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Sitting pretty at Perch
A glamorous dining room and imagination in the kitchen make Perch an indulgence worth the splurge.
By CHRIS SHERMAN
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 5, 2001
ST. PETERSBURG -- Downtown diners have ripped open another gift package, and this one, too, has more than pretty bows and gorgeous wrapping paper. It's about time. I'm tired of feasting with just my eyes.
[Times photos: Jamie Francis]
Chocolate profiterole with chocolate bean mousse and raspberry coulis is among the dessert offerings at Perch.
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Inside Perch, you'll find plenty of glitter and some of it is indeed gold, such as tender farm-raised conch and the pot au chocolat, which might convince you that pudding can be as wicked as ice cream.
You'll also like the intangibles of urbanity included. They start with the charm of the 1924 Ponce de Leon Hotel, one of the fountains of our youth that I am thankful did not run dry. Then there's the restoration of Ten Beach Drive underneath, a piano bar before piano bars became retro, which in St. Petersburg was into the late 1980s. It's dark, jazzy and smokin' again, as incorrect as that may be, but a reminder that the city had something of a nightlife once before.
While feeding nostalgia for past glories, Perch does something more important in setting the table of a modern city, where restaurants can be small, imaginative and independent. They won't all be as elaborate or expensive as Perch, on which owner Rob Gordon spent years and fortunes and for which patrons will drop more than $100 at dinner. Some welcome the chance to show that they can spend that much money in little ol' St. Pete, but I am more impressed that we have an original with a thoughtful taste, feel and look, whatever the price.
Perch's particular take is a Florida cuisine that is both native and glamorous, which seems out of place (or overdue) for this corner of the Tampa Bay area, but what's an imagination for?
The decor is borrowed from bits and pieces of South Beach, flashy metal and colored lights here, billowing curtains and burnished metal here, and glitz everywhere. The menu from Michael Donoho (whose kitchen serves both Perch and Ten Beach) aims to highlight Florida ingredients, especially seafood, and to give maximum current flash, from complimentary amuses bouche to elegant after-dinner drinks. In between are assemblages so artful that the filet mignons are as pretty as desserts.
And while we are far behind California and the Northwest in homegrown foods, Perch has rustled up Cedar Key clams, sour oranges, gator and spiny lobster and found a few exotics, including the conch, "Florida caviar" (now from farm-raised lumpfish, but I hope mullet roe next winter) and locally grown purple peppers. There's still ample beef and other more familiar fare, but it's a good start. Of course, I'd like more, especially local vegetables, from corn to tomatoes, and a broader range of fish; suppliers need the support and commitment of chefs (and their customers).
With this raw material the kitchen goes to great lengths fashioning garnishes, sides and sauces, from flavored waffles and Seminole wild rice to basil cream. It's an ambitious project and not yet finished judging from my visits.
While an appetizer of dill waffle with salty roe,seaweed and creme fraiche tastes grand and looks stunning, menu descriptions run to a paragraph and dinner lasts two hours, like it or not.
Feast on this Haitian-marinated porterhouse of pork at Perch.
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Not all the dishes excite or work. The namesake perch, cooked with a honey glaze, is weak in texture and bland in flavor, compared to the accompaniments of grilled greens, polenta pyramid and clam-sherry reduction; they'd be enough for me.
Duck came as an airline breast (wing attached) roasted too well and much too dry with onion crisps, pureed sweet potato and a port sauce, good stuff, but it added no interest. The real problem was the cut of duck, which cannot be seared, cooked to temperature and thus reach greater heights than a l'orange. A trustworthy waiter did warn that it might not be to our liking. I persisted and it wasn't, but the kitchen may switch to a different preparation.
Much more turned out handsomely: calamari with a crisp, clever crust of pistachios; a bouillabaisse with a light touch of chili; and a tepee of lamb chops with sweet potatoes and green beans that still had snap.
Simpler items were handsomely done, too, such as a crab and corn chowder of substance or a Caesar salad with at least passing knowledge of anchovy. Only the house-baked focaccia was weak.
In the surrounding aspects of service and wine, Perch shows style and care. The crass may call it the "class" that money buys. Me, I like not having to ask for clean silverware, and I appreciate a wine list that has affordable old-vine zinfandels as well as fine Champagnes and magnums of hot California labels.
I won't pretend Perch is economical, but it's already found a crowd that's happy to splurge, maybe two crowds, for it's drawing both green blazers from the neighboring Yacht Club and Bayshore Towers and the black jackets of a new generation desperate for a hip hangout by the bay.
Nor is it perfected, in small things and large, but that's good news to me. Perch will add lunch next week, and Ten Beach Drive has just gotten its own menu, which may be even more creative, since it will drag steakhouse fare into the new millennium.
I look forward to both, and I can't complain that Perch is too trendy. We've got a lot of catching up to do, and the future just started.
Perch
- 93 Central Ave., St. Petersburg; (727) 551-0700 Hours: 5 to 10 p.m., Sunday through Thursday; 5 to 11 p.m. Friday, Saturday. Opening for lunch in April.
- Reservations: Strongly recommended
- Credit cards: AE, D, DC, MC, V
- Details: Smoking section provided, full bar, wheelchair access good (using elevator in hotel lobby).
- Prices: Dinner entrees, $14.95 to $35.
- Special features: Outdoor seating
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