Perfect Combination
Veranda On Highland pairs culinary delights with enchanting ambience.
By Jan Walsh Photos by Miller Mobley
Fireplaces and stained glass windows provide an elegant and comforting backdrop for a white tablecloth, candlelit dinner or brunch at Veranda on Highland. The restaurant boasts nine dining rooms, a wine cellar for private dining, a patio, a second story veranda with a view of Red Mountain and a bar, Papa’s Bar and Lounge, where a bust of Hemingway is the pièce de résistance.
Yet it is Executive Chef Tom Robey who is the life of the restaurant. If he were not a successful chef he could likely make a career of his comedic personality. But when it comes to his cuisine, he is a serious chef. In his two-and-a-half-year tenure at Veranda he has developed a meat-driven Southern cuisine with New Orleans influences that is uniquely Veranda’s. A native of Ocean City, N.J., Robey graduated culinary school at Johnson & Wales University. But his New Orleans influence comes from 18 years at Commander’s Palace, including his role as sous chef.
Along with Robey, Dining Room Manager Stanley Reynolds also came to Veranda on Highland from Commander’s Palace. Tonight Reynolds seats us at a table in the bar area, my favorite room.Veranda does not just have a wine list.They have a wine collection. And tonight I enjoy pouring over this Wine Spectator Award of Excellence wine menu before selecting Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon 2003.
For appetizers, we select Jumbo Lump Crabmeat and Corn Beignet and Poached Shrimp. The golden beignets arrive with a pickled okra and tartar sauce, adding acidity and creaminess. Layers of other flavors including cayenne-dusted coconut, crunchy roasted apples and pumpkin seeds with a curry vinaigrette enhance the Poached Shrimp.
For entrees we select a Double Cut Pork Chop and Iron Seared Jumbo Scallops. The two-inch thick Fudge Family Farms pork chop is the prettiest pork I have seen. It arrives with aromas of black pepper, herbs, citrus, brown sugar, bourbon and honey. One cut proves the chop to be juicy and tender to the bone. One bite proves it to be as good as it looks with meat enhanced by the bourbon and honey glaze.
“We marinate the chop overnight. This tenderizes it and gives it color. Then we grill it without letting it char, glaze it with a reduced bourbon, black pepper and honey glaze, and finish it off in the oven,”
Robey says. The chop is served on a bed of bacon, rosemary braised apples, and “petite cabbage” (Brussels sprouts halved). This mixture adds layers of complexity, texture and visual appeal.
In the other entrée, three Iron Seared Jumbo Scallops float on a bed of warm spinach bursting with flavor, along with cherry tomatoes, caramelized red onions in Robey’s aged sherry bacon vinaigrette, topped with shaved fennel and asparagus.
Each dessert at Veranda is a masterpiece. We opt for the Carrot Cake and Chocolate Terrine. General Manager Tommy Findley gets the credit for this carrot cake, as it comes from an old family recipe.
The moist cake includes dried cherries, candied ginger and carrots, of course. The Chocolate Terrine is a silky, frozen mousse atop a white chocolate, pistachio bark with a raspberry coulis and served with a Grand Mariner cookie. It is a creamy, chocolaty end to the evening.
Veranda On Highland has it all: an enchanting ambience, phenomenal service, outstanding wine list, excellent cuisine and a chef and staff who bring it all together into the total package.
