NOTESby Louisa Koeppel For Your Benefit On Saturday, February 28th, McEwen’s on Monroe will host a fixed-price dinner to benefit Hands on Memphis. This will also introduce McEwen’s “Food of the New South” cuisine. The restaurant, located at 122 Monroe, has been open for lunch for about three months, but this is the first of their evening offerings. McEwen’s plans to start regular dinner hours in March. Diners may make reservations for seating between 6:30 and 9 p.m. The dinner will include such offerings as Louisiana fried catfish, crab cakes, grillades of beef on Parmesan cheese grits, and more. Samples of various wines will be available; however, BYOB is permitted. The cost is $35 per person, with a portion of the proceeds going to Hands on Memphis, a nonprofit organization which sends out volunteers to help a variety of other nonprofits. To make reservations for the benefit, call McEwen’s at 527-7085 as soon as possible. A Signing of the Times A Taste of Memphis, a cookbook created by volunteers in Memphis to benefit food relief, will have a chef signing at Madonna Circle’s 23rd Annual Memphis Antique, Garden, and Gourmet Show. The event will be held from February 27th through March 1st in the Shelby County Building at the Mid-South Fairgrounds, and will feature participating chefs such as Memphis Hunt and Polo Club’s Vernon Baker, Lulu Grille’s Scott DeLarme, and Ciao Cucina’s Daniel Hooper, among others. Look for the cookbook in over 50 locations around Memphis, including the Rolling Pin Kitchen Emporium and participating bookstores. Chain, Chain, Chain It is the year of the chain restaurant in Memphis. It seems for every independently owned restaurant, there are half a dozen chains to match. The Simmering Pot Family Restaurant has opened in the Holiday Inn-Sycamore View. It serves breakfast and dinner and emphasizes homestyle meals made from “scratch.” Its specialty is chicken pot pie and homemade mashed potatoes. In Midtown, the long-awaited IHOP (International House of Pancakes) is finally here. Now you can curb that craving for blueberry pancakes at any time of the day or night. Located on Union between Florence and Diana, IHOP is sure to be a favorite with the late-night crowd spilling over from Overton Square. Now this is a chain I don’t mind so much. Finally, Don Pablo’s The Real Enchilada has made its Tennessee debut at 3530 Riverdale Road. The restaurant features authentic Mexican food with an emphasis on low-fat menu items and healthy alternatives to fatty foods. For more info, call 737-3259. n |
Going for a Song
#1 Beale counts on its service, its bisque, and its piano man.
by Louisa Koeppel
ey, how’s it goin’?” That was the first thing we
heard when we walked into No. 1 Beale Restaurant. It was one of those voices that
automatically tells a story. Long nights in clubs, decades of cigarettes – an aging
beatnik piano man who could play any request – but most of all, sincerity. In no less
than one step into No. 1 Beale, we felt comfortable, welcome.
No. 1 Beale has taken great care to carry off this feeling of serenity throughout t
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he restaurant. The lighting is very well put together. I counted at least eight different types of light fixtures, all reflecting various shades of amber. The tables are spaced so that one’s intimate conversation can actually be intimate, and every quarter hour beyond the wall of windows, a trolley can be seen and heard rumbling alongside. Quite charming.
The servers also take a big hand in the atmosphere at No. 1 Beale. On both of my visits to the restaurant, they were attentive, unassuming, and knowledgeable about the menu and wine list. It’s as if the servers actually want to take some sort of responsibility to ensure a pleasant evening for the customer.
On the night the piano man was there, my companion and I went for the Beale Street Hors d’Oeuvre Plate. This is a combination of all their cold appetizers, arranged around leafy greens and fresh fruit. The shrimp cocktail was fine, but didn’t do great things for me. The rest, though, was delicious. The crabmeat salad tasted extremely fresh, and not too mayonaisey, and the salmon mousse with dill cucumber sauce is a Southern woman’s dream. My favorite item, however, was Roland’s Famous Veal Pate. It was served with a tangy Dijon barbecue sauce, and the pate itself was dense and rich.
Following the appetizers, we tried the Caesar salad, and the mixed green salad. Both were fresh, and not overly dressed, but the Caesar seemed to have packaged croutons on it, a disappointing contrast to the otherwise tasty salad.
That evening, we chose to partake of the meatier side of the menu. My companion chose the stuffed pork tenderloin and I had the prime rib. The tenderloin was great. Cooked to the perfect temperature, the pork was stuffed with veal, peppers, and a hint of cognac. It was served with spaetzle, a sort of Germanic pasta that takes on the flavor of its seasonings. It has a chewy, dumpling type of texture, and was a nice change from the usual rice or potato side. The prime rib was not as exciting as the tenderloin. It was not as rare as I would have liked, and tasted more like a steak. It lacked the juicy thickness I was hoping for.
That night, we requested songs from the piano man, sipped on wine, and had an altogether fine meal. I felt good after leaving No. 1 Beale, I felt like I had a nice treat.
The second visit was almost as enjoyable, but the piano man wasn’t there. That really made a difference to me. The ambience of that little man had filled the restaurant. Barbra Streisand show tunes on the speakers just didn’t quite cut it. However, the service was just as attentive, and the evening was enjoyable.
We tried the lobster and crawfish bisque, and after one spoonful, I was in heaven. I could swim in a vat of the stuff – so rich and velvety with its hint of cognac. It was definitely the best offering that night. We also tried the very pleasantly crisp fried green tomatoes in a horseradish sauce, and the escargot. The plate of tomatoes could have been a meal in itself, but the escargot was disappointing. The richness of the sauce overloaded the snails, and was very salty. They would do better with a lighter sauce so as not to complicate the earthy flavor of the little creatures.
My companion and I shared an entree that evening, deciding on the Sea Bass Caribbean. This was a perfectly sautéed piece of fish with an interesting banana salsa. The sauce reminded me of a bananas foster, but with fish instead of whipped cream. The combination may sound odd, but the bass held up to the banana flavor and made for a quite tasty dish.
We ended the evening with a slice of Grandmother Cake, a shortbread pie filled with lemon custard and topped with pinenuts and powdered sugar. It tasted like a dry lemon square, and needed something besides the processed whipped cream that it was served with.
All in all, No. 1 Beale is a charming restaurant, and its faults are easy to overlook. The staff there seems to truly care about the atmosphere, the food, and the general feel of the restaurant. I just have one suggestion – get the piano man there every night.. n