Tuesday, July 27, 2010
News / Tombstones / Restaurant openings Miro District Closing to Make Way for New Seafood Restaurant
Posted by Dana Kopp Franklin on Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 5:44 PM
- Chef Louis Osteen will put his Southern seafood stamp on Miro District's replacement.
Louis Osteen, the recently hired executive chef for the company, is a James Beard award-winning chef known for his mastery of Lowcountry cuisine. The restaurant is "a continuation of HDG’s focus on regional and seasonal cuisine" and will offer "coastal flavors and fresh seafood dishes, while also incorporating Osteen’s quintessential Lowcountry favorites," the company said in a release today.
"Osteen has crafted a menu capturing the diversity and growth of the South, modern, yet reminiscent of approachable home-cooking and including the flavors of Charleston, Florida and New Orleans cuisine," the release added.
The restaurant space is a high-profile spot in the base of the Adelicia condo tower near 20th Avenue and Division. Miro District was the first tenant in the space, which has multiple dining areas and a bar. Originally branded as rustic Italian, it has tackled French bistro and upscale Southern food in its two years. It definitely had some sublime moments, despite a changing chef roster and menu. I reviewed it very favorably in The Tennessean/All The Rage when it first opened in 2008. The Scene's Carrington Fox raved about its French bistro incarnation in 2009.
Under the new concept, the main dining room will offer a dinner menu that includes Mrs. Ralph Izzard’s Brown Oyster Stew (with benne seeds), Late Summer Tomato Pie (with field greens and basil aioli), Grilled Scallops (with shrimp hash, crispy okra and ravigote sauce), Jumbo Lump Crab and Lobster Cakes (with grained mustard crème) and Blue Ridge Rainbow Trout Stuffed with Crabmeat, Scallions and Benton’s Bacon (served with pan-fried potatoes).
A more casual menu in the bar will feature shareable plates and bites, including the Buttermilk Biscuit with Benton’s Country Prosciutto, Chili Crusted Calamari (with pickled ramp mayo) and the Gulfshore Crispy Seafood Platter (with bell pepper slaw and homemade tartar sauce).
Miro District's executive chef Joe Shaw (who also launched the company's flagship fine-dining spot Watermark before briefly leaving the company) will stay on in "an integral role with HDG, taking on the position of general manager at Blind Pig No. 55," the company said. "His sensibility for hospitality and 25 years of experience in the restaurant industry will enhance the newly opened restaurant’s operations and service."
The new restaurant, which doesn't appear to have a name yet, is scheduled to open the first week in September.
Comments (10)
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We used to eat at Louis's in Pawley's Island before he moved on to other things and it was great. Good food, atmosphere, and wine list. Bring it on!
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Given the lack of quality seafood places in these landlocked parts, it will be a breakthrough if they include at least some quality, varied fish dishes that aren't shellfish or propped up with shellfish!
Love coastal and low country food, so yes, bring it on. Let Chef Osteen do what he does best, what he won acclaim for, at the same time, feed a need in Nashville. Great idea.
They can hire great chefs from all over the world but until they get a competent GM I'm afraid the latest reshuffle will, sadly, end the way all the others have. I love the location but gave up on Miro when the only consistency about the place seemed to be the awful service, which eventually gave way to bad food quality.
It doesn't matter how good the food prep is if the floor staff can't deliver the goods. Since Dean Robb's departure ive found Miro's staff to be inexperienced, poorly trained and without the energy level that high end Nashville eateries have come to offer.
Eventuallly, any self-respecting chef or kitchen assistant figure this out and find a new gig. I hope Jerry finally figured out the right combination but I'll be a hopeful skeptic until I see more consistency and professionalism in the front of the house.
Ditto Kay's comment. I am SO excited about this! Please, please, please let it be good- fingers crossed.
Kay thanks for articulating this thoughtfully. We took friends there after the theater and it was just SO pedestrian. I was embarrassed that it was SUPPOSED to be a good place and it was not. The food (at 10 p.m.) was crappy, too.
If Louis Osteen has anything left in his tank... he will be gone in six months. If he is washed up, he'll stay in an incompetent environment as long as he must.
Low Country cuisine? Wow, hasn't that kinda been done to death? (Nashville catching up - as usual.) One more offering of shrimp and grits and I'll scream! Hey, does anybody want to bet dinner on whether Osteen can resist putting shrimp and grits on his menu?
