Cuisine Review

Palette Café offers a refreshing approach to lunch

Sunlight floods into the wide atrium, as birds fly across the luminescent pond. The talk is quiet, the food light. Is this what lunch is all about?

It is almost shocking when you are used to waiting to grab a table amid a flurry of people who have a limited amount of time and settling for a wrap with chips. But, serenity is the name of the game at the Palette Café, located inside the Mobile Museum of Art. But plan your outing, as the Palette Café only serves lunch, Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

It was voting day when I came to eat, and the service was upstairs on the balcony overlooking the atrium. Typically the seating is downstairs, but my friend and I enjoyed the view across the lake and commented that they should always have seating up there.

White tablecloths and rattan chairs further the composed atmosphere. I have poked fun in the past that this was a ladies-who-lunch place, and it is. Where else would you find out that some matrons have traded bridge at “the Club” and now come early for a game or two of cards before eating?

But there were some men sprinkled around the tables and you don’t really feel out of place if you actually have a job. The talk is hushed, as I am sure many did not want heard what they had to say. But then again I never felt listened in upon. We ate at a leisurely pace, but finished in an hour. The service was quiet and sometimes hard to find – but everything was on time and we never really wanted for much either.

Susan Corley has parlayed a successful prepared meal service into a fine restaurant. For many years she provided menus of complete meals each week for clients to select and pick up at her home. I sampled some of them over the years and was quite impressed with her creativity. It was natural that she would try eventually do something this adventuresome.

A nice café with limited hours is the perfect opportunity to venture out – a fine catering kitchen was already in place so all she needed was the food, the staff and some places to sit. Her menu changes often according to the seasons – you can tell the food is fresh. And, being a small operation, Corley can purchase many things locally and try new items without loosing her shirt if they do not sell.

Beginning with the soups, there are two. The first immediately was going to be my choice – gazpacho ($3.25). This summer I have not had the opportunity to order any, nor the inclination to make it. Her cup of pureed fresh vegetables in a tomato base was exactly the kind I like. I prefer the celery, onion, carrot, tomato and the like chopped up fine rather than chunky. This was a respite from the hot-as-fire day I had been experiencing, I immediately felt refreshed. My second favorite summer soup is cucumber, and hers ($3.25) is chilled, mixed with yogurt and topped with walnuts.

The Palette Café has four salads, or rather three and the ubiquitous trio. The house salad is also the side for the sandwiches and entrees – mixed greens with strawberries, blue cheese and pecans in delightful champagne vinaigrette ($8 as a meal). There is a spinach salad with mandarin oranges, almonds, craisins and feta cheese with pomegranate vinaigrette ($8).

Something about the atmosphere compelled me to order the chunky chicken salad ($9) hefty with white meat chicken, grapes, celery, pecans and an unusual addition of orange bell peppers and mine was served with the house salad. The chicken salad of course looks different from most with the punch of orange, but the bell pepper was such an ever-so-sweet addition to the typical mix that it worked. I can imagine the shrimp, artichoke and rice salad with curry mayonnaise ($9) is just as good. The trio comes with the chicken, shrimp and a white bean salad ($11).

The chicken salad also comes as a sandwich on croissant ($10). Had I not ordered the chicken salad I would have tried the vegetarian panini ($9) with grilled portabella, roasted red peppers, caramelized onion, spinach and brie. For those with a more manly appetite, she has a Reuben panini ($10) traditional in nature, and a muffaletta ($9) with ham, salami, provolone and a house-made olive salad served warm on fresh bread. I will get the muff next time, a rarity for me to try.

My friend rushed for one of the three entrees the minute they gave us the menus – the lump crabmeat “cheesecake” quiche with pecan crust ($11). It was pure crabmeat held together with creamy cheese. She did not leave a fleck on her plate. I had eaten some fish tacos earlier in the week, so even though I wanted it, I skipped the Asian fish tacos with lemongrass sauce and snow pea and carrot slaw ($12), but Susan, who I first met that day, insisted that she bring us one to try. Unbelievable. The fish was crusty, tender to the fork (which I put down in short order) and fresh.

An ample serving, her slaw beats shredded lettuce and salsa any day. The lemongrass lightly soaked the vegetables with the snow peas adding a crunchy last bite. None of this was left on the plate either and we still ordered desserts. The last entrée is an ambitious creation of Greek style snapper ($13) cooked en papillote (in a paper bag) with sun dried tomatoes, capers and artichokes and served over couscous.

Four desserts each beckon and demand that you try at least one. We got two. I had seen the multi-layered (I think 16) lemon curd cake ($4.25) and the strawberry whipped cream cake ($4) would have to wait. Instead I ordered the chocolate chip cake with a German chocolate sauce ($4), which was moist (I hate dry cake). It was only a mistake in that it was too heavy and rich for me during the heat of summer. The Margarita mousse ($3.25), served on buttered pretzels is a welcome diversion from all of the cheesecakes and pies so often found and arguably the best dessert in town.

What impresses me the most, and the thought that kept coming to mind is that the food here is light but, I hate to use the word again, refreshing. Even though I left fairly full (due to eating too much) none of the food is heavy. This place is not just for those who faint at the thought of work, but for anyone who needs a quiet respite and remarkable lunchtime meal.

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

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