Whether catering to beachgoers or business people, two new restaurants are banking on beef.
By CHRIS SHERMAN
Published April 1, 2004
[Times photo: Ken Helle]
The Signature Room Grille in Channelside is designed to be a “big city” place with high-end decor, high-priced steaks and views of downtown.
[Times photo: Lara Cerri]
Leatherbacks serves panko-crusted salmon with lobster tail and spinach on top of lentils. The sauce is a mango ginger cream with fresh rosemary.
Can the home of Bern's and Outback and a dozen more beef palaces, chain and independent, possibly need more steakhouses?
Apparently yes. This year has already seen two large new ventures, home-grown and imported, that aim for a new generation of carnivores. Both are still taking shape and so the steak game remains wide open for improvement.
Chicago flash
Signature Room Grille enters the big-bucks corral with a big-city slick image: $35 steaks, grand piano, a skyscraper view and a Chicago accent.
The first Signature Room was installed on the 95th floor of the John Hancock in 1993, the second at Seven Bridges in the middling stretches of Dupage County, Ill.
The third is in Tampa, on top of Hooters in the neon smorgasbord of Channelside. It has valet parking, a big fireplace, wine rooms, sharp-edged deco trim and big windows. But where the Chicago locations boast Tamara de Lempicka artwork and straight-ahead jazz, the Sunbelt branch tames it down to a mural of Chicago, sepia photos of Fred Astaire and the sounds of My Fair Lady and Piano Man.
The menu does stick to the Chicago format: Prime steaks and seafood with a few contemporary tricks - a varied bread basket, corn salad with scallops, touches of cilantro and lentils and such - more than we usually see next to red meat and potatoes hereabouts.
After its first week it's already filled a number of tables with suits and drawn an active eat-at-the-bar crowd.
The food is not yet fully in place although it hit a few good notes. Clams on the half-shell are fine and portobello "frites" (four panko-crusted logs of mushroom) put on a crisp, clever show. A thick pork porterhouse pairs with red cabbage and a sun-dried cherry sauce.
Too much else doesn't work. Salads are served tableside by a cook in the slouch hat of a pizza place dispensing embarrassingly mundane carrots, cucumber and black olives. There's a smooth pear-walnut dressing but the rest has been out of date in fine restaurants for 20 years.
Several fish dishes sound appealing but the one I tried, seared corvina on a white bean ragout, was dull all the way through. This is a fish (drum) the Spanish and I like for its rich texture but it was dry and overcooked; the beans tasted no better than canned and were not improved by a few pale leaves of limp arugula. Our waiter said the chef agreed, removed the charge, gave us a free dessert and said the fish might not stay on the menu. Good idea.
The bread basket sounds good - slices of baguette, whole wheat and lavash - but all three were soft, wimpy versions of the real thing. Roasted mushrooms were flat and harsh, desperately needing jus, wine or butter. Blueberry cobbler, despite its rustic image, was more of a blueberry concentrate in a tart shell with an undercooked crust.
There is a substantial wine list, as a steak house demands, with a smart twist: You can order a flight of two-ounce samples of three wines (for $8 to $10). These are brought to the table in a clumsy three-glass wire carrier, a gimmick I'd forgo.
Chicago does have much to show us, both the toddlin' town of stiff drinks and stockyards, and the modern genius of Charlie Trotter's and Rick Bayless' Frontera Grill. I hope we can taste that Chicago.
Out on the beach
Even in the height of the season, the Pinellas coast can feel like the strand that food forgot - there's so little change, innovation or style in the cooking.
But as the silver-crested, red-breasted flocks returned this season, they noticed one fixture, the Apple of Madeira, is gone.
In its place and substantially refashioned in dusty Tuscan colors with big palm plantings is Leatherbacks Steak House. It's a new casual steak place from the folks at Sculley's, a veteran seafooder at John's Pass. Already, it has lines of folks in shorts and sunburns most nights.
No sea turtles are on the menu - just in the decor, both beautiful shells and the not-as-lovely fiberglass giants from the charity project two years ago. The tortoise shell theme is matched by arched bamboo ceilings and tropical colors.
Much is familiar beach dining but it has been updated with modern casual standards of coconut shrimp, tuna with shiitakes, mango glaze, kaffir lime butter and dulce de leche cheesecake, all with a new emphasis on presentation.
Rosemary sprigs pop up on every plate and the bread is a rustic-shaped ciabatta with a hint of rosemary, light but in the right direction. As always I'd like to see more and better vegetables (although I'm not sure most customers care).
The menu leads off with steaks. My ribeye was thick, juicy and aggressively seasoned, as I would do at home. However I should point out that for the second time in recent months servers have described Premium Hereford beef as prime beef.
The Ridgefield Farms Premium Hereford used here is a breed-specific brand, one of several which have their own standards and claims to quality, but the marketing is not the same as a USDA grade. "Premium" steaks are usually at the top end of USDA select and on occasion choice. Most choice and prime beef and Kobe or Angus brands now fetch much higher prices in restaurants (or supermarkets when you can find them).
Shrimp was better with a crab stuffing than in a combination of scallops and crawfish cream on fettuccine, which was much too heavy. Both dishes likely will improve in the next menu, when the kitchen plans to use larger shrimp (and add grouper to the fish list). I'd like them cooked on a hotter grill, too, to emphasize the freshness.
The best trimmings are the honeyed sweet potato mash and a starter of crisp panko-crusted crabcakes. Service is friendly and fast on its feet - and has to be, given the packed house.
Signature Room Grille
615 Channelside Drive, Tampa
(813) 319-8888 Hours: 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday and Tuesday through Thursday; 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Bar is open 4 p.m. to midnight. Closed Monday
Reservations: Suggested
Details: Credit cards, full bar, elevator access, no smoking
Features: Live music, private rooms, wine cellar
Prices: $21 to $45
Leatherbacks Steak House
15000 Madeira Way, Madeira Beach
(727) 399-2227 Hours: 4 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday; 4 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Reservations: For parties of 10 or more
Details: Credit cards, full bar, smoking on patio only
