its front corner. Our server was Nicole, who told us that the American Classic had been open for about a month.
The laminated single-sheet double-sided menu’s main categories are Appetizers, Sandwiches, Salads, Soups (including a Beer Cheese Soup!), Entrées, Kid’s Menu, Desserts, Beverages, and Sides. Free refills are only for coffee, iced tea, and soda.
My daughter ordered a draft Sam Adams and Reuben sandwich, which came with cole slaw; she liked it. I had a Mr. Pibb with a grilled ham and cheese sandwich on rye, which came with French fries. Each sandwich was accompanied by a pickle spear. My sandwich was good, but the fries were unlike any I had seen previously.
Nicole told me that they were called ‘Sidewinders’; visualize a large, thick, really twisted potato chip. The restaurant buys the raw potatoes already sliced this way, and deep fries them. Both of us ate several, but saved the rest to take home. We didn’t have dessert.
The original eatery at this location was Foster’s Grille, which opened early in January 2007. The Real McCoy’s Bar & Grill took over the suite in the summer of 2012. Both of these establishments were sports-oriented; in fact, Foster’s had the body shell of a full-size NASCAR racer, mounted upside down on the center of the ceiling.
— Perry Crabill