Expect the unexpected at Kelly's for Just About . . . Anything; whether you stop by for a meal, snack or just a libation, it's sure to be served with a side order of whimsy.
By CHRIS SHERMAN
Published November 11, 2004
[Times photo: Scott Keeler]
Kelly’s head chef Mike Webb poses in the restaurant’s outside dining area with a plate of sake and mirin poached sea bass.
DUNEDIN - Kelly's for Just About Anything doesn't have to have good food.
Just About Anything starts with the wit and whimsy that kept an old Main Street storefront not just alive but a beloved fixture that can now rightly claim to be the "heart of Dunedin" - and its hot lips. Without Kelly's, Dunedin might be one more cluster of quaintness; with Kelly's, this downtown will always have a lust for life.
After 13 years, the old lunch counter has expanded to include the sleek and funky Chic-A-Boom Room martini bar and an outdoor dining and drinking area the size of a basketball court (with major awnings). In the cast of characters are hometown owners, easy-going servers, a hard-edged prom queen mannequin and a world-class collection of salt and pepper shakers (tiny papa and mama Italian chefs on my table). The calendar includes drag queens, old folkies and the Vodkanauts.
On the menu, Kelly's "anything" includes breakfast, lunch, dinner and then some for in-between hours. Start with two eggs over easy or banana-oatbran pancakes. Lunch on Roast Beef Ridiculous (an r.b. club with corned beef). Later, stop in for loony martoonies and other afternoon delights, then come back for a $15 blueplate with soup or salad or a bleu cheese ribeye dinner, and PB&J and fries for the kids. Don't forget to sign up for drop-dead holiday dinners. And the wine list and beer list (yay!) are more eclectic than the noveltinis.
With all this who needs creative food? Indeed there have been a few times when Kelly's fun had more spice than the food.
Those times have certainly been righted now. Virgel Kelly is not just a nonstop entrepreneur but primarily a chef who loves good food and drink. Now in the kitchen is Mike Webb, who has the same adventurous palate - and an appreciation for the whole plate, including fruits and veggies.
So a recent visit turned up a fine veal chop, thick and rare enough on the inside to please me, and with a crackling crisp crust of seared mushrooms on the outside. A chutney of tart berries set off both handsomely. Don't cringe at mushrooms and berries; they're a surprisingly good, woodsy match I fix at home. Maybe they appeal to my inner hunter-gatherer.
Sea bass got a different treatment, an Asian-influenced combination of a crusted block of fish on green tea noodles in a stout-hearted sauce of mirin and sake, with julienned vegetables. The day's soup was in a similar vein but livelier, seafood in a light tomato broth tickled with curry.
Kelly's shows the same lusty wickedness in theoretically tamer fare. Basic house salad gets a peanut vinaigrette that is better than most Thai versions. Ordinary pecan pie's sinful enough; Kelly's kicks it up more than a notch with white chocolate. You gotta share this.
Just About Anything's good, often great, but not everything. Seafood cakes can be an interesting alternative to crab cakes, but Kelly's were dull stuff; they need something else - mullet, ginger, bacon, cilantro, imagination - in the mix or the salsa or both. Bread's boring and, if I may dare challenge the retro-metro stylists here, those clear glass plates and bowls were a bad idea 30 years ago.
When food looks this good, show it off. Remind folks that first-rate cooking is included in Just About Anything.
Kelly's for Just About . . . Anything
The Chic-A-Boom Room
319 E Main St.
Dunedin
(727) 736-5284
Hours: Kelly's, 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday; 8 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday; 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday; Chic-A-Boom Room, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily.
Details: Credit cards, full bar, no smoking indoors
Features: Outdoor dining, live entertainment
Prices: Breakfast, $3.19 to $7.99; appetizers, salads and sandwiches, $3.59 to $8.99; dinners, $11.99 to $21.99.
