RESTAURANTS: Cafe’s canvas is different, but food is still inspiring

By Eric E. Harrison (Contact)

LITTLE ROCK — It’s unlikely that anybody is actually starving at the Starving Artist Cafe. The food’s too good.

Having outgrown its original snug space on West Seventh Street in downtown Little Rock, owners Paula and Jason Morrell - Jason’s also the chef - have moved their establishment across the river to North Little Rock’s Argenta district, where, bustling as it is with art galleries, pubs and cafes, this art gallery/cafe hybrid fits right in.

Starving Artist Cafe

The Main Street storefront gives the Morrells twice as much space as their old location, so naturally they have invested it with twice as much artwork, just as profusely displayed as it was in the old place. The red-painted walls are full of colors and styles so riotous that it’s difficult to take it all in at a glance. (We did particularly notice a dark portrait of Shakespeare and a pair of Mona Lisa eyes with a row of numbers underneath.)

And, just as at the old place, if you want to make a closer examination, you risk invading the space of people at tables along the walls, now consisting of continuous pews on one side of the tables with comfortable padded half-moon-backed chairs on the other.

Those tables have plain blueand-wood-grain quasi-Formica tops; the tables in the middle of the floor are individual works of art, many, if not all, hand-painted and each one unique.

There’s a kind of loft area above the doorway and front windows where artists, willing to risk a climb up a ladder, can work and demonstrate while others dine.

Jason Morrell, in his expanded kitchen, has expanded his offerings to include a range of intriguing dinner appetizers, but mostly fans of the cafe will find the menu pretty much the comfortingly same.

Polenta Cakes with Shrimp Sofrita ($7.50) is the most successful of those new appetizers, several plump, firm shrimp in a sauce of tomatoes, roasted peppers, garlic and onions over sturdy polenta. We preferred it to the very flavorful but somewhat salty polenta cakes with bleu cheese and burgundy mushrooms (also $7.50).

We were just a trifle disappointed by the Crab Asiago Gratin ($9.50); the grated cheese crust is delicious but didn’t extend to the crab meat underneath.

We had a similar, though rather better, experience, with the French Onion Gratinee Soup($4.50). Once we had penetrated the cheese crust and negotiated the large crouton, there was less of the gorgeous, rich, red-wineand-onion broth underneath than we wanted.

The Roasted Half Chicken Provencal ($16.50) was quite the moistest, and nearly the tastiest, half a chicken we’ve ever eaten. Morrell roasts the chicken, marinated in Provencal spices, upside down so the juices concentrate near the skin, making the chicken not only moist but nearly forktender.

It was a hard choice between two previous favorites, the Braised Lamb Shank Provencal ($18.95) and the 8-ounce Filet Mignon with burgundy demiglace ($26.95), but the filet won out. It wasn’t quite as tender as the chicken (itcame out closer to medium than the medium-rare we ordered) but tender enough so we could have used the table knife instead of the wicked-looking steak knife our waiter provided.

The steak was well-spiced and there wasn’t quite enough of the burgundy demiglace to sop up with the generous amount of escalloped polenta (the scalloping made us mistake it at first glance for mashed potatoes), the “starch of the day.” Both entrees came with an excellent sauteed asparagus-haricot-pea pod vegetable medley.

We also enjoyed a $17 penne with olives, chicken and capers pasta of the day. The menu offers a mahi mahi with red garlic butter ($17.50); we had the same fish as a $13 lunch special, nicely grilled with an out-of-this-world mangochipotle sauce. Other lunch opportunities (also on the dinner menu) include a range of $7 paninis and crepes of the day.

Starving Artist has a modest but reasonably well-chosen wine list and Paula Morrell says they’re planning to reintroduce wine dinners in the not-too-distant future.

Service was good, although on our second visit our waiter was having to hustle between our table and the folks on the fair-weather patio out back.

Starving Artist Cafe Address: 411 Main St., North Little Rock Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday Cuisine: Eclectic/New American Credit cards: V, MC, AE, D Alcoholic beverages: Full bar Reservations: Yes Wheelchair accessible: Yes Carryout: Yes (501) 372-7976 www.starvingartistcafe.net

Weekend, Pages 77 on 10/10/2008