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Roasted lamb chop with curried cous cous 62

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consistency and attention to detail keep Hot and Hot Fish Club, well hot. BY JOSEPH FLOOD The reports have been coming in for years now. From sources as renowned as Gourmet magazine, Wine Spectator, and The Food Network: Hot and Hot Fish Club is a culinary star. I knew the reviews and accolades. And that knowledge made me want to experience the restaurant, founded in 1995, anew. It seems that every day could be like every other in the restaurant business, and yet that's not really the case. Consistency is the key to real success, and Hot and Hot Fish Club is nothing if not consistent. I visited mid-week and the restaurant was excitedly a packed house. All of the tables sported an interesting collection of people-families, couples, what looked like a couple of business dinners or two. In short, what you might expect from a highend restaurant with a loyal following. One of the first things you notice about Hot and Hot is the care with which guests are greeted-from the valets (you're going to need to valet) to the hostess just inside the door. The other thing you notice is the art. This really is an art-filled restaurant. The well-known portrait of Chef and owner Chris Hastings is a visual welcome that matches the human one at the front door. Inside the main dining room is the Mona Lisa by Nail, a painting that never fails to catch my attention. With the same careful attention, that Chris and his wife, Idie Hastings, have given to the food and staff preparation, the visual attributes of the restaurant have been lOVingly curated. Musician Robert Moore built the Harvest Table and hutch. Artisan blacksmith Robert Ledford created the chandelier and iron and wood chairs. Potter Tena Payne formed the

bowls and plates by hand. Everything seems designed to create an intimacy and care that can only enhance the dining experience. Food is central to the Hot and Hot experience, but comfort is the key. The meals and preparation are complex, I'm sure, but the presentation isn't fussy in the least. The fully open

kitchen and the seating at the counter, along with the complex quilt of tables arrayed in the semi-circular main dining room, assure the keen sense that this is a fun and open place. The heritage of the restaurant solidifies this sense of easy hospitality. Hot and Hot was named for the

Address: 2180 11th Court South Phone: 933-5474 Hours: Dinner Tues.-Fri. 5:30-10; Sat. 5:30-10:30 . Reservations recommended Web: www.hotandhotfishclub.com

dining and discourse club for gentleman run by Chris Hastings' greatgreat grandfather. That same spirit permeates the well-designed, intimate dining rooms with its rich purple draperies and candles illuminating the restaurant's nooks and crannies. On this night, everything conspired to make Hastings' vision of an intimate dining club come true. I had a table by the window and was able to look out on the Hot and Hot patio. The bUilding that houses this restaurant started out its brick and mortar life as Caddell's Creamery, a burger joint in the 1950s. In the 1970s, the restaurant was the famous Upside Down Plaza, the bar with the upside down sign and the right-side up sense of what a neighborhood bar could be. Now Hot and Hot Fish Club has been showing for most of a decade what happens when you mix culinary panache with a friendly flair and absolute professionalism. It really is an intriguing mix. You feel like the wait staff is so adept at the restaurant skills they could pull off anything. For me, on this evening, they pulled off a really memorable meal. I began with the soup: a puree of butternut squash with lemon creme fraiche ($7.50). The combination of the earthy taste of the squash and the soaring lemony swirls of the creme fraiche was truly memorable. Other appetizers seemed equally memorable from the Hot and Hot Cheese Plate to the crispy seafood spring rolls to the roasted baby beet salad with arugula, fried goat cheese and champagne vinaigrette. 64

BIRMINGHAM

The entree choice in the end was quite simple. There is something intriguing about ordering signature dishes-kind of like accepting the ultimate test. If ever there was a Chris Hastings' signature dish it is the Shrimp and Grits ($25.50). I went with the signature, on this evening served with slithers of country ham, tomato, fresh thyme and VerJus. The shrimp and grits come gracefully massed in a pure white, deepbowled plate-an almost ceremonial and reverent presentation. It was wonderfully complex in terms of taste and texture, yet as comfortable a dish of food as I think I've seen. The shrimp were large and flavorful-tasting saltily reminiscent of the sea and yet grounded in creamy and rich grits. What a wonderful combination. There were other entrees I could

have tried that night-from grilled black grouper to seared duck breast to saffron pasta-but it is hard to imagine a more perfect dish. Staying in the simple yet sublimely creative mode, I chose the Hot and Hot doughnuts ($6.50) for dessert. This is the dish that has gained prominent recognition on The Food Channel. And deservedly so. The doughnuts, a collection of three flavored alternatively with espresso cream and a brittle, Bavarian-creme filled, and a chocolate-orange glaze. They were terrific. I think one of the keys to the Hot and Hot style is an overwhelming respect and an abiding love for the food. In fact, Chris and Idie Hastings are really activists working to enhance that respect. The couple has been instrumental in the creation of the local chapter of the Council of Independent Restaurants-codenamed Birmingham Originals. The Hastings' belief in the intimate mission of restaurants leads them naturally to a muscular support for the tenents and values of independence. Chris Hastings has also become a tremendous advocate for family farms and small agricultural enterprises-like The Chef's Garden and the SpringVille farmer who supplies pork and lamb. His belief in the power of food to draw people together, to heal, and to ennoble us is truly palpable. This comes through in every aspect of the restaurant-from the on-display kitchen to the leisurely, friendly tone of the wait staff. These people love their food, and they make you love it, too. ~