|
Slow shift from old wave to new
[Times photos: Jim Damaske]
Grillmarks executive chef Eric Lackey, brandishing a blue martini and a lollipop pork chop dish, has helped modernize the old family restaurant. |
By CHRIS SHERMAN, Times Food Critic
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 17, 2002
Using time and care, family-run Grillmarks is successfully updating its menu and image as son Nick Pappas takes over from father George.
|
 |
LARGO -- Athens wasn't built in a day, and even the more modest project of updating a classic Greek family restaurant into a temple of retro-deco posters and neo-neo cooking takes awhile.
But after two years, the transition from George Pappas' Largo landmark to son Nick's new wave Grillmarks is almost complete, giving mid Pinellas a needed jolt of the espresso generation.
With chef Eric Lackey, formerly of the Grill at Feather Sound, in charge, walking that middle line is not boring. Jarring, maybe. Come before 7 p.m. and modern diners may wonder if they are in the right spot; look at the starry-eyed menu and you might wonder if the rest of the crowd got it wrong. Where Grillmarks has succeeded is that it appears to have made peace with some old regulars and begun to win new fans in a league with higher style -- and prices.
Early birds still can get meat loaf, Greek salads and, at lunch, spanakopita pastry filled with good ol' cheesy spinach. But blue crab cakes come with a tint of blue Curacao for an edge of late-night attitude. Style has gone from blue plate to cobalt, and modern presentation can turn even that meat loaf into Tall Food -- or occasion for an eye-poking herb sprig.
Pappas’ Grillmarks in Largo serves a center cut pork chop with a brandy apricot glaze, Granny Smith apple slice and melted brie.
|
Ultimately, the flavors are familiar. The pork chop is dolled up as a lollipop cut topped with a tart apple slice, melted brie and apricot marmalade. That's not the Iowa farmhouse recipe, but it's warm and friendly nonetheless, especially with honey smashed yams.
Seared tuna sashimi, salmon with fruit salsa, chicken with portobello, coconut shrimps and chocolate martinis are new to this neighborhood, but they're basics of modern menus.
Other staples get upgrades, with better beef, oak-fired grilling, demiglazes, champagne creams and trimmings of sundried tomatoes, wild mushrooms and Asian slaws. A good helping of fresh rosemary, for instance, significantly perks up lentil soup.
Pappas' Grillmarks has renovated the family restaurant in more important and basic ways. Crusty bread comes with olive oil. The wine list is short but offers plenty of alternatives to chardonnay and cabernet, staying close to $25 and under. The restaurant also has a sample tasting of its list on Tuesday nights (steal this idea!). Best of all, servers are proud and well-trained, quick to correct errors, hip to new food and kitchen techniques, yet maintain a diner-friendly attitude.
I'm eager to see Grillmarks do more to show off its roots in heartwarming Greek cooking and give new class and freshness to what may be America's secret favorite cuisine. A stack of portobello mushrooms with feta and roasted eggplant might have done it, except the chewy eggplant made me yearn for the comfort of moussaka. French fries with oregano is a better bite of Greek flavor and fun.
Pappas has made good at modernizing the old family restaurant and updating a tired streetscape with flavor that's more than middle of the road.
Pappas' Grillmarks
607 N. Clearwater-Largo Road; (727) 584-6235. Lunch, $6.50 to $14; dinner, $7 to $23. Full bar.
Back to Weekend
© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111
|
