Okay, okay. I realize I said I wouldn’t be doing restaurant reviews here. This is more a quick a report on a single meal. I’m not trying to paint a picture of the whole operation, nor am I gonna assign any stars or spoons, or thumbs up or down. This is just what I ate at M5 on a wednesday afternoon late lunch. Face value people, face value.
Walking in the door…well, I realize they’re a live fire joint, using a wood burning grill and oven, that’s a plus. That said, I don’t want to leave a meal smelling like I left a campfire. Crank up that hood fellas! I was happy to see that they were serving straight through to dinner. Their late lunch menu is abbreviated and more than adequate.
The bartender, Luciano (sp) , was very pleasant, knowledgeable about the menu, and about food in general. I’ve recently read about a black pepper martini, I threw the idea at him…he got enthused.
I started with the Meze: babaganouj, tzatziki, and pimento cheese (?!). Pimento cheese…yeah. I did like the fresh made pita, nice touch, it makes it worth ordering (I’ll go on about the importance of fresh warm bread another time). My lunch was garganelli with roasted plum tomatoes, caramelized onions, and Niman Ranch veal. Let me say upfront, it was good. I happily ate the whole thing. The only thing is, well, I never want to have to use my knife (large chunks of veal) when eating pasta. If so, serve the thing on a plate as opposed to in a bowl. I’m happy to see the use of Niman and local producers like Grateful Growers (pork shank on the dinner menu).
The look is all dark woods and modern, think West Elm. I’m not trying to be snide, really, the dinning room is very well done. It’s a good sized place, strategically carved up into cozier spaces, I like that. They have a kitchen “counter” of sorts. It’s dinning bar that nudges up a against the open kitchen, where you can participate in their “Feed Me Chef” program. Basically a Chef’s choice 5 course prix fixe at $55. Wine pairings can be tacked on for an upcharge. It’s good to see the kitchen allowed to express itself in this format as the offerings are strictly off menu. That is to say, they’re not just serving tasting portions of existing menu items. Very David Chang, another plus.
I spoke with Chef Paul (I forget his last name, sorry dude. Tom Condron is the Exec. Chef, this is a Harper’s Restaurant Group outfit, but Paul is the one on-site, in the driver’s seat on a day-to-day basis, Chef de Cuisine if you wanna get fancy). When queried about the prix fixe, Chef Paul went as far as to suggest calling in a resy a couple days in advance so he might “bring in” some product for your Feed Me Chef experience. Very generous.
Now things are getting interesting. Meghan, the bartender who came in for shift change, who I also told about the black pepper martini, is starting to experiment…free drinks!!
We’ve tried five variations…yeah:
- Chopin (I think) with straight black pepper syrup
- with black pepper syrup and extra simple syrup to sweeten it up and balance out the pepper
- with Sky Citrus
- with Stoli Vanilla
- with Stoli Orange
dude, I’m wasted…it’s 5:30, I got here at 3.
#2 was really good, though I don’t know if I could drink a whole glass of it. #5 was the clear winner in my mind. The orange put the black pepper in it’s place with ease. It tasted like the holidays, to steal a description from a woman at the bar who got pulled into the a la minute tasting (lucky her!). As the wheels in my near inebriated mind turn, I think it would be worthwhile to add clove to the simple syrup mix, rim the glass with cinnamon sugar and serve with a twist of candied orange peel and a chunk of candied ginger. Yeah…that’s the vodka talkin’.
I’ll certainly be back to M5, probably for dinner, probably to try their prix fixe. Until that report, enjoy the bellyspeak…
Big thanks to Meghan and Luciano. Good people, whether your dinning with them or they’re serving you, make a dinning experience. Next time though, I’ll be drinking water ;)
4 Comments
October 9, 2008 at 7:44 am
I had lunch @ M5 for the first time last week and I too had a good experience. I also had the garganelli and enjoyed it (cleaned my plate). It was light but not at all bland – I liked that I didn’t feel like I ate a plate-ful of pasta.
You nailed it with the West Elm reference – that made me laugh! The decor is so out of the pages of West Elm.
David Chang is my hero. I ate at Momofuku two years ago and I can still taste his ramen and those glorious pork buns. Mmmmm. Plus he’s a fan of Thomas Keller, my other hero, and I enjoyed a long, 12 course meal at Per Se during that same trip. I was a happy, happy girl that weekend.
The black pepper martini sounds really interesting. I had a lillet and star anise martini at a bar on the waterfront in D.C. that sounds like it may have interested you. I think it had grey goose, lillet blanc, lemon simple syrup and star anise. Heavenly!
Sounds like you had a great lunch, service included!
Rock on-
Jessica
October 9, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Jessica
Great point about the pasta, I meant to mention that they were spot on with the portion size. Pricing was also appropriate.
I tried in vain (no surprise) to land a seat for one at Ko this past summer. I’ll have to try one of Chang’s other places next time. Not to make a comparison, but I’m glad at least that dinning format is available to us in Charlotte.
I actually met Keller back when I was cooking, like in ‘95 , pre-stratospheric chef stardom, though he was already well known and respected. I spent a half hour with him touring the kitchen of The French Laundry. It was a revelation (coming from a basement kitchen in NYC) to see them cooking with open screened windows under natural light (skylights). Anyway, that was my brush with culinary fame.
Thanks for stopping by. Your input is much appreciated.
October 13, 2008 at 11:47 pm
M5 is the first place that could make the particular martini I drink on try #1, and the ONLY place that knows how to make gnocchi. Why is Italian food the Attwater prairie chicken of Charlotte (nod to my ornithologist friends). Service can be a tad slow on the food side, but the ‘tenders rock it. Glad you enjoyed it, Michael.
October 15, 2008 at 9:42 pm
i only eat one thing there. the gnocchi appetizer…i love it so much, i haven’t moved on to anything else. i’m hooked on the truffel oil! and its only like $7! yummy