For a hip spot with lots to like, park it at Lot 401

By MICHAEL JANUSONIS
Journal Arts Writer

• See the menu.

PROVIDENCE -- A friend had promoted Lot 401, whose name is derived from the Rhode Island area code, as the hippest of the hip new hot spots in the capital city.

Well, we've never thought of ourselves as the hippest of the hip and, judging from our middle-of-the-week visit to Lot 401, lots of other people don't think of themselves that way either.

Despite a recent plug for the place in the September issue of Yankee magazine, when we arrived shortly before 8 p.m. there was only one other diner in the place, and he didn't look so much hip as fashion challenged. During our nearly two hours at Lot 401, only two other people came in to eat, and all they wanted was dessert.

Lot 401 is sleek in its edgy, no-frills, contempo design. Little rectangular glass lamp shades dangle from the ceiling. Square white pots above the windows "grow" artificial turf. The main feature of this relatively small place on a corner in the Jewelry District on an eerily quiet street is a wall next to the bar that's fitted with LED panels. They glow with ever-changing light, from soothing blues and greens to hot pinks and yellows.

I suppose if you sat at the bar and had one too many, this might give you pause about ordering another, not to mention that an episode of The Simpsons was silently projected on a panel behind the bar.

But in the dining area, which faces the bar from behind floor-to-ceiling clear glass panels, the changing colors set a mood for the nouveau food that arrives from chef Rachel Frances Klein's kitchen.

"We wanted to offer a dining experience, not just the opportunity to get full on something," co-owner Po Chiu told the Journal when he opened in the spring. Chiu owns Lot 401 with Henry Mu. Klein, who came here from XO Cafe, calls her signature dishes Asian fusion.

They're crafted from a deep exploration into the foods of the Orient, mixed with the best of our local bounty. Thus, Georges Bank scallops arrive with summer pea salad, mint, Thai basil, pickled red pearl onions and Chinese sausage. The 22-Ounce Cowboy Steak, prepared with an espresso and brown sugar dry rub, is accompanied by tempura onion rings, field greens and a chocolate-cabernet sauce.

Klein is nothing if not inventive in her push to wed some very unusual ingredients in hopes of creating harmony in what may at first seem like a strange mixed marriage. From what we sampled on a recent visit to Lot 401, she succeeds admirably, even though we sometimes paused a couple of beats before jumping in and ordering something as exotic as the Lot 401 "BLT" ($14) appetizer.

Exotic? A BLT?

Well, Klein's "BLT" contains no bacon, although there is "lettuce" (well, watercress anyway) and slices of very ripe native tomato on two triangles of toasted sourdough bread.

"But what's broiled unagi," I innocently asked our extraordinarily enthusiastic waitress about the other crucial ingredient in the "BLT," the one that substitutes for the traditional bacon.

"Actually, it's eel," she said with a dry smile, hoping, I suspected, that I wouldn't throw up my hands in terror at the prospect, even as she added that it was one of her favorite things on the menu. But then, so were so many things on the menu. In the course of our evening everything we asked about was either "spectacular," "my favorite thing" or her favorite term: "fabulous!"

Presented with a side of white daikon radish sliced into slender spaghetti-like strands, the dish looked pretty fabulous, and the "BLT" certainly looked like the kind of BLTs Mom used to make. But you couldn't disguise the fishy taste, which I guess is what you're after when you order eel instead of bacon on a sandwich. I liked it, but then I'm partial to eel sushi, too.

The sourdough, by the way, is about the only bread you'll find at Lot 401, which is clearly a place for adventurous eaters. Instead of a bread basket at the start, we got a plate of edamame, soybeans in their little pods alongside a small cup of soy-sake dipping sauce.

"Most people dip the pods in the sauce and then slide the beans out between their lips," our waitress explained. True enough, the pods were leathery, but the tender beans inside had a subtle nuttiness that was delicious -- and addictive! We kept sticking those beans in that dipping sauce, which had a tangy saltiness, right through the appetizers until our entrees arrived.

Soon after, she brought each of us a small plate of sliced tender carrots topped by tiny crescents of red onion in a yogurt sauce that she promised would get our taste buds working. It did.

Corn as custard, crunch

My companion had hoped to sample the short rib dumplings ($12) -- beet carpaccio, scallions, Vietnamese "micro greens" and black vinegar reduction. Alas, our waitress told us the chef couldn't get one of the key ingredients this day.

Instead, my lobster-loving friend decided to go for broke with the most expensive item on the appetizer menu -- butter-poached lobster ($18). Chunks of claw and tail meat sat in a creamy lobster reduction sauce that carried on the seaside flavor. They were accompanied by a small round of very light and smooth corn custard flan, slivers of asparagus and caramelized pecan popcorn, which added a pleasant sweet crunchiness.

Inventive. Unusual. Yet the mix of flavors and textures played well with each other.

After toying with the idea of ordering the steak & eggs -- filet mignon, truffle fried egg, asparagus, potato puree and bordelaise sauce ($34) -- my friend opted instead for the Asian-style braised pork ($24). This came with sweet-and-sour red cabbage and fingerling steak fries in a sauce of hot mustard jus. "One of my favorites!" beamed the waitress.

The sight of the ultra-tender pork bellies, the red cabbage, the rounds of potatoes and the brown jus made me think of Germany. A taste of the sweet-and-sour cabbage reinforced the reminiscence. But the sweetness contrasted with the mustardy jus -- made with a dash of hot Chinese mustard -- and gave it an edgy personality all its own.

My Thai bourride was a marriage of New England and Siam. Big pieces of lobster claw and tail, two jumbo shrimps, a large sea scallop and several clams and mussels arrived in a Thai curry sauce. The fresh ingredients from the sea married well with the semi-spicy curry and were served with big dices of potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes and sweet green peas. A trio of tender baby carrots sat on top.

The dishes at Lot 401 are attractively and carefully arranged with a feng shui touch, yet not so intimidating as to look as if they'd been designed in architecture class. Simple and pretty they are.

Alongside the Thai bourride was a dish of shrimp toast -- shrimp paste spread on a pair of bread triangles, topped with panko crumbs and deep fried. It was fishier tasting than I'd expected something to be whose base was mild shrimp, so the accompanying little cup of citrus aioli was welcome. The waitress said the aioli could be used to thicken the curry sauce, but I liked everything just the way it was.

Inspired desserts with creative names

All the desserts are made in house by pastry chef Clarissa Palmer -- even the ice cream -- and they are as stunning as they are imaginative . . . fabulous, too.

I couldn't resist the farmstead sundae ($9) because its flaky buttermilk biscuit was topped by sweet corn ice cream! Imagine! It truly did have a corny flavor (our waitress said the corn is shucked from the cob and pureed, strained and then mixed with heavy cream, eggs and sugar and spun into ice cream). Along with the blueberries, crunchy caramel pecan popcorn and buttery sauce on this sundae, I felt as if I'd landed at the county fair! It was served on an impressive glass triangular plate that was a sculpture all its own.

I expected my companion's Dark and Stormy ($10) to be, well, at least dark. But it was a slice of very fruity pineapple upside-down cake topped with a piece of dried pineapple and homemade peanut brittle. It arrived with a glass containing little scoops of rum ice cream over which our waitress poured a bottle of Jamaican ginger beer to create a very sweet, tangy and kicky ice cream float that had a Caribbean flair.

Klein said in a later phone call that she and Palmer collaborate on recipe ideas.

"It's fun. For a lot of the menu we like to do plays on other things, things that will set us apart from other places." And they get a lot of leeway from owners Chiu and Mu. "They're very chef driven and very food driven. I feel completely, for once, that I can do whatever I want creatively."

As we left, our waitress told us to check out the lounge upstairs. Up what seemed like several flights of stairs in a red-painted stairwell (there's also a silvery elevator that looks very Buck Rogers), we entered the door at the top to find red lights projected in wild blotchy patterns on the walls. I felt like I'd walked into a tomato patch.

A long low table at one end was lit with small white candles. Opposite, a half dozen people sat at a bar in a mostly bare room that apparently is a disco lounge on busy weekends. They looked young, hip, skinny, dressed in black.

Eureka! At last we'd found where the hipsters hung out.

*****

Details, details

Lot 401, 44 Hospital St., Providence, (401) 490-3980. Casual. Reservations accepted. Smoking in upstairs lounge only. Wheelchair accessible. No highchairs. Open for lunch noon to 2 p.m. Tue.-Fri.; for dinner from 5 p.m. to closing Tue.-Sun. V, MC, AE, DIS. Free parking.

Appetizers cost $8 to $18. Entrees are $22 to $46, with a five-course tasting menu for $78 per person. Lunch menu is $7 to $16. The wine list is $5 to $14 by the glass; $14 to $550 for a bottle.

*****

If you like Neath's, Ten Prime Steak and Sushi or Beyond India, you'll like Lot 401.

*****

Bill of fare

Dinner for two at Lot 401, excluding drinks, might look something like this:

Lot 401 "BLT" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $14

Butter poached lobster . . . . . . . . . .. $18

Thai bourride . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $30

Asian-style braised pork . . . . . . . . .. $24

Dark and stormy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10

Farmstead sundae . . . . .. . . . . . . . . $9

Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $8.40

Tip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $21

Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $134.40

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Lot 401