4.26.2001
Z BAR & GRILLE
Z Bar's hip, and the food shows why


By MERIDITH FORD
Journal Restaurant Reviewer
• See what's on the menu.

PROVIDENCE -- It's always embarrassing when I'm the last person to have discovered some jazzy spot loaded with hip locals and a promising bistro menu.

Oh, I can use the excuse that I experienced it when it was a different incarnation of a restaurant with a different name and different owners. But that's a lousy excuse. The truth is that Z Bar & Grille just got by me -- until now.

A recent Saturday evening meal proved that this nook of a restaurant packs in a crowd by 8 p.m., and the food and atmosphere are the reasons. (The name has varied origins, according to the restaurant's managers. One version is that it is the slurring of ``the bar'' into ``z bar''.)

The small space is laid out in sections -- a step up divides a main dining area and the rich wooden bar from a small area backed by exposed brick and worn wooden floors. Adjoining walls are washed in a yellow that made me think of lemon meringue pie. One prime spot -- a window table near the door -- was occupied all evening by twentysomethings who spent as much time on their cell phones as they did eating.

Their loss. Chef Gene Hemingway's menu, while less than racy, delivers straightforward bistro offerings such as mushroom ravioli in a shiitake-and-tasso cream sauce, filet mignon with garlic mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus or grilled shrimp over sauteed spinach and grilled fennel. Those were things we left out.

Memorable clams and more

Left in, for starters, was a bowl of native steamed little necks resting in a wine broth laced with fennel. It's amazing how a simple dish like this can have such a dramatic effect: I'll remember it years from now. Fresh, clean, supple clams seemed to almost smile at me as I used their tiny hinged shells to scoop up the fragrant broth, filled with a hint of licorice-like sweetness from the fennel, and enhanced by carrots, onions, parsley and saffron.

A flatbread-style pizza was loaded with grilled chicken, chopped basil and fresh tomatoes, all wrapped in the soft texture and mild flavor of fresh mozzarella, barely melted form the oven. An arugula salad pleased, too, with fluffy leaves piled high on a large salad plate, tossed together with the creamy tartness of gorgonzola cheese and crunchy walnuts in a whisper of a mildly astringent vinaigrette.

For entrees, a hearty holdover from winter came in the form of a tender, juicy pork tenderloin dressed with mashed potatoes and sweet, seductive caramelized onions -- all in the tawny sweetness of a port wine reduction.

The mashed potatoes served at most restaurants these days -- and Z Bar is no exception -- would never pass the test of the '60s housewife. I can remember my mother pulling out two separate mixers to get out every single, solitary lump. Z Bar doesn't bother; the result is more ``smashed'' than ``mashed,'' and allows for some texture and flavor that isn't necessarily better, just more interesting -- but certainly not worse. The only problem with this dish was that it wasn't hot enough.

A bowl of penne pasta came loaded with the sharp, fresh flavor of tomatoes, tossed with fresh basil and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.

I spent the better part of the meal eating the bread brought to the table long before any of these dishes. Our waite r served it, along with olive oil and pungent Balsamic vinegar sprinkled with freshly grated cheese for dipping and sopping, before taking our order and excused himself by explaining, ``the bread just came from the oven and is really hot, so be careful.''

Oh, darn -- really hot bread fresh from the oven. How awful can life get?

Dessert and wine

Desserts come from pastry chef Lisa Aguiar. I dabbled in a chocolate Heath-bar torte -- a dense, flourless cake sprinkled with toffee bits -- but ultimately decided it lacked the dark flavor I was longing for. This didn't go unnoticed by our waiter, either, who proved himself efficient (and funny) all evening. By the time I'd ordered my third appetizer, he said something like ``you go, girl.''

A small, eclectic wine list has bottles from $21 to $50. Appetizers, including soups and a variety of salads, are $5 to $11; entrees are $11 to $22. Desserts are $7.

I'm glad I'm finally in the loop on what's happening at Z Bar & Grille. While I'm there, I can pretend -- for the course of the meal anyway -- that I'm hip enough to know what's hip.

And if that doesn't work, I'll just eat the food. Darn.