Buzzy and Co. Breathe New Life Into Old "Med" Tradition

A former boss of mine, who possessed exceptional business acumen, was fond of the expression "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." While the phase grated against my grammatically sensitive ears, it rang true in the relatively remote corners of my logical mind.

Buzzy Newton, Chairman of The Board of Piggly Wiggly Carolina Company, and his wife, Rebecca Newton, clearly subscribe to the same theory. The 10 week-old co-owners of a decade's old West Ashley restaurant mainstay, began with maintaining their new restaurant's most recent moniker: Med Bistro. Even though most everyone thinks of it and even refers to it as its original name, Med Deli, Rebecca says "we wanted to leave it alone".

Along with the name, they sagely kept broadly under-touted and gifted chef Todd Garrigan and maintain a strong focus on local artists and musicians by displaying their talents on the walls (100% of profits go to the artists) and in the restaurant in the form of live music performances on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings and during Sunday brunch.

Rebecca took a proactive stance in streamlining the restaurant's popular Bohemian look by enlisting the services of a local designer to select new, mustard colored paint for the walls and to strategically "position" the paintings for maximum eye appeal. The look, further enhanced by strings of twinkling white lights and a long bar adorned with sleek black chairs, is better than ever.

Under the Newton's stewardship, the relaxed fun of paper-lined tables (and requisite crayons for drawing) have returned, and the spotty service this restaurant's patrons have been burdened with for years has been replaced with a bubbly, energetic, well-synchronized team of professionals that work in tandem with the kitchen to deliver food on time and with a smile. The mettlesome, bad-service gnat that once settled heavily enough on my aching dining shoulders to to make me avoid the place altogether, is officially dead.

Ding, dong! Like Dorothy and her eclectic entourage after the Wicked Witch's melting demise, we rejoiced in Med Bistro's nurturing service rebirth. The well-groomed service team, dressed neatly and simply in black uniforms and armed with knowledge, oozed with positive energy and a desire and ability to please. Our server didn't miss a beat until the end of our lunch experience when we were required to wait too long for the bill. Because the full lunch surge was beginning to retreat and, consequently, many tabs were likely being calculated all at once, this was excusable. Still, it's an area where the Newton's and their staff may want to pay additional attention, especially for the working business lunch crowd.

Garrigan's maintained the winning, deli-intensive lunch menu of cold, deli-style sandwiches, soups (including the tasty, signature black bean soup), salads, grilled sandwiches, pockets, wraps and quesadillas, but has really beefed up the dinner menu with sophisticated bistro style fare from Cashew and Pistachio Crusted Salmon ($16.95) to the Center Cut Pork Chop served with Au Gratin Potatoes, Thin Beans & Apple Butter ($18.95). This expansion gives Med Bistro an evening breadth its never before experienced and gives Garrigan, a chance to "do his thing," according to Buzzy.

One thing you can't get after sundown, however, are the house chips ($4.95). They, in all of their proud calorie counter defiance, provide at least one outstanding reason to visit Med Bistro for lunch. The chips were prepared from wafer thin slices of Russet potatoes that were fried at perfect temperature for optimal crispiness. The chef crafts a bechamel-based sauce, whisked together with a mildly sweet blue cheese (my money says Roquefort) and generously spoons it over the entire platter of chips. I was concerned the offering might be or become soggy quickly unless the sauce was served on the side, but the server said, laughing, that it's not usually a problem because "everyone always eats them so quickly". Count me among the guilty.

Other good reasons to come are the fat, Grilled Reuben ($8.95) and Med Grill ($8.95) sandwiches. Both are literally stacked with inches of deli-grade meats and sweet/pungent kraut and slaw, respectively. They towered with excellence and heady, old-school indulgence that recalled the classic corner deli's in Manhattan. Grill sandwiches (and there are 15 to choose from!) can be served with a choice of several sides or, if you really want to go the distance, try Med Bistro's onion rings from heaven for a paltry, additional $0.95. Go for it! Life is way too short to miss this treat. They looked and tasted hand-battered (a rarity anywhere, anymore) and were sweet and smooth in the center and hot and crunchy on the outside.

Even though the days of buying wine by the bottle from a separate retail area, to be enjoyed in-house for a minor $1 corkage fee are over, the restaurant boasts a sophisticated domestic and imported beer list as well as a creative and surprisingly expansive wine list ($20-$62 by the bottle) for what is still, happily, a home time dining experience.

The Newton's prove that old restaurants can be tweaked and updated without losing their soul. Med Bistro's an enduring example.

Med Bistro

90 Folly Road, South Windermere Plaza, West Ashley

(843) 766-0323

Website under development.

Mon.-Sat., 11 a.m.-10 p.m. (Lunch served until 5 p.m., Dinner from 5 -10 p.m.)

Sun. brunch, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Arlaana's Not Yet Nirvana

Daniel Island is just crying for something Arlaana, a year old tapas-style bistro offering "world cuisine," is clearly trying to deliver but hasn't quite gotten there. At least not yet.


The stand-alone island community, once spearheaded by Bishop England, the Family Circle Cup stadium, and a few widely scattered homes, has morphed into a bustling Mayberry-esque town, filled with working professionals and young families. It now has all the trademarks of a real town, complete with its own grocery store, ice cream shop and nail salon, but what it doesn't have is a mid-range priced restaurant that beckons with I've-got-a-must-have-craving-to-go-eat-at-XYZ-restaurant-tonight-honey allure.


Arlaana's probably the closest, but with prices approaching some of downtown's best (and closest DI competitor, Sienna), it needs to come up with more compelling food preparations, more even service, and perhaps tone down its deep purple and orange Alice-on-Acid color scheme and flickering Christmas tree-hued, fiber optically programmed wall sconces. Once accomplished, Arlaana's would be transformed into it a restaurant tour de force that beckons the DI masses, and those from elsewhere, with irresistible charm.


Still, despite its occasional flawed moment, Arlaana offers a most pleasant dining experience, peppered with a surprise pop of excellence in some dishes, a grown-up wine list, and sincere, friendly service. Somehow it all comes together with the exuberant warmth and maternal energy of owner (along with her husband Chuck) Aarlana Black, who floated about the mid-size dining room and through its gossamer curtain panels the evening we visited like an inviting, polished hostess at a private dinner party.


The exhaustive menu, comprised for the most part of "large" and "small plates" ($4.95-$24.95) and house made flat bread pizzas, soups and salads ($5.50-$9.50), literally traverses the cuisines of the globe, with an emphasis on France, Italy, Asia, American and Southern classics. The cheese tour ($17), a plate of Saint Nectaire, Gorgonzola, and Cambozola cheeses with assorted garnishes, was representative of the best and worst of Arlaana.

While the plate was attractive, there was too much going on visually (like the space itself), and while the creamy, tangy Cambozola paired with luscious honey and an edible bowl of preserved lemon was ultimate perfection, the cloying blackberry-balsamic "jelly" (really more of a sauce) paired with the mild, musty Saint Nectaire was a miss. The Gorgonzola paired with toasted pine nuts and basil and a pile of bland, pickled garlic fell somewhere in between. Kudos to the server, however, for selecting a snappy, well-chilled Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc ($36, bottle - wine is half-price on all bottles on Tuesday evenings) that was served with professional aplomb.

He was accompanied all evening by a friendly factotum in-training. Though she bumbled her one solo service gig (she delivered the wrong entree orders to the wrong guests), it was the gaping time gap (approximately 40 minutes) between the appetizer course and entrees that was the most problematic and the most curious, since there were only 8 diners in the entire restaurant. When they finally did arrive, the Pan Seared Filet Mignon ($16) and Duck Confit ($10) were both lovely. They shone brightest in the sauce department, with spot-on reduction sauce renditions of a an earthy, shallot confit demi-glace and a Grand Marnier demi-glace, respectively. Too bad the "pommes frittes" (oops - that should have read "frites" on the menu) were limp, half-cooked, and thus, not worthy of consumption.

Inconsistencies and an underlying sense of rushed sloppiness that likely led to the multiple typos on the menu and the occasional flaws in the overall dining experience at Arlaana, bring it down from a potentially huge DI restaurant high. Because of the palpable love and passion emitted by the owner and her staff for their work and their customers and because of the locals' desire for all that Arlaana could be, I have a feeling it will get there and I, for one, hope it does.



Arlaana

259 Seven Farms Drive, Daniel Island

(843) 471-2400

Tues.-Fri., 11:30 am.-2 p.m.

Tues. - Sat., 5 p.m.-until

Sun. Brunch, 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m.

www.arlaana.com

Formula 1 Fare

The reigning king and queen of Charleston restaurant conceptualization have done it again.


Tim Mink and Karalee Nielsen of Rev Foods, which previously and deliciously brought us Poe's Tavern, Raval and Taco Boy, have once again merged their minds and Rev's exceptional talent pool to deliver just the right product, at just the right time, in just the right place and in just the right way. The uncannily on-the-mark result this time around the local restaurant fast track is called Monza. It proves to be a delectably edible ode to the justifiably celebrated Italian racetrack (by the same name) and the even more justifiably celebrated food that fuels Italian appetites - Neapolitan style pizza.


Co-owned by Mink and Nielsen and situated next door to its older, but fresh-as-ever restaurant sister, Raval, Monza is arguably the Ferrari of Rev's impeccable restaurant pack. Or, maybe it just seems that way because Charleston has been in dire need of Grand Prix-grade Neapolitan pizza for a long, long time. While The Holy City is rich in the likes of fat, juicy burgers (a la Poe's), tasty Mediterranean style tapas (a la Raval) and ample Mexican goodness (a la Taco Boy), it was entirely lacking servings of Neapolitan pizza's subtle, sublime goodness hallmarked by a slim, chewy, and airy crust and deftly appointed, quality toppings. Monza's delivers the added value of serving up the best pizza pies in town in a sleek, happening (and entirely spotless, by the way) setting.

The heat's on in Monza's kitchen, to the tune of 1,000 degrees in its eternal wood-burning oven. Oak is the wood of choice that drives the flavor and high heat behind the phenomenal texture and taste of Monza's pizza dough. An instant puff in the oven ( just under 90 seconds for each pie) made with dough prepared with imported ingredients including San Felice wheat flour, Neapolitan yeast, and filtered, ph balanced water, kneaded tenderly together by a mixer from Naples, makes for remarkable crust after crust.

And, Monza doesn't create the common small crime that its closest competitors are sometimes prone to - the dreaded sauce and topping pizza overload that leads to soupy, muddled and hard-to-eat pizza. The kitchen maintains idyllic restraint on quantity to maintain lightness, while doling out quality toppings in spades. Each pizza is topped with, among other things, milky, fiore di latte mozzarella and fresh, local produce and meats/seafood. In order to stay true to their Neapolitan mission, Monza does not allow ANY one to vary off course from the existing menu and says no to ALL substitutions.

All eight pizza choices ($9-$12) bear the names of racing greats from Alberto Ciccio Ascari to Emilio Materassi. You can read their brief bio's on the menu or glance at one of the many black and white photos that grace Monza's chic walls during your brief wait for what's sure to be a memorable pizza experience. Mine was! The "Ciccio" ($12) is Monza's version of a four-cheese or white pizza and came gingerly dressed with a bubbling blend of mozzarella, ricotta, pecorino and parmesan cheese and a heady perfume of garlic-infused olive oil. Talk about uncommonly good - it met its match in the "Fangio" ($12). This was a sweet/hot hit prepared with mozzarella, housemade sausage, roasted local hot peppers, a thin layer of a peppery tomato sauce, onions and garlic, too.

While you're munching on the pizza, don't miss an opportunity to soak up the playful, tasteful decor of tangerine colored rectangular glass tiles and hand-crafted zebra wood tables and booths. The shiny, white, aluminum Navy chairs look imposing at first, but have curved seats that are comfortably accommodating and really complete the neat look of the place. The mostly female service staff was dressed in prim, Euro-style black dresses cinched curtly at the waist with black aprons. Our waitress was eager to inform and to please and, as an extra special bonus, admitted when she didn't know an answer to a question, then scurried off to find it.

With pizza this good, appetizers might seem like an afterthought, but don't make that mistake. The clams casino ($6) feature sweet, local clams topped with butter and wine-prepped bread crumbs peppered with a delicate confetti of pancetta and red peppers. They don't get better than this. Neither does Monza's Italian version of southern shrimp and grits. A special for the evening ($8), it was laced with plump, absolutely local shrimp cooked to opaque perfection and swimming in a sausage-pregnant tomato gravy on top of a creamy, smooth pool of finely-ground polenta. Like the restaurant, the wine list, too, is well-thought out, well-priced and well-done.

Even though Monza delivers the real Neapolitan pizza deal, it only does so in-house. So, go, eat, drink and be merry. Monza's offers some of the freshest reasons to do so that I've come across in a while.

Monza

451 King Street, downtown

(843) 720-8787

Open daily, 11 a.m.-until

(Website under development)