Michael Smith
Those of us who look from outside the kitchen often characterize the emotion that draws chefs to hone and practice the culinary arts as love, but this is the wrong word; professional cooking at elevated levels is about passion. Best practiced, it is as all consuming and intense as the manic art that is painting, sculpting or writing music. It is little surprise that the lives of successful chefs often trace the same storylines as our famous artisans - of love found and lost, the inexorable intertwining of personal and professional - but everywhere and always going back to the food, perhaps the most tangible forms of art that can be practiced.
This past week Michael Smith opened his new restaurant in downtown Kansas City, called simply “Michael Smith”. For those who have not had the privilege of dining at one of Smith’s previous restaurants (he cooked at Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago, then L’Albion in France, and ultimately to the American Kitchen in Kansas City), his new restaurant is classic Smith: unpretentious, elegant and savory seasonal food. Smith’s new venture comes after he left the restaurant Forty Sardines which he started with his now ex-wife Debbie Gold. That life is at times sadness, we can still manage to find a certain solace in knowing that his loss of a partner did not forever take him out of the kitchen, surely the place where his passions are most easily communicated.
Smith’s new space (he had opened the weekend before my visit this past week), is composed of carefully exposed poured concrete which is appropriately accented by vibrant artwork and the use of glowing green accented backlights. The space stops short of being eclectic, but is new and fresh for a city in the midst of re-investing in its downtown arts, theater and overall community. Coupled with the incredible food, it is likely Smith’s restaurant will become one of the cornerstone restaurants in the next chapter of the city’s downtown development.
Service at a new restaurant is commonly expected to be rough, and for me this was the case. The wine – a 2005 Garretson Viognier Saothar - arrived well after the appetizer, a particularly unforgiving mistake in general, but one that was noticeable because the wine choice had been made largely due to the chosen first course.
Enough of that, because the appetizer was incredible! Braised rabbit with chanterelles, house made gnocchi (with the slightest bit of crispiness from a brief pan sauté), and shaved parmesan … so very good. This was not the lightest dish to be chosen on a very hot summer evening, yet when paired with the wine, it managed to be an overall sumptuously light dish, a tribute to the preparation of each component.
When the waiter described the special I went ahead and ordered it: duck breast with a summer squash purée, chipotle vinaigrette and a slaw made of carrot, apple and pear. The duck was cooked perfectly, but I found the dish had one too many components. The acidity of the slaw was overpowered by the viscous foam-like puree of summer squash, the savory contribution of the chipotle lost against the backdrop of the same. I didn’t hate it, but think the dish would have been much better by subtracting the summer squash.
Desert was a key lime napoleon with blackberries. Very good, although prone to the discombobulated dissection that occurs when napoleons are made with the intermediate levels composed of hard pastry instead of cake or other semi-porous pastry.
The intense flavor and delicate combinations of the appetizer left me very curious about the other menu choices, an itch I hope to scratch in the future. This is a restaurant with a future, a place to go to celebrate and just to be reminded of how simple things done well can be the most luxurious of all.
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October 13th, 2007 at 9:26 am
[…] here in my hometown of Indianapolis, and Gold’s ex-husband’s new venture Michael Smith (my review here). Smith’s restaurant was newly opened, and had the anticipated service issues one expects from a […]