This latest venture from Michael del Pietro is not Italian like his other spots (Sugo, Babbo, Tavolo, etc.). It’s decidedly American cuisine, with an emphasis on ‘down-home cooking’ like pork chops, barbecue and fried chicken. The del Pietro formula, however, is evident in the large open dining room, well-controlled limited menu and overall reasonable prices.
A starter of sprouts ($7) was unexpected, since Brussels sprouts typically are offered as a side dish. But these roasted and quartered veggies were dotted with red pepper flakes, caramelized onions and crisped pieces of house-cured bacon. The barely softened sprouts had a distinctly barbecued esthetic, a blend of sweet, spicy, smoky and crisp. A soup of the day ($5), shrimp bisque, was more Southern in feel, a smooth puree reminiscent of she-crab soup that tasted like seafood and evaporated milk.
Don’t miss the Mussels ($10), a large bowlful of the bivalves with a unique smoky flavor. Enhanced by leeks and tomatoes and served in a chardonnay broth, the mussels had been roasted with a sprinkling of smoked paprika, and that process imparted the most wonderful flavor. The Beef Brisket Chili ($6) was similarly delicious, with chunks of fall-apart meat in a sweet, red chili.
You can’t go wrong with the BBQ Ribs ($14 or $26), if they’re as good as the ones served when we visited. These were every rib-lover’s ideal: well-trimmed and meaty, crusty on the outside, with a thin layer of sticky sauce and a thick layer of dry rub. They were tender, crisp, delicious and accompanied by baked beans and slaw. The sides themselves were a treat, too. The slaw, of the vinegar variety, had plenty of celery seed, a spice that gives coleslaw its distinctive flavor. The beans were well-softened and thickly sweet, tasting of molasses and possibly some kind of cola.
The pièce de résistance, however, is the Shrimp & Grits ($24), a plateful of grainy and slightly cheesy Anson Mills grits topped with several jumbo shrimp. It all sat in a scrumptious, buttery hot sauce reminiscent of what you’d find with hot wings. Also very good was the Half Chicken ($16), moist and tender and deliciously smoky, accompanied by sautéed greens with pieces of bacon and onion.
An entrée of Red Fish ($24) had good presentation, with two nicely browned fillets atop a bowlful of sweet corn kernels and crisped bacon, artistically crowned with fried leeks. The elements were good, but could have used stronger flavors.
Desserts are home-style: cobbler, bread pudding, root beer float and the berry cobbler with salted caramel ice-cream (Serendipity) that we ordered. It was more syrupy than fruity, with just the lightest graham cracker crumble on top.
[ amuse bouche ]
THE SCENE | Large, noisy barnhouse-style dining with barbecue and other home-style dishes
THE CHEF | Brian Steinman
THE PRICES | $7 to $10 small bites, $7 to $12 sandwich plates, $14 to $24 large plates
THE FAVORITES | BBQ Ribs, Shrimp & Grits, Mussels, Beef Brisket Chili, Half Chicken
PEDIGREE | Scottsdale Culinary Institute
FAVORITE INGREDIENT | Butter or bacon
FAVORITE RESTAURANT | The Tavern and Mai Lee
FAVORITE COOKBOOK | The French Laundry Cookbook
MOST MEMORABLE MEAL | At Le Cirque in New York, everything about it
GUILTY PLEASURE FOOD | Bacon
731 s. lindbergh blvd. | 314.738.9373
By Jonathan Carli
Photos by Bill Barrett