Review: Icon Brings New Life to Downtown

Icon Restaurant & Bar
Tutwiler Hotel
2021 Park Place North
(205) 251-2021
www.birminghammenus.com/icon/

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By Deborah Lockridge 

The walls of the hallway in the Tutwiler hotel leading to the new Icon restaurant are hung with fascinating old black-and-white photographs from Birmingham's early days, ranging from the late 1800s to the 1940s. But once you step through the glass doors into the restaurant, it's almost like you're stepping out of Birmingham. The sleek, minimalist décor looks more like a restaurant in New York City, helping bring new life to downtown.

Icon's opening has been much anticipated by fans of the former Restaurant G, which we never made it to. It's owned by Chef Geoffrey Slate and Manager Alan Dobbs. Geoffrey, who we met briefly as we were leaving, went to the New England Culinary Institute and worked at several prestigious restaurants, including Magnolia Grill in Durham, N.C. and Peasant Restaurant Group in Atlanta. In 1997, he returned to Alabama as executive chef for local caterer Kathy G & Co. starting in 1997 and helped open Restaurant G in 2002. Alan worked in business management for years before he discovered a love for the restaurant business, and has been in senior management at Azalea, L&N Seafood, and Copper Grill locally.

We ate in the Tutwiler restaurant many years ago on our wedding night – in fact, it was the first real fine dining experience we had enjoyed together. (To give you an idea of how far back this was, when we ordered a white Burgundy wine, our server felt compelled to warn us that it was $8 a glass – most wines by the glass were $3.99 or $4.99.) We would not have recognized the space. It has been completely re-imagined as a chic yet comfortable urban restaurant, featuring shades of beige, black and red. Along one wall is a row of espresso-colored simple boxes fitted with narrow vases, which on our visit were filled with simple groupings of bamboo.

While we tried to decide what to order, we enjoyed some bread, dense yet tender and studded with herbs, complemented by a honey-orange butter.

We started out with Diver Scallop Lollipops ($14) and an Icon Caesar salad ($8). The scallops were cooked perfectly, three good-sized ones, each served on a small flat wooden skewer like, well, lollipops. Tender gourmet mushrooms made a nice contrast to some baby greens, and a foie gras jus added just the right touch of richness. The only disappointment with this dish was the sweet potato risotto, which was cold. Wine-wise, this was well matched with a glass of a chenin blanc/viognier blend from California. We have not had this blend before, and the crispness of the Chenin Blanc nicely balanced the aromatic floral fruity notes of the viognier.

The salad was one of the best Caesars we've ever had in a restaurant. Icon adds radicchio and arugula to the traditional romaine lettuce for added flavor complexity and color, as well as oven dried tomatoes (think soft and rich in flavor, not typical chewy sun-dried tomatoes), and basil pesto croutons, which were toasted slices of baguette with a generous dollop of pesto. The dressing had the assertive flavors of garlic and anchovy we associate with a true Caesar but which are often missing from the dumbed-down versions served at many mass-market restaurants today.

Some of the other appetizer choices that tempted us were a big bowl of mussels in a vermouth and saffron broth; spicy green tomato soup with peppered shrimp and applewood smoked bacon; braised veal cheek ravioli; and pistachio crusted foie gras.

For entrees, we could not resist the lamb porterhouse ($29), as we've never seen that cut on a menu. There were actually two, served on the rare side of medium rare, nicely seasoned with a pinot noir sauce. They were accompanied by sautéed rapini, also known as broccoli rabe, a rather bitter green that would not be to everyone's taste. We also asked for a substitution on this dish; instead of the flageolets that were listed on the menu, we requested the parsnip potato cloud normally served with the black pepper molasses crusted pork tenderloin. An excellent choice, with the parsnips adding a bit of sweetness and earthiness, transforming what would otherwise be simply very good mashed potatoes into some of the best we've had.

Our other entrée was tea-seared duck breast, with green Asian-flavored "bamboo rice," baby glazed turnips, baby bok choi and shitake mushrooms ($23). The duck was tender and meaty. The baby turnips were especially a delight, firm and flavorful without that turnip bitterness. (We believe they're a white Japanese version we've had from a local farm that aren't as strong as the usual purple kind, and being a baby version made them more mild and tender to boot.) The sauce was almost caramelized yet not burnt tasting. The only complaint was that this dish could have been a bit warmer, but that didn't stop us from eating every bit.

Some of the other entrée selections included a bone-in ribeye with roasted fingerlings and cabernet sauvignon jus; grilled beef tenderloin with red wine braised shallots and gruyere soufflé; cedar-planked Alaskan Halibut with whole grain jasmine rice and Meyer lemon ginger butter emulsion; and butter poached lobster with spring onions, peas, grits and French horn mushrooms.

The wine recommendations were good. Icon's owners and Wine Manager Jake Davidson have done a wonderful job with the wine list. While heavy on American wines, it offers some intriguing boutique labels and other options that aren't over-exposed. With dinner, we enjoyed a Stellenbosch Syrah from South Africa. A very pleasant surprise was that it was served at cellar temperature, which you don't often see around here.

In an e-mail correspondence after our visit, Geoffrey Slate told me they are expanding on the unusual wine list concept they had at G, which consistently won the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence.

"My philosophy is to place wines based on their flavor profile rather than their name recognition, just as I would for a food menu… That way, the matching of our food and wine is more harmonious. We looked at the flavor profiles of the food and then worked (tasted!) our way through about 400 wines to arrive at the current list. We have the different varietals represented through a range of styles, as we have food ingredients that are treated in specific styles. The end result I think is special and from my experience somewhat unique. "

Desserts were good but not as memorable as the entrees, an apple tart ($8) and a Southern Opera Cake ($9). Other choices included a peanut butter mousse tower with organic peanut butter and a crispy peanut meringue, Meyer lemon pudding cake and a bittersweet chocolate pyramid with cardamom ice cream.

The only truly disappointing part of the meal was the after-dinner coffee. Neither the espresso nor the cappuccino had the depth, body and assertiveness we associate with espresso; they were more like regular coffee. The espresso did not have the bit of creaminess on the top that really good espresso does. And if you don't have good espresso, you can't have good cappuccino – and this didn't even have much in the way of frothed milk on top. We talked to our server, and on the way out mentioned it to Jake and to the chef, and they assured us that the problem was a new espresso machine and they would work to get it properly calibrated.

As a hotel restaurant, Icon is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, including a jazz brunch on Sundays. The restaurant had only been open for less than two months on our visit, so it's likely that the few small bobbles we experienced will get ironed out.

Published June 2007

Update (December 2007): Icon has a new chef, Ben Leingang. The menu retains favorites such as Duck Spring Rolls, Spicy Green Tomato Soup and Grilled Chicken Shitake Skewers. Leingang's diverse international influences – among them Vietnamese, Filipino and Italian – show up in new dishes like Baharat Scented Colorado Lamb Rack.