Green Door Cafe

It seems that cities oftentimes enter phases where restaurants are similar in name and makeup. In New York right now for instance, critics are deploring the fact that new places are all one name and generic, like “Fork” or “Province.” Here in Mobile it appears that we are stuck on numbers and colors. At least we continue to have openings. The corner of Dauphin and Claiborne (along with the ever-changing restaurant on the western end of the block) appears to be jinxed.

The Green Door (“the Door’) is the latest to press their luck with the space. They opened in mid-July under the guidance of Nick Stricklin, a culinary school graduate, who for the last four years has prepared French cuisine for a private club and Asian fusion cuisine in Fort Lauderdale. While neither of these influences are found on the menu, they do bring a wide selection of salads, soups, paninis and some entrees five days a week for lunch.

The building’s previous occupants did not recognize the opportunities found in the high ceilings and wide windows looking out toward Cathedral Square. The Green Door has capitalized on these attributes. The windows open the room, bathing it in light and eliminate the possibility of dour surroundings. By exposing and softening the ceiling, some acoustic issues are present, but it is overshadowed by the grand height of the room. The park benches and wholesale plant sale display up front is the only thing I found off-putting.

My food and service were good. I suspect though that the service and portions were a little overboard because for the first time, I got busted. I went to lunch with two fellow staffers from the paper not trying to act like the other reviewers who dine alone, but to find someone to try it out with me.

I had received mixed comments about “the Door” and could not find many people who were up for another visit so early in its existence. An alert Green Door staff member immediately rushed to the back once we were seated and, I suspect, may have been responsible for our Johnny-on-the-spot service. We had so many refills, I almost floated out of there.

On to the food. The main part of the menu is made up of salads and paninis. There is a daily soup along with gumbo that is served every day. The soup was loaded baked potato. A generous, thick, rich chicken stock base was topped with a healthy sprinkling of bacon and chopped green onion. Tender chunks of potato swam among shredded cheddar—a well-made and worthy soup.

A friend ordered the gumbo. I have spoken about crappy restaurant gumbo before. This one doesn’t fall into that category. It was generous with medium size, fresh-tasting shrimp, combined with cubes of sausage in a tomato broth. Contrary to one rumor I heard, we were not charged .50 for hot sauce.

The third member of our party only eats two things—chicken fingers and fettuccine alfredo. I pushed her to order the alfredo ($6.50) so we could try one of their entrée selections. I chose the grilled chicken panini ($6) and my other friend got the portabello panini ($5.50). The alfredo was quite different from any other I have tasted, but not wildly veering from the norm. It contained more garlic than rich cream, cheese sauce, and I liked it. There was enough sauce to coat the noodles and the garlic tenderly teased my taste buds.

My grilled chicken panini was topped with fresh cucumber, lettuce and tomato, complimented with a sweet herb mayonnaise “sprayed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.” The foccacia-like bread and contents of the sandwich had been grilled to soothing warmth. The taste of the sandwich could have been a collision of flavors, but that was not the case. The mayo was littered with sweet basil, and the balsamic brought out the delicate flavor of the cucumber and tomato. It is an excellent sandwich. The portabello was grilled and topped with onion confit, garlic aioli, basil and Swiss cheese. I like the beefy, smoked taste of portabellas, and the array of flavor combinations found in both sandwiches exhibits the creativity found at “the Door”.

Once we had been introduced to several staff members, we were presented with dessert selections. Judi, of Cakes by Judi, makes all of the desserts fresh. You know her, she’s the country lady who used to be on Port City 6, right after “Tattoo Chat.” She reminds me of tweety-bird’s owner in the old Bugs Bunny cartoons. She also makes incredible cakes.

I only appreciate cakes that are very moist. That day there were two choices, Hershey Kiss (according to my memory, but it was basically a rich chocolate cake) and Lemon. Two cake quarters (yeah, they did not know they were being reviewed!), one of each, were brought to the table. The layers of cake melted like fudge in our mouths and the lemon had a sublime, sharp tart taste. The icings were pudding like, yet held up as well as any lard based filling.

I want this venture to succeed—they add a new dimension to lunch downtown. If their service and food continue as they did on my visit, I think they will.

Kinnon Phillips is Lagniappe cuisine editor. Contact him at kphillips@lagniappemobile.com.

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