Neither its name nor its location hint that Clancy's Steak House is a place to expect the unexpected - seasoned with Cajun flair.
By CHRIS SHERMAN
Published April 29, 2004
[Times photos: Scott Keeler]
Executive chef James Allen Graham, who honed his culinary craft in Louisiana, now works his Cajun magic at Clancy’s Steak House in Clearwater.
A new item on the menu at Clancy’s is Whistling Dixie Duckling, a crispy cane-glazed roasted duck, set over Grand Marnier demi-glace, with bing cherry chutney.
CLEARWATER - At first I wasn't sure I'd heard right because of the server's accent. Although the place is called Clancy's and the chef was reportedly a Cajun fan, she sounded Eastern European.
Did she really say that the night's specials were an elk chop and quail stuffed with caribou?
Yes, she did, and proudly. The elk chop was popular, and she liked the chef's preparation that night with mushroom bread pudding and especially the Madeira sauce.
On that first night I couldn't resist caribou in quail with morels, a packaging feat that challenges Paul Prudhomme's chicken-in-duck-in-turkey, commonly called turducken. The boneless quail was nicely roasted outside, delicate inside, while the caribou was genuine game, lean black-red with the wild flavor of the forest. That means it doesn't taste like chicken; perhaps calves liver is in the right direction.
When I did try elk, the chop was perfectly done, a slim edge of fat crackling crisp and the flesh crimson, rich to the tongue and served on a pair of perfectly rendered sauces, one a dark brown demi-glace and the other a beurre blanc.
Certainly there are no caribou or elk wandering in the bayou, but game of all sorts is as prized in the Cajun kitchen as a fresh catch of catfish or crawdads. (Bobcat and nutria may be taken in season, although there's little meat on those varmints.) The game gotten there falls into backwoods cookery, not gourmet exotica. Polished saucing, however, comes from sophisticated French cuisine. So all the above, minus the truffles, is honestly within the glories of Louisiana culinary heritage.
Yet cooking of such ambition and refinement seems wildly out of place at Clancy's, which looks at first glance like the Florida version of a shot-and-a-beer plus hot-dish operation. It's at the ugly heart of Pinellas dining where the chain strips of U.S. 19 and Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard are knotted together. Clancy's took over a building once known as T Bone's that sits low in the Valley of Sam's Club and looks more bowling alley than restaurant. Inside one half is a dim sports bar and pub; the other half is 1960s dining hall: red nauga seats, silk flowers and plastic lattice.
So what?
None of it matters as much as the decision by owners Rayma and Mel Stowe to put a real chef in the kitchen, specifically James Allen Graham. He grew up in Montana, learned to cook in the Navy, had a restaurant in Brandon, fell in love with Cajun food and spent 13 years in Louisiana learning the real thing. When he returned a few months ago, he hung his apron and a slew of medals and ribbons at the mundane corner of U.S. 19 and Gulf-to-Bay.
Trust me or not, hear this warning/come-on. Tonight, this modest spot is hosting a $60 five-course wine dinner with crawfish-coconut shrimp spring rolls, duck with truffle flan, a veal Napoleon and elk Wellington. Don't go tonight without getting a reservation - or getting on the mailing list for next time.
The regular menu is almost as ambitious. It has a little Irish (lamb stew and such), steaks and oysters, but everything else has a Louisiana accent. Gumbo is dark as mud, but not quite as thick. Frying is unashamed, whether it's chunks of catfish on the lunch buffet or eggplant medallions and "boats" of seafood stuffing. And the shrimp po' boy is made the way only the city that care forgot could: fry 'em fresh and pile 'em on. A sandwich worth waiting for.
The finishing charm of Louisiana is that even the humblest foods and kitchens civilize their cooking with sauces smoothly built of butter, flour and stock, and they are here, too, in crawfish etoufee.
The only dish that failed was a rather ornate grouper, wrapped as a "turban" around a crab meat stuffing; it was saved by a rich sauce and two large shrimp beautifully fried and butterflied.
In most cases Graham adds exotic mushrooms, savory bread puddings, foie gras, sweetbreads and surprise combinations to show that culinary invention lives on. And who wouldn't smile at a brie dumpling or an eggroll Rueben? I'd just cut back on the wrapping; you'll have to try crawfish enchiladas on your own.
I was inclined to say that Clancy's suffered the usual Cajun fear of green vegetables (back in the bayou, folks would rather trap or hunt their dinner than grow row crops) until I hit the $7.95 lunch buffet. It was loaded with red beans and rice, skillet-blackened "camp" chicken and gumbo PLUS both perfect fresh beans that spent only minutes in a saute pan and smothered cabbage that had spent centuries in the pot. Give us more. (Note to self: Order creamed spinach next time.)
Bread still can stump a Louisiana kitchen, as the dinner rolls show, but the muffuletta loaf is on target; so is the tart for the corn pudding. For dessert, the bananas Foster is a classic finale; I'm glad they keep the flames in the kitchen, just toss in more bananas.
The wine list is kept largely under $25 and smartly tailored to the lively flavors (and my druthers) with more zinfandel and Rhones than cabernets, including my favorite bargain labels, R.H. Phillips syrah, Jest Red, Bogle cabs. Only a Gigondas and a prize Rosenblum zin cost more than $50.
Servers were well aware that the food was good eating at lunch and dinner and most knew why. One, though, couldn't explain the sauces or dishes beyond bragging that they were prize winners.
Now Graham is gunning for local trophies (he's in the finals of the Best Chef Tampa Bay contest), and if you are hunting for remarkable cooking, remember to look beyond fancy plates. Cajuns sure do.
-- Chris Sherman dines anonymously and unannounced. The Times pays for all expenses. A restaurant's advertising has nothing to do with selection for a review or the assessment of its quality. Chris Sherman can be reached at 727 893-8585 or sherman@sptimes.com
Clancy's Steak House
2525 Gulf-to-Bay Blvd., Clearwater
(727) 725-2692
Hours: Lunch, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday; dinner, 5 to 10 p.m., Sunday through Thursday; 5 to 11 p.m., Friday, Saturday. Pub open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. nightly
Reservations: Suggested
Details: Credit cards accepted; full bar; no smoking indoors; wheelchair accessible
Features: Live entertainment Tuesday through Saturday
