The Point About DemiEpicurious
BY WES MARSHALL
September 13, 2002:
DemiEpicurious
311 W. Sixth, 478-2200
Lunch: Monday-Friday, 11am-2pm; Bar: Monday-Saturday, 4pm; Dinner:
Monday-Saturday, 5:30-11pm
www.demiepicurious.com
*Go to the kitchen to shake the Chef's hand. If he is thin, have
second thoughts about eating there; if he is thin and sad, flee.* --
Fernand Point
I found this quote on the DemiEpicurious Web site. Fernand Point
(1879-1955) was one of the great French chefs and teacher to such
star cooks as Paul Bocuse, Alain Chapel, and Jean and Pierre
Troigros. I'm sure that the main reason the Demi folks chose Point
was because, like its proprietors, Executive Chef Robert Barker and
Operations Director Don Rhode, Point was a sizable man accustomed to
the pleasures of the table. Interestingly, and I assume unbeknownst
to the powers at Demi, several of Point's other culinary philosophies
are a perfect fit for the restaurant.
*Success is the sum of a lot of small things done correctly.*
Demi's location was once the home of Caruso's, Sasha's, Sfuzzi, and
most recently Sardine Rouge. When you first walk through the door,
the familiar bar area has a few new pieces of art, but, thankfully,
it hasn't changed all that much. We ordered ice-cold Manhattans
($5.50). The friendly bartenders knew exactly what they were doing
and made generous drinks.
All vestiges of the old décor melt away when you walk into the dining
room. The whole area is now open, with beautiful artwork created from
jumbles of micromesh steel. Two steel pyramids in the center of t*he
room do double duty as art and a place to stage the servings. There
are two big, inventive chandeliers, hanging from the ceiling and
draped with glass beads. One big change: Sardine Rouge's custom art
glass wall is gone, which allows the bustle of the city to show
through. Tables have room between them, which makes getting in and
out easier and assures that your neighbors are far enough away that
you won't have to whisper intimacies. Those neighboring tables might
have multiply pierced 25-year-olds in jeans or 75-year-old women in
their Sunday best. Everyone is welcome.
The general feel is happy, warm, and fun. Customers that are enjoying
themselves make a certain kind of buzz. That's what you hear in the
Demi dining room. Never too loud, the conversation is more like good
background music. The seamless service is professional in an
invisible way. And it's not just the customers that seem happy.
Waitstaff, food folks, bartenders, everyone. The team works together
like a finely tuned symphony orchestra whose musicians had played
together for years. You can tell that they had been through rigorous
training and had a leader that was picky about getting everything
right. But just like good musicians, they were so well practiced that
they could have fun. Of course, without good food and wine, none of
this would matter.
*It is the sauce that distinguishes a good chef. The saucier is a
soloist in the orchestra of a great kitchen.*
The concept behind Demi is simple. If you have two or more diners at
a table, the dishes come set up for sharing. An appetizer, salad, and
main dish split between two people would be enough for a meal.
Fortunately, the prices and the staff's willingness to package up
your leftovers allow you to go ahead and try more than you need.
Which is what we did.
On our first visit, it took 25 minutes to get our first course. There
were three large parties in the restaurant, and the workers in the
open kitchen were like an ant mound in the rain trying to get all
their plates out at the same time. Even with the bustle, the sous
chef was standing at the outer edge of the open kitchen, examining
every plate to make sure it was perfect. The obvious attention to
small details, along with the ability to watch the show in the
kitchen kept us occupied and made the wait worthwhile.
We started off with Hazelnut Dusted Calamari ($9.50) in a little bed
of ancho-chile-tomato sauce surrounded by cilantro-infused oil and
topped with shaved Pecorino Romano cheese. Pornographically rich and
delicious, the squid was tender, and the hazelnut batter was just as
lush as it sounds. Next up, the Steamed Mussel Pot ($12) was a
generous portion of very tiny mussels swimming in broth with an
overpowering herbal aroma and chunks of chorizo floating through.
Manager Sally Stride was wandering the floor offering wine
suggestions, so I asked her advice. She made two brilliant
recommendations: The Kairanga Chardonnay from New Zealand ($8.50) for
the calamari and a glass of Veuve Clicquot Champagne ($11.50) for the
mussels.
For the next course, we chose to split three dishes. Since the big
tables were winding down, these came out more quickly. Our waiter
brought all three at the same time, explained what each was, and left
us to our own devices. The dishes looked lovely and carried the
delicious aromas of intense reduction sauces.
The Study of Texas Rabbit ($16) was made with three different cooking
techniques. They wrapped the tenderloin in Serrano ham and baked it.
The leg was slowly braised and served with its sauce. Finally, the
front-leg meat is slowly cooked in a confit. All came atop a savory
bread pudding flavored with the rabbit's liver and with a delicious
sauce made from the intense pan juices.
Poussin Grilled Under a Brick ($14.50) was fall-apart tender, served
in a tower with garlic mashed potatoes as the base, topped with the
most unbelievably delicious braised mustard greens (they wouldn't
tell, but I think they put a tetch of maple syrup in them) and
crowned by the chicken. A few crispy fried parsnips added a nice
sweet crunch.
The beef short ribs were the best dish of that evening. The ribs were
cut three-quarters-inch thick across the grain, leaving plenty of
meat around small bones. The beef was fork-tender and the sauce was
sheer nirvana. I even asked for bread so I could sop up the
leftovers. One element that sets restaurant food apart from home
cooking is the complex sauces that can be made from an assortment of
rich stocks and reductions. Every Demi sauce was uncommonly tasty; in
fact, they might be making some of the best sauces in town.
The wine recommendations were spot-on. Ms. Stride recommended that my
wife try something new, the Chandon Pinot Meunier ($10.50), a
relation to the Pinot Noir grape usually used in Champagne blends.
Its elegant flavors matched especially well with the rabbit. I ended
up with the J. L. Chave "Offerus" ($9), a wine noted for its barnyard
character, something most people don't like. I love it, and it made
magic with the ribs.
We ended the night with a plate of six artisanal cheeses ($12). They
also offer a smaller three-cheese tasting for $7. The cheeses were
well-chosen, with a wide range of tastes: intense and salty Colston
Bassett Stilton from Nottinghamshire, England; an opulent triple-
cream Camembert from Old Chatham of New York; a light and nutty
goat's milk Garrotxa from the Catalonian area of Spain; rich and
creamy Brillat-Savarin from Normandy, France; and a pungent goat's
milk Crotin de Chavingnol along with a sublimely aromatic Epoisses de
Bourgogne, both from Burgundy. A few delicious green apple slivers
and pecans were there for support. The recommended glass of
Cockburn's 20 Year Old Port ($7.25) was a perfect accompaniment.
*If the divine creator has taken pains to give us delicious and
exquisite things to eat, the least we can do is prepare them well and
serve them with ceremony.*
We went back a few nights later with two friends. There was a little
bit of confusion about the reservations, but when we got there at
7:45, we were led straight to our table. The place was hopping. We
started with Lobster Shooters ($4), which was a little chunk of
lobster in a butter-laden corn broth that you toss back and enjoy.
Yummy stuff, but a little overpriced for what you get. This time my
wife tried the Red Endive and Spinach Salad ($9.50) tossed with tart
Sherry Vinaigrette and liberally topped with Maytag Blue Cheese,
lardons, and candied pecans. It was rich, tart, and delicious. I had
the foie gras ($16) on a cinnamon brioche with brandy-soaked
cherries. Luscious tastes, especially for the brioche, which was
thick and jammed with flavors. The dish came with another winning
sauce, decadent in its fat content. The small, silver-dollar-sized
portion of foie gras wasn't quite enough, but the dish was delicious.
For the next stage, we again chose three dishes. The pork loin
($11.25) had spinach spatzle and a spicy creamed corn (as in heavy
cream) and a little red pepper jelly. By this time, we were expecting
impeccable preparation, and that's what we got. In addition, we
ordered New Zealand Rack of Lamb ($20). This dish was directly from
the world of comfort food. Mushrooms, asparagus, and another
delicious sauce topped four little ribs and a chunk of Yorkshire
Pudding. A glass of the Chave "Offerus" was a great accompaniment.
We also had pan-seared sea scallops ($17.75). Huge scallops, tender
and browned on the outside, were served over the top of a parsnip
purée with a stunning sauce made from cardamom, persimmons, and lots
of butter. The recommended wine, Archery Summit Vireton ($12.75), an
Oregon blend of Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, and Pinot Blanc, provided a
nice contrast to the cardomom and persimmons.
We let our waiter pick the dessert, a Creole Banana Tart ($6) with a
buttery crust made from gingersnaps, filled with rich banana custard
and drizzled with dulce de leche. It was scrumptious.
*I like to start off my day with a glass of champagne. I like to wind
it up with champagne, too. To be frank, I also like a glass or two in
between. *
The whole wine system at DemiEpicurious deserves some serious praise.
Besides having an intelligent list with loads of wines you won't find
anywhere else, nearly every wine is available by the glass. You'll
never again have to try to figure how to split a bottle of wine
amongst people who order fish, beef, chicken, or vegetarian. Even
better, they don't penalize you for buying by the glass. A glass
costs one-fourth the price of a bottle, and they pour you one-fourth
of the bottle.
Try to get a recommendation from Ms. Stride, who knows her wines
inside and out. If you're not sure you want to try what she's
offering, ask for a little taste. She'll happily comply. Good news
for serious wine lovers: She'll also put together wine flights, a
perfect match for the food concept. Demi joins a small list of
restaurants where I look forward to the wine as much as the food.
My final impression of Demi was that there is a clear vision at the
top and everyone knows their mission within that structure. There
will doubtless be a few people who will find DemiEpicurious a little
too slick. But don't confuse seamless with soulless. The experience
is better for seeing a well-conceived plan implemented by talented
people. I think the Demi team may be more in line with the teachings
of the legendary Fernand Point than even they know. Based on my
experiences at Demi, the whole crew appears to subscribe to the
following: *I'm not hard to please, I'm content with the very best. *
877 Dragoncon article from AusChron
HOME: VOL.22 NO.2: SCREENS: LET YOUR FREAK FLAG FLY
at Dragon*Con, it's come as you are -- or as you've always dreamed of
being
Let Your Freak Flag Fly
BY SARAH HEPOLA
September 13, 2002:
The Klingon punch was the beginning of the end. No beer, no wine,
just plastic cups full of wicked cherry something. Mmm,
yummy. "What's in this thing?" I ask, but the Klingons only smile and
pour more test tubes of liquor. I bum a smoke from Xena, drain my
cup. Then blam: Suddenly I'm at the Travelodge, watching group sex.
This is Dragon*Con 2002, the country's biggest sci-fi convention,
Atlanta's annual four-day feast in August of costumes, gaming, panel
discussions, and the occasional naked, drunken gropefest. This is
convention life, not conventional life, and there's no confusing the
two. This is Trekkies and Star Wars fans and Xena look-alikes and
goth kids wearing dog collars. This is Spider-Man and Superwoman and
little blue-eyed girls with glitter fairy wings. This is 300-pound
mamas in bustiers and thongs, flesh spilling out on all sides. They
know what's up -- they're big, no shit -- but here, they might be
someone's fantasy. They walk through the crowded lobby fat and proud,
knowing that for every guy who screws up his face in disgust, there's
some dude who wants to bury his face in those jiggly suckers. This is
a free weekend pass, a choose-your-own-adventureland. This is group
sex at the Travelodge. Wanna watch? You can.
Dragon*Con began in 1987, the brainchild of Ed Kramer, envisioned as
a social event for role-players and gamers, a notoriously unsocial
bunch. But as the genre expanded, so did the convention. Games like
Vampire: The Masquerade brought in the goths and the girls. The many-
tentacled fan community brought in the costumes. Blockbusters like
Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings, with their multimedia tie-ins,
brought in kids and families. And meanwhile, the game industry keeps
expanding, grossing $9.4 billion dollars in 2001. That's over a
billion dollars more than the film industry. And yet, with 20,000
people in attendance, Dragon*Con still feels like a meeting of the
marginalized. What happens if the majority of us really
aren't "normal" after all? It's like a science fiction story.
Like the best works in its genre, Dragon*Con is about questioning our
world. Our beliefs about body image, race relations, sexual
relations, and gender politics. ("I like women," says a man wearing a
metal leash around his neck. "But I also like men. I'm married, but
it's an open marriage.") It's also about a lot of fans getting a big
dose of their favorite medicine. In the Tolkien Room, fans watching a
sneak preview of the Lord of the Rings game wear "Frodo Lives"
buttons and quote the Ring Trilogy like scripture. In the Gaming
Room, Dave Arneson, co-founder of Dungeons & Dragons, gives a history
of the role-playing game that started it all, as a roomful of people
scribble into notepads. And in the NSDM Room -- that's National
Security Decision-Making Room -- a former naval officer lectures on
global politics as part of a push for three new games that turn
Department of Defense training software into a consumer game for the
amateur military strategist. Like Risk only, well, riskier. The
military games are this year's most conspicuous gaming trend. (About
a new game set in Mozambique, the schedule declares, "Dragon*Con 2002
is proud to offer a modern miniatures war game that will give you a
chance to blow some very bad guys into some very small pieces!") The
sad injection of reality in your SF.
But if you ask your average dominatrix or stormtrooper at the
conference, they will probably tell you that Dragon*Con is all about
acceptance. Are you a skinny, role-playing misfit? Not here you
aren't. A lightsaber-toting, Boba Fett-quoting Star Wars geek? Look
around, son, there are thousands like you. Spank fetishist? These are
your people. As they say at Dragon*Con: Let your freak flag fly. But
stay away from the Klingon punch. Or hell, I dunno: Have two.
Returned these, checked 7 out:
Child of the Northern Spring,
Queen of the Summer Stars,
Guinevere: the Legend In Autumn, by Persia Woolley
The Seven Sins of Memory, Daniel L Schacter
Rustic Retreats, David & Jeanie Stiles
The Death of Common Sense, Philip K Howard
The Mistress of Spices, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
The lady asked me about _American Gods_. I believe I turned it in the
same day I did the Kundalini class. I remember it pretty well--I
parked in the fire zone because there was no parking, ran in and
turned in the book, then went to the class. Lots of kids running
around in the parking lot, in karate uniforms. Young Hispanic lady
behind the counter, shoulder length, kind of wavy hair. I may have
said hello or thanks to her.
Hide message history
--- In ErikaJournal@y...<evile@f...> wrote:
>
> checked out:
>
> Jobs & other preoccupations, Daniel Coshner
>
> Horses don't lie, by Chris Irwin with Bob Weber
>
> The Anubus Slayings, P C Doherty
>
> The Tin Princess, Philip Pullman (didn't have the subtle knife)
>
> Where Does Kissing End?, by Kate Pullinger
>
> The Glass Dragon, Irene Radford
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