By Donna Cornelius
It took some time for Grille 29 to join the Birmingham restaurant scene, but it didn’t take long for the upscale-casual eatery to start drawing diners.
On a recent weekday afternoon, a full house was expected for the night in the large Brookwood Village building that formerly housed McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant, and Grille 29 still found a way to squeeze in a large group that needed last-minute reservations.
The restaurant has a Huntsville location that opened in 2007, said Troy Goldman, director of operations for Restaurant Partners Inc., which owns both restaurants.
Restaurant Partners is “sort of a five-legged beast,” Goldman said. “We do consulting, management, own and operate restaurants, do accounting and handle procurement for restaurants.”
Dave Manuchia started Restaurant Partners as a consulting company, Goldman said. Before that, Manuchia was with Darden Restaurants, where he was a founding partner of the Olive Garden Italian Restaurant chain.
“Our portfolio changes every year depending on our contracts,” Goldman said. “We have Sloppy Joe’s in Daytona Beach, Fla., and private clubs. We’re about to open Salt Air Seafood Kitchen in Key West and just developed a concept in Trinidad. We’re talking with people in Branson, Missouri. We go where the call takes us.”
Opening a Grille 29 in Birmingham has been one of the company’s goals for a while, but company officials wanted to establish the restaurant in Huntsville first, Goldman said. The Huntsville location has been voted best restaurant three times in the annual Taste of Huntsville and best in Alabama by Trip Advisor.
“Once we got our sea legs in Huntsville, we decided we were ready to expand,” Goldman said. “We talked to folks at The Summit when the Cheesecake Factory phase was being built. We decided it was too soon, but we still wanted to be here very badly.”
When the McCormick & Schmick’s building became available, Grille 29 was ready.
“We thought coming to Birmingham would solidify our concept – to be in the same place as people like Frank Stitt and Chris Hastings,” Goldman said.
After extensive renovations, Grille 29 opened Oct. 6. Diners who ate at McCormick & Schmick’s will see that the building’s striking stained-glass dome is still there. But the new owners added a 4,000-pound fish tank – there’s also one at the Huntsville restaurant – and lowered the floor of the middle dining room, which had been elevated.
You don’t have to be around Goldman long to see his enthusiasm for the restaurant’s main attraction – its food.
“When we do newer developments, Dave, our corporate chefs and our executive chefs have spirited debates,” he said. “We don’t have stockholders. We can take the menus where we want to take them. We can make local decisions – local to this restaurant and to the seasons.”
Several signature dishes at the Huntsville Grille 29 are on the menu in Birmingham.
“Our Grouper Oscar outsells everything by a mile,” Goldman said.
This creation, one of the Alabama Tourism Department’s 100 Dishes to Eat in Alabama Before You Die, is pan-seared black grouper topped with jumbo lump crabmeat, grilled asparagus and hollandaise sauce and is served with wild rice.
Also high on the restaurant’s most popular list are its Filet 29, which has gorgonzola atop steak wrapped with applewood smoked bacon; Stuffed Sea Scallops, full of a crab cake blend over edamame succotash and lobster mashed potatoes; and Sesame Crusted Tuna – sliced yellowfin tuna with ponzu, ginger, white sticky rice and wasabi.
The Ginger Lime Sea Bass is another customer favorite.
“A lot of places don’t carry sea bass because it’s so volatile in price, but it’s at the top of the food chain,” Goldman said.
On the light side, the restaurant has grilled artichokes with lemon aioli; Orange Beach Salad with fresh avocados, fire-roasted corn, shrimp salad, tomatoes and lump crabmeat; and the Wedge Salad, with applewood smoked bacon, tomatoes, egg, blue cheese and Parmesan ranch dressing.
Only the most determined dieters are likely to pass up dessert at Grille 29. Goldman said the Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffle was voted best dessert in Huntsville for five years running. This treat is a French silk cake topped with peanut butter mousse and covered in chocolate ganache.
Other sweet endings on the menu are the Crème Brulee Trio, Chocolate Soufflé and the Grille 29 Cheesecake.
While many elements of the Huntsville restaurant made their way to Birmingham, everything isn’t exactly the same.
“We’d never had a happy hour until Birmingham,” Goldman said. “It’s 3 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday in our bar. We have half off our signature cocktails, the 29 Caliber and Blueberry Lemon Drop.”
The 29 Caliber “is our take on Irish coffee without the coffee,” he said. “We use Bulleit rye bourbon with Kahlua and put it in a heated snifter.”
When the snifter lid is lifted, smoke comes curling out of the glass. It’s a showstopper – as is the restaurant’s Bayou Bloody Mary. With jumbo shrimp, andouille sausage, olives, spicy green beans and grated horseradish, it’s almost a meal in itself.
“When we serve one Bloody Mary and people see it, we end up serving a bunch,” Goldman said.
Happy hour customers also can order the restaurant’s “Bar Bites,” including a variety of sliders and Parmesan Truffle Popcorn.
Goldman said Grille 29 has 96 wines on its wine list, 35 sold by the glass. The Grille 29 signature wine is the Vineyard 29 Estate, a Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon.
The restaurant’s banquet room will seat 80 guests for corporate and private events. There’s also a patio.
The executive chef is Daniel Mitchell. The New Orleans native was executive chef at Greystone Golf & Country Club for about 13 years.
“Executive chefs are often insane,” Goldman said, laughing, “But Daniel has not only the skillset but an incredible disposition. He’ll take off his apron and come out and talk.”
Pastry chef Brandy Weidenthal “has been with us since she was 19, except when she went to culinary school,” he said.
After putting new employees through what Goldman said was the company’s largest-ever training program, he and other members of the Grille 29 team were eager to introduce their concept to Birmingham.
“We have a warm, friendly environment,” Goldman said. “Our standards, our food, our wine – we take them seriously. But we don’t take ourselves seriously.”
Grille 29 is at 971 Brookwood Village. It’s open every day for lunch and dinner and has brunch on Sunday. For more information, visit www.grille29.com or call 783-1295. Reservations are available through www.opentable.com. ϖ
