Decor, excellent food make you feel at home at Joe Friday’s

ANNE BRALY: My first step in the door at Joe Friday’s, I was impressed. I love the look and feel of the place. It’s an old house that has been totally renovated, so you feel right at home with its welcoming front porch, fireplace surrounded by sofas and overstuffed chairs upstairs.

There’s lots to talk about where the food’s concerned too. On my only other visit, I had the chicken salad on Italian bread, and it was great. This time though, I wanted a chef salad. It was excellent on all counts, except for the cheese. I’d have preferred shredded to the little chunky-type morsels. They’re hard to get on the fork, and they didn’t have much flavor. I think they came preshedded from a bag, and I’ve found that type cheese to be rather tasteless.

HOLLY LEIBER: Oh, good, then I feel no regrets about my decision to go cheeseless on my smoked salmon salad. It just didn’t seem like a good combination. What I did end up with – a plate of mixed greens with tomatoes, walnuts, dried cranberries and thinly sliced Alaskan smoked salmon – was a tasty and satisfying (but not overfilling) lunch. The salmon had a good salty kick, though it’s no substitute for my much-missed lox in New York. And I love good nuts and fruit added to a salad, but I’m not sure I’m wild on the crushed walnuts that were on this salad. In such small pieces, they don’t really give the satisfying crunch, and the taste is overwhelmed by the other flavors. If I’m going to add the calories of nuts, I want the nut experience.