Dining
My South is more than a place on the map.
—from My South: A People, A Place,
A World of Its Own (Based on works by Robert St. John), edited by Bryan Curtis (Rutledge Hill Press)
No matter where you come from, there is no mistaking where you are when you spend an evening at Watermark, a restaurant with a Southern lineage so rooted in culture, tradition and place that it may as well be wrapped in honeysuckle vine. Embracing old-fashioned virtues of modesty, grace and good manners, it simultaneously radiates the proud spirit and exuberance of the New South.
Watermark eschews cockiness for confidence, flash for finesse, posturing for poise. Reflecting the meaning of its name—a distinguishing mark impressed on paper visible only when held to the light—Watermark reveals its defining qualities at a relaxed yet self-assured pace that encourages lingering to savor the moment.
My South is a place where I learned to slow down in order to keep up.
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Setting the tone at Watermark are Jerry Brown, born and raised in Nashville and just one degree of separation from nearly everyone who now calls the city home, and chef Joe Shaw, an Alabama native whose allegiance to simplicity is in concert with his reserved demeanor.
The two-story shotgun space, formerly a print shop, dresses its solid bones with timeless sophistication and class. The ground-level steel door ushers guests into a small foyer where they can peek into the wine cellar, which features a long table for private parties of up to 24 centered between two walls stacked with bottles. The enclosed staircase ascends to the main dining room. To the left, floor-to-ceiling windows project a luminous slice of city skyline; to the right, two soaring walls painted in soothing monochromatic neutrals frame a long expanse of dark wood floor, interrupted two-thirds of the way back by tall frosted glass doors that can swivel shut to seclude another party of nearly 60. Spacious white linen-covered tables are surrounded by exquisitely designed chairs—a sensuous curve of dark-brown wood encircles the back like a hug, a white leather upholstered pad cushions the derriere. Directed lighting, flattering to the face and easy on the eye, warms the room and illuminates the faint imprint of the restaurant’s name on one wall.
On the other side of that wall is the lounge; with its sleek bar, cozy two-tops and an even more sweeping vista of downtown, it is dramatic and intimate, the curvaceous banquette an invitation to romance. Hidden behind the banquette, a service walkway slopes down to the kitchen, the heart and soul of this superb restaurant, open since late November.
My South is full of fig preserves, cornbread, butter beans, fried chicken, grits and catfish. In my South, we eat foie gras, caviar and truffles.
At Watermark, expect to find all of this—fig preserves and foie gras, cornbread and caviar, grits and truffles—joyfully coupled on plates as pristine and white as a bridal gown. Like his mentor and former employer, award-winning chef Frank Stitt, Shaw practices disciplined, classic technique, marries worldly elements to local products, adheres to the season and honors the region.
That wasn’t his inclination when he first came to work for Stitt in 1993 at the nationally acclaimed Highlands Grill, then later as chef de cuisine at Stitt’s second Birmingham restaurant, Bottega. “When I started working with Frank, I was off the chain,” Shaw admits with a laugh. “I wanted to experiment. It would be a busy Friday or Saturday night, we’d have 40 covers going at once. Frank would be expediting and I would put a plate at the window, and Frank would just stare at it. Then he’d take some things off the plate, put some back on, then look at me and say, ‘It was too contrived.’ Simple is not easy. Frank was always leading me away from my desires.”
And, ultimately, toward his present post: it was Stitt’s business partner, Dean Robb, who suggested that Jerry Brown talk to Shaw. “It was clear that the type of experience he wanted for his restaurant and my style, the type of food I am interested in cooking, were a match.” And what a fortuitous union: the Watermark menu is a celebration of the South’s glorious culinary heritage and all its mellifluous accents.
In my South, the most treasured things passed down from generation to generation are the family recipes.
photo: Eric England
Shaw’s style is foreshadowed in the breadbasket—angel biscuits, orange-corn mini-muffins and corn sticks, made according to a recipe from Ora Blair, his late maternal grandmother. “She made the best cornbread I ever had, so we use her recipe.”
Because of its adherence to an agricultural calendar, the Watermark menu changes on a frequent basis; within a season, sides switch out, presentations are tweaked. The buttery, seared foie gras that in December and January mated with yellow corn grits, salty Smithfield ham and sweet blackberry compote came to the table in February with blood orange sections and kumquat-jalapeño marmalade. Fall’s roasted butternut squash soup with mascarpone cream switched pumpkin seeds for crab in December, then retired altogether in favor of shrimp bisque in February. Fennel-and-apple salad with arugula, apple-cider dressing and feta cheese has been replaced—for now—with grilled red grapefruit with winter greens, feta cheese and honey-poppy seed dressing. The stone-ground grit soufflé (a corn custard pillar with a crisp brûlée top, encircled by goat cheese and apple-smoked bacon butter sauce) and the platter of bright-crimson beef carpaccio (fanned atop a horseradish spread and strewn with peppery arugula) are safe for now, but job security is not guaranteed for even the most popular dishes.
Two of the winter’s most beloved comfort plates—braised rabbit in a black-eyed pea broth, and braised veal osso bucco with Parmesan custard—are rotating off, the latter’s position already assumed by braised veal cheeks teamed with baby spring vegetables, pearl onions, crimini mushrooms and haricots verts.
The selections may rotate, but diners can count on consistency when it comes to structure. Shaw’s all-season menu blueprint stipulates a starter slate of three salads as well as five hot and two cold appetizers; entrée specs include a white fish for sauté, dark fish for the grill, a filet and another cut of cow, a white-meat game, a red-meat game and a braise of some type. Vegetarians have yet to find a dedicated slot in the lineup, though the kitchen will compose a meat-free dinner.
No matter your predilection, a new salad—pecan-breaded, lightly fried goat cheese with a thick puree of early peas, olive oil and mint, snuggling up to a tangle of bright-green pea tendrils and watercress—is as vibrant a mouthful of spring in the South as daffodils and dogwood blooms are a sight for winter-weary eyes. Certainly, it portends much to look forward to as the seasons evolve.
“We all have an internal clock,” Shaw says. “There are seasonal foods that make us happy by their nature. The more I pay attention to that clock, the easier it is to cook to season. There are great winter foods, but you are more limited in fresh product. Spring is the most exciting time—things start coming in, lettuces, asparagus, morel mushrooms. Then it crescendos into summer with tomatoes, okra, peas, beans, corn. It’s a wonderful time.”
In the kitchen, Shaw is flanked by sous chef Jason Love, another Bottega alum who has worked locally at Wild Iris, and lead cook Sean Norton, who mans the custom-built, hickory wood-burning grill that imparts another layer of Southern flavor. The caretaker of Ora Blair’s cornbread recipe is Nicole Wolfe, whose dessert repertoire cross-pollinates beautifully with the main menu, her delectable creations picking from the same seasonal harvest.
Cool and calm Nathan Lindley, another Stitt grad serving here as operations manager, balances well with the affable Steve Boyer, and together they steer the front of the house; early on, service stumbled on occasion, but notable improvements now set a smoother course. Boyer proves invaluable interpreting the lengthy wine list he’s assembled, as many vintages will be unfamiliar to all but the experts.
My South is a state of grace.
In a hurry-up world, Watermark offers guests the gift of time—a place to take their eyes off the clock, set their souls to the season and celebrate a state of grace.