The image of local son Miles Davis peers down from one wall of
Lola, a new downtown restaurant that faces Lucas Park. It’s
entirely appropriate, because what we have here is the birth of the
cool.
Lola took over the space from the much-loved but short-lived
Crepes in the City. The new restaurant still has eight crepes on
the menu, but it supplements them with some interesting and
well-constructed small plates.
Lola splits its identity between restaurant and downtown
neighborhood bar, offering an extensive list of mixed drinks that
have been named for virtually every occupied building within a
four-block radius.
The exception to the naming convention is the nonalcoholic
section, whose members are named for rehab clinics, plus one
mysteriously called the Priory. In an ironic contrast, the on-table
water pitchers are delabeled and sanitized whiskey bottles.
People are also reading…
A leather sectional pit and an outdoor patio are featured, in
addition to standard tables and a bar.
Inside, the room reflects sound, and the place gets downright
noisy when more than half full, especially when there’s live music.
Even when we made an early evening appearance, some recorded New
Orleans brass jazz made the atmosphere vibrant — or rather,
cool.
We were there for the food, however, and one of the first dishes
we tried, snails and tails ($9), was indicative of the overall
experience. Instead of just snails on the specialty indented plate,
each was wrapped in a crawfish tail, which offered a different kind
of resistant texture, a slightly sweet shellfish flavor and a good
foil to the garlic butter.
Herbed polenta fries ($7) achieved the most important trick with
fried polenta, which is keeping the cooked cornmeal sufficiently
moist inside, with a small portion of ratatouille providing
additional moisture and a concentrated vegetable flavor.
Mussels Pernod ($9) had a lingering, gentle anise flavor both
from its namesake liqueur and from actual fennel, but the portion
size of about a dozen mussels seemed a bit slight for the
price.
Lola’s lamb lollies ($12), however, came in a generous order of
three Frenched New Zealand chops flavored with a crust of panko
bread crumbs, Dijon mustard and rosemary. The three chops were
spiked together with a rosemary sprig and placed on a pea purée for
a striking presentation, and the tender meat came out the requested
medium rare.
Our server did a hard sell on something called a Caribbean salad
($10), which was certainly an adventure, if not necessarily to the
Caribbean. Several small fried shrimp and some balsamic-dressed
strawberries sat atop a sizable mix of spring greens and fennel,
with blueberries and caramelized plantains circling the base. The
cross-cultural flavors weren’t exactly dissonant, but they did come
across as if Vivaldi’s Spring concerto from the “Four Seasons” was
played on a steel drum.
The Jezebel crepe ($9) was very thin and slightly oversize,
well-filled (and topped) with a mix of mushrooms cooked with a
not-too-sweet balsamic glaze.
We also tried one of the evening specials, Mediterranean salmon,
which achieved its geographical designation through a smooth
tomato-fennel sauce flavored with olives and a thyme sprig serving
as a decoration. The salmon was perfectly cooked, but something to
keep in mind with the specials is Lola’s “don’t ask, don’t tell”
description: If you don’t ask, you won’t be told until you see your
bill that the price is roughly double the cost of regular menu
items.
Portion size, while larger than the small plates, isn’t huge.
The specials notwithstanding, a decent-size meal consists of five
or six plates, which can easily take a meal for two with drinks
above the $100 mark.
On the other hand, the approach makes Lola especially
appropriate for a lighter meal, either early in the evening or for
drinks and late-night snacks. The name, we were told, doesn’t
really mean anything, although the atmosphere reminded us a little
of New Orleans — aka NOLA. That city defines cool, and Lola is the
birth of a new cool destination in the downtown loft district.
500 North 14th Street, downtown • 314-621-7277 •
welovelola.com • Menu: About a dozen small plates of various
origins, plus crepes and a short list of salads and sandwiches •
Smoking: No • Hours: 4 p.m.- close Monday, 11 a.m.-close
Tuesday-Friday, 9:30 a.m.-close Saturday-Sunday
