With the explosion of food lit and the trend of publishers serving up cookbooks faster than McDonald's can shovel fries, a stroll through a bookstore or library can tickle the taste buds to the point that you'd just as soon eat that latest volume from the Barefoot Contessa as read it. At Davis-Kidd Booksellers in the Mall at Green Hills, you can almost do just that. Bronte Bistro, the subterranean eatery nestled behind the store's inventory of yoga mats and wind chimes, offers a menu dotted with favorite recipes from popular cookbooks that line the store's shelves.
The next generation of the Second Story Café, which hovered on the mezzanine of the former Davis-Kidd in Grace's Plaza, Bronte Bistro is one of six similar stores operated in Joseph-Beth bookstores across the South. Much larger and more polished than the bygone Second Story, Bronte wears an integrated interior design package of pendant lights, colored tile patterns and upholstery that recalls the atmosphere of a lounge in an airport concourse. On a recent Saturday, the rooms and the central bar bubbled with lunch guests, many of whom arrived at their tables toting books from the shelves, enjoying a read-while-you-eat policy that management does not discourage. (In fact, with free Wi-Fi available in the dining area, the restaurant practically invites lingering.)
After migrating from the Sodor-sized play area of Thomas the Tank Engine toys in the nearby children's section, we grabbed a large table in the so-called garden, which spills out into the books and novelties section like an indoor sidewalk café. What happened next earned our undying affection for Bronte: Our server delivered a stack of perfectly age-appropriate children's books with kids' menus plastered inside the front covers. The result of this book drop was that, from the time we ordered our food until the moment it was delivered, our boisterous brood quietly combed through I Spy books, sparing other guests the nuisance of impatient, hungry, loud children. Whoever thought of this tiny detail should win a Caldecott Award, because it makes Bronte a natural stop for moms and kids who may be browsing the store or attending the children's music and yoga programs held in the bistro's event room.
The kids' menu is a standard-issue roster of chicken fingers, small pizzas, Kraft mac-and-cheese (the gold—or yellow—standard, as far as we're concerned). Each $4.99 meal comes with a drink, fresh melon and grapes and carrot sticks with ranch dressing for dipping.
The regular menu leans heavily on soups, quiche, salads and sandwiches, including croissants, wraps and a turkey burger. Entrées include hearty offerings of pasta, pot roast and pot pie ranging from Michael Lamonoco's Alpine chicken pasta ($7.99) to Barefoot Contessa's Eli's Asian Salmon ($15.99).
For lunch, we opened with a cup of the signature lemon-chicken-tarragon soup—a comforting cream-based blend of citrus and herb, bobbing with generous hunks of chicken. Blinded by love for anything prescribed by Ina Garten, we ordered the Barefoot Contessa's mozzarella, tomato and pesto sandwich—a rustic presentation that would have been infinitely better with summer tomatoes. More successful was America's Test Kitchen's BLT with avocado, crammed with thick strips of crisp bacon, a faint schmear of avo and a slather of chipotle mayonnaise on wheat toast. Plated with a choice of side salad or kettle chips, the sandwiches made for ample and attractive presentations, delivered ceremoniously by a team of servers.
A thick wedge of peanut butter pie made for a storybook ending to a satisfying family meal.
Located in the basement of Davis-Kidd Booksellers, Bronte Bistro is open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. Beer and wine available.
Long considered one of the city's most beautiful lunch venues, Provence in the downtown library has recently hit its stride—perhaps by shortening it. The sunny European-flavored café in the ground floor of the glistening modern classical landmark recently truncated its menu to streamline the service at peak hours. Anyone who ever scrunched into the door on the Sixth Avenue side of Provence and waited in line while indecisive lunchers perused the chalkboards with the same patience they use to browse the shelves of new releases will be delighted with the changes.
These days, the menu boards list only a handful of offerings, including sandwiches available hot or cold, a frittata of the day, stuffed French toast and a rotating selection of soups. A cooler by the cash register holds an array of packaged salads, cold pastas, roasted vegetables and spreads such as eggplant puree, rouille and olive tapenade for eating with fresh-baked loaves and flatbreads.
Not only does the pared-down system work better, the food is more focused and consistent, and we were more than happy to trade variety for quality. In fact, the reformation of the downtown store bodes well for the Provence chain, which has struggled in recent years to maintain consistent quality across its locations. On the day we visited, the panini offerings included duck confit with goat cheese and chutney and ham with gruyere, with a half-panini and a cup of soup available for a shockingly affordable $5.99. There were also several pre-made cold sandwiches available, including roast lamb with apples, brie and olive tapenade on rosemary bread; the Montecito (avocado, white cheddar, cucumbers, red onions, lettuce, tomato and mango chutney); turkey and Emmenthaler with herb mayonnaise and lettuce on sourdough; and roast beef. To our mild confusion, the panini were also pre-made, on the same slices of Provence bread as the cold sandwiches, prompting us to ask what distinguished panini from plain old sammies. The answer: nothing. Any sandwich can be slathered with olive oil and mashed through the panini grill, though owner Terry Carr-Hall advises not doing that to the Montecito.
The frittata of the day was our only disappointment. The thick wedge of lukewarm egg pie layered with slices of pale potato lacked flavor and cohesiveness and went virtually uneaten at our table.
We unanimously enjoyed the soups (after we overcame initial confusion about why a bowl of soup comes in a ceramic bowl while a cup comes in a paper cup). Creamy tomato-basil soup recalled the splendid chunky recipe from the bygone Cibo restaurant just across Church Street, while apple-parsnip bisque shone for its creative and subtle marriage of sweet fruit and earthy root vegetable in a creamy base. The only improvement would have been a sprinkling of bacon bits across the top.
While we had a few criticisms of the meal and the service—a sudden lunch rush threatened to scuttle the two-man crew behind the counter and caused our food to get confused with another order—we found ourselves seduced by the gorgeous atmosphere, the wafting music, the warm lighting and the floor-to-ceiling view of the downtown streetscape. The ambiance lulled us into languorous conversation and could just as easily have lured us to linger with a pastry, a cup of Intelligentsia coffee and a good book. Coincidentally, there are more than a few thousand of those—available for free—just down the hall.
Located inside the downtown library, Provence Café & Breads is open 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and is closed on Sunday.
Email cfox@nashvillescene.com, or call 615-844-9408
