Open mouth, say 'Wow!'

PARISH — I love it when we stumble on a restaurant in the middle of nowhere — and we have a great experience.

Such was the case in Parish last week, a little four-corner town just off Interstate 81 between Watertown and Syracuse.

Candlelight Inn & Lounge opened in May. Many will remember it as the Candlelight Cottage, a dining destination for more than 40 years. New owner Eric Taetsch spent over a year remodeling and modernizing the restaurant inside and out.

And it truly is a restaurant and a lounge. The spacious lounge is to the right as you enter; the equal-sized dining room is to the left.

We began in the lounge, a sports bar of sorts with several unobtrusive flat panel TVs, a few electronic games, an electronic jukebox and tall tables with sturdy, handmade oak barstools.

At the 22-foot stainless steel bar, Lisa the seasoned barkeep was in command, offering a dozen beers on tap and two dozen by the bottle, a decent selection of wines and all your favorite spirits including several signature drinks.

While we didn't try the Candlelight Pale Ale, we couldn't pass up a Parish Hilton, made with red apple and ginger-flavored Absolut Brooklyn vodka, cranberry juice and a splash of ginger ale. A great, refreshing summertime drink.

Before heading to the main dining room, we looked over the menu. On the lighter side there are appetizers, soups and salads, burgers, sandwiches and wraps. Perfect for the pub feel of the lounge, we thought.

Under entrées, choose from steaks, prime rib, jumbo shrimp, fresh haddock, sea scallops, several chicken dishes and several pasta dishes.

We took our drinks and headed to the dining room, which was brimming with business. The dining room is modern and bright, and thankfully air conditioned the hot summer night we were there.

We began our evening with crab and artichoke dip ($7.99) served with herbed crostini. The dip had a creamy texture and a mild crab flavor, with chunks of artichoke and a smattering of spinach mixed together with cream cheese. It was topped off with some bubbly melted Monterey Jack cheese. De-lish.

If you put your name on something, it'd darn well better be good. Chef Karl's bruschetta ($5.99) was better than good — it was outstanding: plum tomatoes, a bit of green bell pepper, scallions and garlic marinated in olive oil and served atop grilled crusty bread. A sprinkle of fresh Parm completed this nicely presented plate.

We also enjoyed a large crock of French onion soup ($4.99). The stock had a mild but complex flavor that complemented the onions. It was finished with croutons and gooey melted provolone cheese.

A basket with a loaf of warm French bread was served with parsley-flavored butter.

We had fun "custom ordering" our salads. Our young and very competent waitress, Jennafer, handed us a small, printed order check sheet. You got to choose your own lettuce: iceberg, romaine or mesclun; and your own "fixin's": tomatoes, onions, olives, baby carrots, broccoli, croutons and much more; and dressings: Italian, French, blue cheese, balsamic, yada, yada, yada.

What a great way to get exactly what you want without having to raffle off your onions to a chump across the table — and to ensure a salad made on-the-spot fresh.

And, by the way, they were very, very good.

If you didn't want a salad, soup-of-the-day was an option. Tucsan chicken and rice was definitely homemade, with lots of chicken and rice along with celery, green pepper and red pepper in a tasty chicken stock.

Chicken Marsala ($13.99) was a large portion of tender chicken breast sautéed with fresh mushrooms and finished with a very rich Marsala wine sauce — the best we've had in quite some time. This dish came with wild rice and fresh-cooked green beans, yellow beans and carrots with a dash of seasoning.

The grilled frenched pork chop ($14.99) consisted of a juicy, marinated 9-ounce chop with thinly sliced caramelized onions on top and cinnamon-baked apple slices on the side. Crispy, tasty "seasoned fries" accompanied. This is the way a pork chop should be prepared.

Seafood scampi ($19.95) was loaded with good-sized shrimp that popped in your mouth, sweet scallops and a generous amount of shredded crabmeat swimming in a soupy sauce of butter, wine, olive oil and garlic tossed with penne. This was one yummy dish, with lots left over to take home for another meal the next day.

If the scampi preparation is not to your liking, they'll also do it up Alfredo or marinara-style for you, and with the pasta of your choice.

One of the pasta dishes offered is chicken and shrimp riggies ($16.99), strips of grilled chicken and the same great shrimp that came with the scampi dish tossed with ricotta-stuffed rigatoni in a rich tomato-basil cream sauce.

But they forgot one thing. They forgot to tell you that the sauce is hot — spicy hot. VERY HOT. Really, hot enough to make you quickly look for your water glass to make sure Jennafer had refilled it along the way (which she did) or get your cell phone ready to call 911.

It was certainly good and we'd get it again, but we'd ask the kitchen to tone down the heat, at least for our liking.

Desserts were a minor disappointment, only because they were not homemade but came from a restaurant supplier. Jennafer thought there might have been homemade apple crisp available, but upon checking, found that it had sold out at lunchtime.

We were too full, anyway (but would have found room for apple crisp). So we took two Alpine berry flans and a Snickers pie to go. They were just OK, what you'd expect from a commercially made dessert.

Dinner for four — two appetizers, French onion soup, four entrées and three desserts — came to $107 before tip.

Jennafer was friendly and knowledgeable, but also cool and calm in the middle of an unexpected evening rush. The food came out in timely fashion. When we asked for extra napkins, she was right there with them. The only minor glitch was that she didn't know who got what at entrée time, for which she apologized.

There's something special going on here at The Candlelight. The food is well prepared (kudos to Chef Karl Lawton), the staff is well trained, and the place has a nice down-home feel to it.

Besides good food and grog, they offer classic car night on Tuesdays, open mic on Thursdays and live music every Saturday. We assume the music takes place in the lounge, which is totally separate from the dining room.

They've got an informative website (www.thecandlelightbar.com) where you'll find a link to their popular Facebook page.

You can contact restaurant reviewer Walter Siebel via e-mail: wsiebel@wdt.net.

The Candlelight Restaurant & Lounge

380 S. Railroad St.

Parish, N.Y.

625-4005

A new restaurant and lounge serving steaks, prime rib chicken, shrimp, haddock, scallops and pasta. Casual fare, too: appetizers, soups and salads, burgers, sandwiches and wraps.

HOURS: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday

11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday

Noon to 8 p.m. Sunday

APPETIZER PICKS: Crab and artichoke dip; Chef Karl's bruschetta

ENTRÉE PICKS: Chicken Marsala; seafood scampi

RATING: 4-1/2 forks