Skip to main contentThe abrupt departure of impresario Michael Hebb from clarklewis last spring got plenty of attention, but time has proven that the most important member of the team is still there: chef Morgan Brownlow. If anybody's going to write an obit for this restaurant, it won't be because of the food. The menu reads like a shopping list, but the chef's got the technique and the vision to make a combo of, say, shrimp, Basque peppers, garlic, capers and smoky paprika into the tapa of your dreams. I'm inclined to forgive Brownlow his tics, such as sprinkling fennel pollen around like fairy dust, as long as he continues to get bright ideas like saucing housemade tagliarini with Dungeness crab, leek cream, sweet white corn kernels and opal basil or topping tomato bruschetta with a fresh farm egg. Servers are professional and well-informed; the next step will be when management lives up to the serious cooking by replacing the awful chairs, tamping down the cacophonous noise and illuminating the murky gloom. At least lunch is back on the menu. (HY)
WWeek 2015