"It gives me no pleasure to write this review. For years Plump Jack has been a staple for both locals and visitors to the Valley. Casual, midweek dinners in the cafe, birthdays and big events in the dining room--the food always very good, and the prices high, but not unreasonable. For well over a decade, I have happily recommended it to friends and dined there on a regular basis. What happened? Well, first, it seems, a new chef. A new chef and a new menu. The dishes now offered are either too fussy or too pared down. Cornish Game Hen? Shrimp and Grits? An $80 filet?!! Gone are the stellar burger and satisfying flatbreads. Gone are the great, healthy, seasonal offerings of salmon or lamb. And in their place, diners are left to deliberate between plates of food that offer no comfort, no joy, and no fun. So far, at the new Plump Jack, I have eaten: a lackluster baked ziti more at home at Lanza's with sausage added for an absurd additional price , a stodgy shrimp and grits where the grits shared the consistency of wallpaper paste also, why not more cohesion in the menu? This one sticks out like a sore thumb , a paper-dry pork chop, and a market salad full of rotted bits of bag-o-lettuce. Perhaps, if I weren't so turned off by the price of the filet $80 , I might have had a better dining experience. For reference, the filet at Christy Hill is still sitting at $58 and the filet at Manzanita is only $72, a steal by comparison! . Okay, so Plump Jack has made it clear they're no longer interested in serving local clientele. After all, what fire fighter or teacher in the local school district can afford these prices? It used to be that locals could dine in the bar and leave the higher priced menu items for the dining room. No longer. What's worse, is that, if the food were good, I might not balk at the prices. But the food has decreased in quality and reliability. The truth is, I've given the new Plump Jack enough opportunities to prove to me that the new menu can be a winner and the new prices are justified. At every turn it has failed. We're just going to go to Christy Hill from now on. And, if we want to get gouged for average food, we can always just go to the Ritz at Northstar. RIP old Plump Jack, RIP. Oh, and the situation is so bad I created a Yelp account simply to write this review."
