Dining
417 UNION RESTAURANT & BAR 417 Union Ave., 401-7241
Home cooking. The unself-conscious genre of finger-licking cookery tops the food pyramid. Even haute cuisine bows to the earthy nostalgia of Mom-made meals, dotting its menus with kitsch variations on homespun favorites like meat loaf and mac-and-cheese.
Yep. Everyone loves home cooking. Even people whose moms can’t really cook.
Which begs the question: is it the memory of “home” or the actual “cooking” that people long for?
Photos: ericengland.net
At 417 Union, a restaurant that opened during the summer in the former homey digs of Satsuma Tea Room, owner Anthony Leath is tweaking a formula of home-plus-cooking, and so far it looks like his equation is a hit with the madding downtown lunch crowd. A cheerful dining room downstairs and spacious rooms upstairs bustle with suit-clad midday traffic. And judging from the names in the guest book by the front door, it’s not all locals: 417 Union gets its fair share of out-of-state visitors, too, who scrawl in the guest register hyperbolic praises such as “best vegetable plate ever.”
East Tennessee native Leath revamped the century-old building that housed Satsuma, a landmark of fatback-stained vegetables and carpeting, with shiny, dark-wood floors, exposed brick walls, pendant lights, crisp white wainscoting, 22 paint colors and a veritable T.G.I. Friday’s worth of red-white-and-blue Americana. (The exterior of the building still wears the trompe l’oeil mural of Satsuma.) Patriotic propaganda from World War II adorns the walls of the downstairs dining room, where bentwood chairs and an old-fashioned bar and soda fountain lend a Cheers-like familiarity.
Upstairs, a gallery and dining rooms showcase a playful display of decorative art, but the ambiance—with its dated, possibly office-surplus furniture—lacks the fresh colors and cozy clattering of the main floor. If there’s any available space on the main floor, ask for that. If not, consider waiting.
Meat-and-Three $7.99
Bowl of Gumbo $4.50
Cheese Omelet $4.99
Rattlesnake Chicken $15.95
Grilled Salmon $15.95
Reuben $9.25
The 417 menu offers a caption of “Classic American Dining,” which Leath describes more personally as “things your grandfather used to eat.” All the nostalgic blue-plate victuals are present, on a rotating basis throughout the week—fried chicken, liver ’n’ onions, meat loaf, barbecue and grilled ham with pineapple, to name a few. And Corisa Lewis, formerly chef of The Rhythm Kitchen, prepares a dozen sides straight out of meat-and-three central casting, including fried cabbage, black-eyed peas and turnip greens.
Of the meals we ordered at 417 Union, none could be called “the best ever,” despite what the guest book says. But friendly service and a warm environment count for a lot, and 417 Union delivers those in spades.
“They say it’s all about the food, and I agree with that,” says Leath, whose business card labels him playfully as “Head Muckity-Muck.” “But you gotta have good people.” In that column, Leath has his wife Susan working the front of the house and his two daughters, who helped with the June 15 opening during summer break. He also has server Drea Joubert, whose pleasant smile and gracious greeting outshine most of the food.
As for the kibble, it’s generally sturdy, with a few standouts and a few shortcomings.
The Southern-style fish fry delivered unusually flaky and moist white fish in a light, nongreasy cornmeal coating. Likewise, fried chicken, while lacking in seasoning, emerged from the oil with a cleanly crisp skin. Such deep-fried delicacies benefit from frequently changed oil, Leath says. And Leath, who now mans his own kitchen after years working for other people in the food-service industry, can make a soup. His velvety cream of chicken-and-artichoke bobs with chunks of meat and artichoke and delivers a zesty tang. On a good day, homemade gumbo brims with chicken, sausage and shrimp in a spicy broth, a hot and flavorful elixir after a brisk walk on urban sidewalks. (On one visit, the gumbo was overly glutinous and overwhelmed by heat, but that’s the thing about home cooking: some days it’s better than others.)
A couple items didn’t exactly match their menu descriptions—or at least not with our expectations. The “black-n-bleu” sandwich—prime rib with bleu cheese on a French roll—came on a disappointingly soggy bun, rather than on a crispy baguette. Meanwhile, shrimp scampi arrived over regular-old spaghetti rather than the promised angel hair, and was saddled with anemic diced tomatoes. Other disappointments included the grilled salmon, cooked to a colorless pink that almost faded into the beige bed of bland rice, and a thin broccoli cheese soup.
But that’s not to say we ever left angry or hungry. On the contrary, at several lunches, we lingered over a brownie with ice cream, a hand-dipped Purity milk shake or a bottomless cup of coffee, enjoying the buzzing room and friendly service. On a lazier day, we could have settled in quite happily with a comforting patty melt—piled generously with caramelized onions and cheese—some crinkle fries and a bottle of Yazoo.
But it remains to be seen whether anyone will actually linger at 417 Union—either at night or on the lazy days of the weekend—or whether the restaurant will shut down at quitting time on Friday, along with the rest of its urban neighbors. This winter, 417 Union flirted with serving dinner during the week, but while lunch crowds poured in for a cheerful, quick meal in a proverbial clean, well-lighted place, dinner traffic never materialized (we were the only table in the joint on a Tuesday evening), causing Leath to scale dinner back to weekends only.
When springtime tourists—and all those effusive guest-book signers—pop up again, Leath might revisit the dinner plan. But until 417 Union changes its formula and beefs up the culinary variables in the equation, it’s unlikely to become a destination restaurant for anyone beyond the urban core. Then again, when high-rises such as the Encore, Stahlman and Viridian fill up with long-awaited downtown residents, 417 Union is well positioned to become the place where everybody knows their names. After all, even urban-dwellers need a little home cooking now and again.
417 Union is open daily for breakfast and lunch, starting at 7 a.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. on weekends. Dinner is served on Friday and Saturday, and the bar is open for happy hour, with free appetizers, Tuesday through Friday from 4 to 7 p.m.