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Restaurant review

Chic style arrives in suburbs

Miami glamor comes to a new Carrollwood hot spot that's all about high design and good taste. Too bad we can't show you.

By LAURA REILEY
Published May 3, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Keri Wiginton] The modern, streamlined exterior of Grille One Sixteen, on N Dale Mabry Highway, gives way to a sleek, aggressively chic interior.

CARROLLWOOD -- It's a squat white cube, untroubled by windows or other fripperies, its sign in simple block letters: Grille One Sixteen. The exterior gives nothing away no listing of hours, no "enter here" guidance and, initially, neither does the interior.

It's dark. Cave dark.

Once your eyes adjust, a gorgeous wine cellar reveals itself to your right, with seating for 16 among the lustrous wooden racking system. To the left, a large dining room opens up, aggressively chic in juxtapositions of natural stones and woods with sleek black-and-white fabrics and accoutrements.

The first-timers pause here, the thought bubble almost visible: "How did they airlift this restaurant from Miami to Carrollwood?"

Grille One Sixteen, which opened in February, is foremost about style. Convinced of its drop-dead glamor, co-owner Terence Terenzi and partners are trying to heighten the drama: For our review, no interior pictures were allowed. For a peek inside, you have to go on your own.

That doesn't mean we can't describe it, though. Two circular rooms-within-rooms function as private dining spaces, heavy swaths of white curtain at the ready to shield prying eyes. A row of booths has padded, plush white leatherette walls - shades of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but also very stylish.

In the center of the room, square four-tops and larger rounds sprawl around a central lounge area, its chocolate leather upholstery gleaming and pristine. There are no tables for two in the whole place, a signal that intimate dinners a deux aren't the point.

Above, cylinders of etched glass create pendant lamps reminiscent of Dale Chihuly jellyfish shapes.

House music pulses; waiters scoot around in modish all-black; an elegant, long bar is packed with the glamorous or, at least, fashion-intrepid. Nowhere else in Carrollwood can you expect to see someone wearing thigh-high leopard skin boots.

So is the food as chic as the decor?

Mostly it measures up.

Chef James Maita has a strong New American palette with a world-beat sense of play.

Dinner starts with a loaf of pretzel-dough bread paired with garlicky herb butter, a couple of balsamic-marinated cipollini onions and two kinds of olives. This vaguely Italian beginning suits a first course of artfully fanned carpaccio ($14), excellent-quality raw filet, paper-thin, providing a medium for capers, sweet caramelized onions, a pile of peppery chopped arugula and shaves of pecorino. Heap it all on toasts and the carnivore will have no regrets.

This goes well with a sophisticated Caesar salad ($8), long lengths of romaine with a spunky, anchovy-intensive dressing.

Less successful is the 116 signature salad ($9), in which too many ingredients - almonds, bacon, hearts of palm, long curls of carrot and beet, etc. - steal each other's thunder. Also too much dressing, too sweet.

Grilled Walkers Wood shrimp ($11) and the tuna tartare tower ($12) are both keeper starters. The former is a generous row of perfectly cooked shrimp resting in a pool of buttery, spicy, lemony sauce (a pile of what I think was mashed plantain seemed unnecessary). The latter brings an architectural stack of delicate fried wonton skins sandwiching jewel-tone diced tuna dabbed with sweet chili sauce.

An 8-ounce filet mignon ($28) was absolutely stunning, and when was the last time you said that? Perfectly medium rare, nicely charred on the outside with a rosy, juicy middle. It was advertised as coming solo but arrived with a tangle of caramelized onion and a small dome of sweet potato puree. The horseradish bearnaise sauce ($2) as an accompaniment was a good move, with its buttery texture and kicky-hot flavor. A side of tater tots ($6) lacked the archetypal Ore-Ida Tater Tots' satisfying crunch.

Another show-stealer were the pan-seared sea scallops ($25) girdled with prosciutto and atop creamy grits with a sweet corn relish - a study in complementary textures and flavors.

Organic pork tenderloin medallions (a bargain at $19) were also a hit, paired with mashed sweet potatoes and a delicious apple-cranberry compote.

One order of doughnuts ($8) prompted simultaneous caloric guilt in five tablemates. Generously portioned, four big house-made doughnuts are each drizzled with a different sauce: dark chocolate, caramel, white chocolate and a sweet raspberry coulis. Awesome.

Another night, the warm peanut butter s'more ($8) mostly elicited head-scratching. The huge marshmallow fluff-topped terrine gave way to a sludgy stew of vanilla ice cream, Reese's cups and graham cracker.

Still, a couple of bobbles are to be expected in such a young restaurant. A broad and fairly priced wine list, ambitious service standards and resoundingly stunning decor make me hopeful that One Sixteen is a winning number.

Laura Reiley dines anonymously and unannounced. The St. Petersburg Times pays all expenses. A restaurant's advertising has nothing to do with selection for review or the assessment. Reiley can be reached at (727) 892-2293 or lreiley@sptimes.com.

Grille One Sixteen

15405 N Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa.

(813) 265-0116

Cuisine: New American

Hours: 5 p.m. to midnight nightly

Details: American Express, Visa, MasterCard; reservations suggested; full bar

Prices: Dinner entrees $18-$39

[Last modified May 2, 2007, 19:25:53]