THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 3, 1996 TAG: 9611050495
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Restaurant review
SOURCE: BY M.F. ONDERDONK, RESTAURANT CRITIC
LENGTH: 109 lines
BIG EATS CAFE, they could have called it. Instead, Peter Pittman and Gary McIntyre chose Wild Monkey as the name for their new bistro, anticipating the animal energy that rocks Ghent's latest eatery.
Speak no evil in this tightly packed space.
The large menu is written on a chalkboard covering a wall of the restaurant. Elsewhere hang eclectic photos and artwork, much of it monkeyesque, some commissioned for the eatery's debut. Open kitchen and forest green accents round up a look straight from the Late Whatever period.
At a podium stands McIntyre, judge-like with silvered hair and dark clothes, meting out not sentences but tables. And the urban scene-hoppers keep wandering in from the night, jabbering for food.
Somebody once remarked that the best restaurant decor is what's in the chairs. Here, the seats spill over with people-watching potential.
The bohemians of Ghent, darkly garbed, are out in force. So are the poor artistic types, darkly garbed too. Some sit plowing through gorilla-size portions.
As to details of the chalkboard's contents - there are 21 items, plus salads, wine list and assorted other libations. A swipe of chef Pittman's eraser could change it all, but probably won't. Look for liver and onions, pesto chicken, pan-roasted salmon, Italian rope sausage, and kielbasa. Pastas run to linguine with roasted garlic, chicken and tortellini and ``Norfolk lo mein.'' Changing entrees are typified by dishes like seafood stew over mashed potatoes, spinach-feta bake and grilled portobello mushroom.
Sweeping and savory, this menu of upscale diner food has evolved from Pittman's other foodery - Peter's Tentop, a catering and sandwich shop around the corner on Harrington Avenue.
To his end of the Wild Monkey partnership, McIntyre brings stylish management techniques, honed at venues like Coyote Cafe and the (now defunct) Cafe Society.
Entree prices, mostly $7-$12, cage Wild Monkey a floor or two above the bargain-basement school of cuisine. But the plates come bearing elephantine portions. An appetizer of spicy grilled quail turns out to be a small entree in itself. Peppered and succulent, the tasty wee fowl nests beneath a rosemary sprig, amid the house's good mashers, fresh steamed broccoli and carrots in julienne mode.
Another appetizer on the menu is pan-fried dumplings, stuffed with pork, dosed with sweet sauce and scattered with sesame seeds.
Shortly after the appetizers, entrees arrive. A pan-seared pork chop (the restaurant sells this specialty by ones, $8.50, or twos, $10.50) has been dosed with honey rather than the promised port and is loaded down with more mashers and veg.
``Ten-dollar meat loaf'' would stand in well at Sunday dinner. It tastes of celery and high-quality meat - veal and Angus beef, one is told. Alongside, broc and carrots and mashers repeat themselves, Mom's revenge on those who once drove her crazy with talk of tofutti and brown rice.
In the drastically open kitchen, Pittman and crew toil to keep up with the surge, grilling, pan-searing, spearing food with little plastic monkeys. On weekend evenings come prepared to wait, outside, for a table.
Lunch is sleepier - good for munching Caesar salad with a side of salmon. (Options on chicken and sausage are also available.) Crisp and clean, the romaine is filmed with just the right amount of dressing. But the monkeys here don't like garlic or anchovies, and they bait the bowl with pre-grated Parmesan. Pepper-seared, the side of salmon is fresh and generously portioned but underdone in places.
Pittman changes the soup most days, designing new ones frequently. Today's specimen is an acidic, fruity cupful of tomato soup, made from the last of the fall crop and ingeniously, healthfully thickened with spinach. The house's crusty pull-apart bread is good for dipping, although served rather awkwardly on small plates.
In this crowded space created from the old Mike's Colley Deli, the most comfortable chairs are the padded retro numbers along the wall beneath the chalkboard. This precludes a view of the menu, however.
Seats here also hide the innovative wine display, which holds tasting notes, prices and the bottles themselves. ``$18 - good deal'' is the word on a cabernet sauvignon from Rutherford Hill, smooth and drinkable, yet poised to head over same. McIntyre and Pittman can offer good labels at close-out prices because some of the labels are, in fact, close-outs. Hence, in a Curious George-like twist, the wines change more often than the menu, with a dozen featured by the bottle, four by the glass.
Set at near-perfect levels, the sound system rocks with ultra-cool '90s music. But the thoughts stray to older tunes. Simon & Garfunkel (anyone remember them?) once sang that it's all happening at the zoo. Ditto that for Wild Monkey, where big plates of honest food are dished up, monkey-style - with an attitude. MEMO: Reviews are based on a single, unannounced visit by a party of two
or three, unless otherwise noted. The Virginian-Pilot pays for the
reviewer's meal and those of the guests. Previous restaurant reviews are
available on the Fun page of Pilot Online at http://www.pilotonline.com/ ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
ROY A. BAHLS
Wild Monkey's offerings include Pork Chops With Port Wine and Honey
Reduction, mashed potatoes and vegetables.
Graphic
WILD MONKEY
Address: 1603 Colley Avenue, Norfolk
Phone: 627-6462
Prices: Appetizers, $3.95 to $7.95; entrees $5.95 to $15.95.
Hours: Lunch is served Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30
p.m. Dinner, Monday through Saturday, 5:30 to 10 p.m.
Drinks: Beer, wine, highballs, ``Monkey'' margaritas and
martinis.
Reservations: No.
Smoking: After 10 p.m.
Handicapped accessible: Dining room is handicapped-accessible.
Bathrooms have not been adapted. by CNB