Culinary gifts by Grace Restaurant

Photo by Kyle Kurlick, Photos by Kyle Kurlick/Special to The Commercial Appeal // Buy this photo

Chef Ben Vaughn prepares the final touches of roasted quail breast at Grace, his new restaurant in Cooper-Young.

Grace Restaurant in Cooper Young could well be the most attractive dining space in town. The long stretch of light green and cream walls is soothing, the soft seating in the bar inviting and comfortable, the bar itself elegant and particularly nice at present as it is decorated by a massive twinkling Christmas tree.

Chef/owner Ben Vaughn, who opened the restaurant just weeks after signing the lease, is bound to be twinkling, too: Grace is a hit.

Photo by Kyle Kurlick, Photos by Kyle Kurlick/Special to The Commercial Appeal

Chef Ben Vaughn prepares the final touches of roasted quail breast at Grace, his new restaurant in Cooper-Young.

The dining room of the new establishment Grace Restaurant, located in Cooper-Young. Chef Ben Vaughn opened the eatery just weeks after signing the lease.

Chef Ben Vaughn set out to take basic dishes to higher levels at his new venture Grace Restaurant. With a few exceptions, he has succeeded. The Cooper-Young establishment is open six days a week.

This isn't to say there aren't a few misses — there are — but Vaughn is handing over culinary gifts six days a week, and folks are eagerly devouring them.

The grilled pimiento cheese sandwich is about as good as it gets. I could eat this sandwich several times each

week and not tire of it; a food-loving friend who doesn't even like pimiento cheese admits to loving this one.

It is perfectly grilled.

The sourdough bread is so crisp that it is a bit hard — and I mean that in the best way. That good hardness comes from a generous hand with the butter (possibly mixed with a nice oil) and an experienced hand at the grill. The pimiento cheese could use a touch of cayenne, and I'd prefer a sharper cheese, but texturally it is ideal, and the result is, I believe, the single best example I experienced at Grace of what Vaughn has set out to do: Elevate simple food.

The pommes frites served alongside were also excellent: the tiny shoestring version, doused with a bit of white truffle oil and a shaving of Parmesan. At $9, this is a bargain and a treat.

Another example also comes from the lunch menu. I ordered the eggs over beluga lentils with manchego cheese and white truffle oil. The eggs were delivered as a flat omelet with the cheese tucked inside, all atop the lentils and garnished with the oil. It was fully satisfying and supremely pleasing texturally, but I have a quibble. I really like yolks, and I assumed, not being asked how I wanted my eggs cooked, that they would come to me poached or softly fried — doesn't everyone like the yolk? I was disappointed that I didn't have a yellow to break open, but retrospectively, I think the omelet was the better choice. There was enough richness with the truffle oil and the melted cheese.

But I wish I had been asked, and this is where the complaint comes.

I prefer my red meat medium rare, which is how the kitchen prepares it at Grace. In fact, is the only way, so you need to like it that way or order something else. We encountered this first at lunch, when slices of medium-rare ribeye were served atop a lightly grilled onion circle flavored with a bit of fennel. Delightful in every way, including a side order of those pommes frites. But the server told us how the meat would come to the table, and different recollections of how that conversation went prompted me to order the ribeye at dinner.

To his immense credit, the dinner server told us before we ordered that all meat was cooked medium-rare. My companion, so coached, said she wanted the steak but preferred it medium. The server said he would ask, but could not promise anything. Also rehearsed, we demurred and said to go ahead and bring it medium rare. (I wanted to know if I recalled it right from the lunch visit.)

The server returned to tell us that he'd given the chef the word that we really wanted it medium, so it might come that way.

Yet to our puzzlement, it came rare, not medium rare. It was delicious, though, a tremendously tender cut from Niman Ranch that was marbled with fat. I finished it the next day with great relish and without cooking it further — but people are particular about how they want their meat cooked, and I hope the kitchen (and by that I mean Vaughn) will reconsider. It shouldn't be assumed that Memphis diners are rubes who don't know how they like their own steak cooked.

That said, I do hope that everyone will try the lamb at Grace. Lightly smoked, it's as if the chops were wrapped in bacon, but without the added fat. Superb.

The menu changes daily to take advantage of the best ingredients, so it's possible that none of these items will be available when you go. Both fish dishes I tried, the Arctic char and the salmon, were cooked to perfection, and the salmon was served with a simple and complementary rice. The char, however, was served with white beans in a dish that contained too many descriptors: Cinnamon, persimmon, vanilla. The combination wasn't overwhelming, but I did find it distracting from the simplicity of the other dishes and just a bit too fussy.

Two desserts must be mentioned: The pumpkin bread pudding with praline ice cream was an unexpected delight — custardy, lush and delicately spiced. While chocolate is never my first choice, I jumped at the opportunity to try the combination dessert of a chocolate terrine alongside a chocolate bouton topped with chocolate ice cream because I so liked Vaughn's chocolate soufflé at River Oaks.

My dining companion tasted the terrine, made a face, and shook her head, yet I immediately pronounced the bouton (French for "button," in this case just a small, deeply chocolate cake) superb. I continued to nibble the cake, waiting to get to the terrine, until I caught on — she was trying to keep it all for herself. A thief and a liar at my table!

All was right when I reached my spoon across the plate and tasted. The two together were sinful, beyond bounds, but, hey, that's why you share desserts.

Grace Restaurant

Food:

Service:

Atmosphere:

Address: 938 S. Cooper

Telephone: (901) 274-8511

Hours: Lunch Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Dinner Monday-Thursday 5-10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 5-11 p.m.

Reviewer's choices: Grilled pimiento cheese sandwich with pommes frites ($11); eggs with beluga lentils ($10); lamb ($31); chocolate bouton with chocolate terrine ($10)

Alcohol: Wine by the glass and bottle and liquor, but only high-alcohol or "big" beers

— Jennifer Biggs: 529-5223

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