Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Yesterday Paul and I dropped in to lunch at the Fillmore Pub.
This one has been almost a year in the making. We saw the first "coming soon" signs go up before Christmas of last year. It takes notoriously long to get an alcoholic beverages permit in Plano, and I suspect that was part of the delay. Once they started renovating the space it didn't take long.
The pub is located in an old pharmacy in historic downtown Plano. The exterior of the building has a Tudor motif, and after the drugstore closed down several years ago we thought it would be an ideal location for a pub or restaurant. Not that we had the means to do anything like that ourselves!
The name Fillmore is not as obvious as you might think. Fillmore is the original name for Plano. Back when the city was a dot on the prairie, some town leaders decided to try for a Post Office. In those days the town had to have a unique name within a state. The decision was made to name the town Fillmore, after Millard Fillmore, the president at the time. The Post Office told them that another town in Texas had chosen that name, so they'd have to come up with something else. So the men looked out over the fields and one said to the other, "Plano kinda sounds like Spanish for 'plain,' doesn't it?" The Post Office accepted that. (The word is actually llano.) There are two streets - Millard and Fillmore - in town, and that's about all that remains of that bit of town history.
This was our second visit to the Fillmore. Now when you think of a pub you might think of a smoke-filled bar. Not so here. The Fillmore was opened after the smoking ordinance was passed, so there is no smoking inside. They were packed for lunch and in case you're curious, several people were drinking water or iced tea.
Beer? Well, it wouldn't be a pub without beer. My only complaint is that the Guinness is just a tad cold. But other than that, they know how to pull a pint. In fact, the owners really know their brews, which was evidenced by a chat with one of them yesterday.
If you don't drink beer, there's the food. Due to some convoluted beverage laws in Texas, it is in the best interests of a restaurant to have more than half of their sales as food. I think it may be 60%, but don't quote me on that. They can actually lose their beverage license. This forces places like this to cater more to families. And those that prefer a more adult clientèle will work hard on their food.
The Fillmore has a "half pint" menu for the kids, plus a decent selection of sandwiches and burgers. The star attraction, however, is the fish and chips. We're told they spent a lot of time perfecting the batter. It's crisp without being too thick and the fish is tender and flavorful. They also do a good Irish stew. I want to try their cheese tray on a future visit.
I'm glad to see a new restaurant open downtown - especially a pub. You must think I'm a lush. I'm not. I suppose it's the Anglophile in me, but I love the atmosphere of pubs. The owners (at least at the pubs around here) are hands-on folks who love to talk with their customers. You don't have to be into beer to appreciate that.
Thumbs up for the Fillmore!
Tags: Fillmore Pub