The Hound

After eating at a relatively new restaurant at lunch one day, we thought how neat it would be to eat at every restaurant in Auburn.  Then, we thought it would be fun to share our experiences with others and this blog was born.  

The Hound is located just off South College in downtown Auburn, behind CheeBurger, CheeBurger. They describe their menu as “over-the-top American” and indicate that they source their produce and meat locally which is important to us.

Individual tables and large tables for communal eating are available

Scanning the menu for items not meat-centric, as we frequently will, we found that The Hound offers several interesting salads – Roasted Beet and Gem Salad are two that looked very appealing and weren’t based on boring iceberg lettuce. The soup of the day was creamy minestrone, which Anne ordered with her half-sandwich, the Off the Hook catch of the day, Mahi-Mahi. The server returned to explain that the lunch special was Soup and Salad or Salad and Half-Sandwich and the sandwich selection didn’t include the Off the Hook, so she changed her order to the Off the Hook sandwich and house salad. "The Mahi-Mahi sandwich was ok but nothing to write home about," Anne mused. "The ciabatta bread was a bit too crispy for my taste and the fish seasoning was a bit bland. The house salad however was better than many with a good mix of lettuces, tomatoes, carrots and cucumbers. I should have ordered the dressing on the side however since they used more than I would have."

Mahi-Mahi sandwich and house salad

I eyed the Roasted Beet Salad but got distracted by the Veggie Burger, made of beets, mushrooms, black beans, and quinoa, and of course I couldn’t pass up the hand-cut shoestring fries. Anne always agrees to eat some of them to reduce my calorie intake, but her willpower is better than mine and she often stops after one or two. The veggie burger was unlike any I’ve had and that’s saying a lot. The beets gave it the appearance of a rare beef burger, and it was somewhat loosely formed (not over-processed, in other words) with whole black beans still visible. It was quite tasty, served with lettuce, tomato, onion, and mayonnaise, and the fries were crispy and light.

Veggie burger and hand-cut shoestring fries

The Hound is a meat-lovers establishment – pork rinds, sausage samplers, and meatloaf sandwiches head off the selections - so we were duly impressed at the other available options. Our server was attentive but the food delivery was a little slow. If we had not been on our lunch hours, we would have passed the time with one or two of their well-varied international selection of beers on tap.

We like The Hound (the name reads BLOODHOUND AUBURN on our bank statements, and we much prefer the name without blood in it). Though decorated outside our tastes, with antlers, skins, and bullets, the atmosphere is for the most part in keeping with the food, and certainly was well-kept and clean. We give The Hound ***2.5 tiger stripes  (out of four)***.

Visit the Hound's website at  http://thehound-auburn.com/