Yummy or crummy?
If you are 21 or older, odds are you have had a Bunyan’s Bomber. If you are not 21, you’ve at least heard of one. In Vermillion, they are relatively famous, but that’s all Bunyan’s had that was ever really worth going there for.
Although they did have a menu with an abundance of classic American bar food, the venue itself wasn’t very appealing. I’m not even sure they had real plates.
Bunyans has attached a new restaurant building, and I had the utmost curiosity to try out this restaurant and was pleasantly surprised.
I ventured in with my parents on a Saturday afternoon before a basketball game. We were welcomed in a timely manner by a nice waitress. We ordered deep fried pickles and jalapeno poppers for appetizers. Deep fried pickles are my favorite unhealthy food to cheat with, especially the spears (no offense to B-dubs pickle chips). Although I will admit, I have had better fried pickle spears elsewhere, I would definitely eat Bunyan’s again and again. They were delicious.
As for the jalapeno poppers, they were the same ones you can order at just about any good bar. The only way these poppers aren’t mouthwatering are if they are overcooked, which ours were not.
Without much wait, we all soon received our entreés. My parents each ordered classic cheeseburgers and shared a plate of fries while I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich.
While there was nothing particularly special about the fries, my dad, a Vermillion native, said his cheeseburgers rivaled Leo’s, which are his favorite. My stepmother didn’t quite agree, but she did admit the food was surprisingly good.
Now for my grilled chicken sandwich, it was hands-down awesome. Chicken is always my go-to option because I don’t like fish or burgers. The problem with grilled chicken in bars is it can easily go wrong by being too dry or just plain bland. Not at Bunyan’s, though. My chicken was nice and juicy in a simple way. There wasn’t much seasoning — it was a good piece of chicken cooked just right.
It was almost too juicy. I can’t believe I’m saying that, but it did leave the last bites of my bun a little soaked. I would rather have the soaked bun and the juicy chicken over a dry chicken and bun any day.
The one downside to our visit though was the service after we got our food. We did have a basketball game to get to and we arrived at Bunyan’s with a good window of time. Unfortunately, we were still pressed for time because it took our waitress quite a while to get back to us with the check. If it had been busier, I would have understood, but there were only two other tables in the restaurant at the time.
After we got the check, my dad put down his card and we waited for a while, expecting the waitress to come around for it. After a while, we realized she wasn’t going to come check on us so we just went up to the bar to close the tab. Not that doing so would have bothered me, but I would have appreciated it being mentioned.
Despite the little misunderstanding near the end of our meal, we all left happy, full and satisfied. I even came back later with friends for bombers. To my surprise, when I walked in the door, they had a game of beanbags going on inside. Needless to say, I eventually joined in the fun.
Building a new venue is the best thing Bunyan’s could have done for their business in my opinion. It might have been just as delicious and fun before, but you wouldn’t have known it. Now my roommates and I go to Bunyan’s all the time for food, fun and bombers, and I would recommend it to anyone who asks to do the same.
