Sasso

1400 Woodland St. 226-7942.

Open 5-10 p.m. Mon. Thurs.; 5-11 p.m. Fri.-Sat.

People visiting New York City for the first time are typically and understandably overwhelmed by its immense size and seemingly impenetrable density. But people who live there understand that New York—like Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.—is composed of separate and distinct neighborhoods. In Manhattan, there are the upper and lower East Side, upper and lower West Side, Soho, Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen, and many more. Once ensconced in a neighborhood, a New Yorker can spend years never leaving a 10-block radius.

New York and all the other above-mentioned locales are also alike in that they’re primarily walking cities (though strongly supported by public transportation). In her own neighborhood, a resident can stop by the dry cleaner, the pharmacy, the market, the florist, the wine store, the newsstand, and the takeout Chinese place without ever once getting into a car or boarding a bus. In big cities, every neighborhood also has plentiful and diverse options for dining and entertainment.

Nashville has no shortage of walking neighborhoods—Sylvan Park, East Nashville, Hillsboro Village, Belmont, Germantown, 12 South—though not all of them are supported by the services that residents need on a daily basis, nor by an efficient, reliable public transportation system. And thanks to complex and confounding zoning laws and alcohol regulations, it can be extremely difficult to open a full-service restaurant in the very neighborhoods that would most support them. Thus one of the most promising local developments in the last few years has been the commitment of a few brave and stubborn souls to opening neighborhood restaurants.

Few have had to weather more storms—figuratively and literally—than Sasso in East Nashville. Not only did the original trio of owners—chefs Anita Hartell and Corey Griffith and businesswoman Nina Neal—have to overcome those unfriendly zoning laws and alcohol policies, difficulty in financing, and a negative perception of the neighborhood, but days within signing their lease, that pesky little tornado of April 16, 1998, caused some unexpected and expensive construction delays.

But all’s well that ends well, right? Well, not exactly. Though the restaurant (which opened in December 1998) was critically acclaimed and tremendously successful within and without the neighborhood—even luring Green Hills and Belle Meade Beemers and SUVs across the river—internally, things were not exactly hunky-dory. In January of this year, Griffith and Hartell departed, taking their menu with them.

Speculation was that Neal would have to close up shop, but instead, she called upon two chefs who already knew the Sasso kitchen, Jason Love and Natalie Hafner, and set to work remaking Sasso to be more in tune with her vision of a restaurant that would suit the neighborhood and still turn a profit. Rumors were rampant that Neal’s vision saw no further than turning Sasso into a—shudder—meat-and-three. Things were looking gloomy indeed at the corner of 14th and Woodland.

I dropped by about six weeks ago to check out the veracity of the swirling gossip and picked up a menu that in no way resembled a meat-and-three—not unless your meat-and-three cooks up sweet potato ravioli, pan-seared grouper on fresh vegetable ragout, or roasted Yukon gold potatoes and fresh asparagus.

Saturday night, along with four actual residents of the neighborhood, I revisited Sasso. Nothing remains of the original menu, not even the signature dumplings, which customers were begging the kitchen to prepare. But the dumplings were Corey Griffith’s signature, and honor among chefs forbids their reproduction without him.

What Love, Hafner, and third chef Betsy Johnston are offering these nights is a simple yet creative menu that changes frequently, according to what’s available. There are not any big surprises, but there is plenty to satisfy, and even delight. Love adds some Italian and Mediterranean influences, which cohabit happily with Sasso’s emphasis on regional ingredients. Neal is from Louisiana, and by her request, there are always a few New Orleans-style offerings.

This past Saturday, we could have gone NOLA all the way. The offerings include spicy ancho and red bean soup; a mold of baked grits topped with three jumbo grilled shrimp and a smoky tomato-buerre-blanc sauce; and penne pasta with crawfish, sweet corn, bacon, and jalapeño peppers tossed in a light cream sauce. For dessert, there’s the spectacular white- and dark-chocolate bread pudding topped with caramel sauce.

In the mood for some Med? Then kick things off with either the Mediterranean sampler of tzatziki, marinated feta cheese, and tomato salad or the antipasti Sasso, which serves up shaved prosciutto and Genoa salami with roasted garlic, Boursin cheese, mixed olives, and crustades. In the entrée category, a thick filet of pan-seared halibut sits astride a tangle of pappardelle tossed with red pepper broth, fresh tomatoes, artichokes, and scallions.

Feeling a little French? How about duck confit in a honey-lime vinaigrette with arugula, toasted walnuts, and parmesan, or a big bowl of roasted mussels in a delectable broth of white wine, garlic, and herbs served with fresh crostini? Follow that with a classic bistro dish like the mixed grill of pork tenderloin, quail, and sausage atop a flageolet succotash, sautéed rapini, and chunky peach chutney.

One of the new menu’s most popular dishes, and deservedly so, is the whimsically presented grilled jumbo shrimp, which perch perkily atop crispy, silver-dollar-sized blue-corn cakes and a thick layer of avocado salsa surrounded by a zingy cilantro cream sauce.

We also loved the Sasso tomato salad—particularly the little fried fingers of okra that accompanied the vine-ripe red and yellow tomatoes and feta cheese—and the grilled sweet onions tossed with mixed greens, spicy pecans, and goat cheese.

In addition to the bread pudding, we devoured a heavenly vanilla crème brûlée that boasted the perfect soft consistency.

Our server got it all right, expertly explaining the dishes, helping us choose a wine, and apologizing for a slight delay in the kitchen before we had even noticed. The room wasn’t quite as lively as I remembered, but thanks to the lovely weather that night, the patio was full, with people happy to wait 30 minutes at the bar for a table outside. Prices have been lowered considerably, though with no apparent effect on quality.

Sasso is not the same restaurant it was under Hartell and Griffith (who are deeply into their next project, planned for a different neighborhood), but that’s not at all a bad thing. Sasso today is a quintessential neighborhood restaurant: good, fresh food at moderate prices in warm and friendly environs. You don’t have to live there to eat there, but it would sure save on gas money.

Knead bread?

With the opening of a new store in the 2525 West End Ave. building, Bread & Company president John Clay is looking forward to the increased visibility and traffic that will accompany the newest location of the popular Green Hills bakery and cafe. The lease has just been signed on 5,300 square feet of space on the lower level of the office building, which will make Bread & Company a neighbor of Borders Books, the Franklin Covey Store, Starbucks, and P. F. Chang’s. About 3,300 square feet of that space will be devoted to bakery, sandwich, and prepared-food counters; a made-to-order salad station (similar to the Eatzie’s concept); and a 70-seat cafe.

What Clay is most excited about is the relocation of the bread-baking operations from a commissary in Berry Hill to the West End location. Ovens and the prep area will be behind windows so that customers can watch the process. All entrées, side dishes, and pastries will continue to be made in the Green Hills location under the direction of executive chef Peter Moret and pastry chef Karen Row.

The West End store is being designed by Manuel Zeitlin and is scheduled to open Sept. 1. Zeitlin is also designing a building in Cool Springs for a fourth Bread & Company location.

Heaven sent

“Thank you and may God bless you all” is the motto of Heaven’s Kitchen, an unassuming cinderblock restaurant that recently opened on Bransford Avenue, just down the hill from the fairgrounds. If you don’t see the slogan posted on the menu board above the steam table, then owner Vicki Teats will sing it out to you as you leave her little cafe.

A native of Shreveport, La., Teats is a blessing to those who believe that honest-to-God genuine gumbo is the next best thing to heaven. Her own recipe is chock-full of goodies; the bowl she ladled over rice for my son last Friday had a chicken wing, two big shrimp, a crab leg, and andouille sausage in the soupy mix. When she saw us engaged in a battle of the spoons over his bowl, she brought me a dish of my own.

For the time being, if you want Vicki Teats’ gumbo, you’ll have to go on Fridays, as that’s the only day she makes it, but she allowed that demand was so high she may have to cook some up on a daily basis. Also on the meat-and-two-style menu that Friday were salmon croquettes, Cajun catfish, jambalaya, and sacktach—a Louisiana dish of corn, tomatoes, okra, and ground beef. A daily staple is red beans and rice; hers are heavenly indeed, in a thick red gravy with big rounds of andouille sausage.

Heaven’s Kitchen is at 1914 Bransford Ave.; phone: 269-0390. Open 7 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Mon.-Sat.