Morgan freeman goes home again
BY john t. edge
food & WINE magazine - february 2001
Morgan Freeman came home about 12 years
back, home to the Mississippi Delta. Freeman, who has three
Oscar nominations, for The Shawshank Redemption and other
films, was born and raised there. He spent Saturday mornings
tending to chores on the family spread near Charleston and
Saturday afternoons watching cowboy flicks from the balcony
of Greenwood's segregated movie theater. But after high school,
Freeman joined the Great Migration out of the Jim Crow South.
More than three decades passed before he returned. When he
did, he built a house right on the spot where his family's
schack once stood. This past November, he staked another claim.
Along with local attorney Bill Luckett, he opened a restaurant
- Madidi - in downtown Clarksdale. A town of 22,000, Clarksdale
attracts a fair share of blues pilgrims, but it's a far cry
from Los Angeles or New York City, where celebrity-backed
restaurants are rampant. "My motive was somewhat selfish,"
Freeman says, "I wanted to have a place close b y, kind
of in the neighborhood." Or, as Luckett says, "We
wanted a place that the Delta could claim as its own."
Set in an early-twentieth-century redbrick building, Madidi
has the stolid good looks of a small-town bank. Downstairs
are exposed masonry walls and a mahogany bar, accented by
a gallery's worth of art. Upstairs is a warren of private
dining rooms painted in russet and gold. Luckett borrowed
the name Madidi from a Bolivian nature park noted for its
ecological diversity. "I thought it fit," he says,
"because we plan to serve dishes from a variety of traditions."
The chef, David Krog, is a 26 year-old neotraditionalist who
haws worked at one of the region's best French restaurants,
La Tourelle, in Memphis. He serves up a fine rack of lamb
with port jus de veau, and when he's feeling a bit more daring,
pan-seared scallops with pineapple butter. Krog also champions
native ingredients; local catfish, sweet potatoes and pecans
play supporting roles in a number of his productions.
Between 1910 and 1970, 6 million African-Americans left the
Deep South. Over the past decade, more than 1 million have
relocated there, lured by the promise of improved race relations
and a booming economy. For Morgan Freeman, the draw was more
prosaic- but by no means less profound. "This is the
place where I let my breath out and relax," he says.
"This is where I feel at home." Think of Madidi
as his front porch. (164 Delta Avenue; 662-627-7770)
