uptown dining in the delta
BY dana adkins campbell
southern livingmagazine
Cleveland has been home to KC's for
27 years, and I've heard the restaurant's praise for a decade.
And Madidi opened last winter in Clarksdale with much hubub,
thanks to one of its owners, actor Morgan Freeman (Driving
Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption). He, business partner
Bill Luckett, and their wives transformed a brick, turn-of-the-20th-century,
downtown building into this fine eatery. After trying both
places, I can attest that it's time for a road trip.
K.C. Joe began his restaurant in 1974, handing the kitchen
over to his son, Wally, in 1989. Wally's brother, Don, is
sommelier. Peruse the menu and wine list contemporary restaurant,
and you'll discover they're serious.
Choose from more than 600 wines at $18 to $4,000 a bottle.
Foie gras beckoned on the list of appetizers, but curiosity
led me to fried oysters (unusually thin and crispy, not plump)
with julienned shiitake mushrooms and salsify (root vegetable),
topped with a Rockefeller spinach remoulade. Nice, but the
real wow? Salmon rubbed with Thai spices perched on a timbale
of rock shrimp risotto in a light orange-coconut sauce. You
have to taste this to believe it.
So, what's Morgan Freeman's tie to the Delta? He was reared
here, and though his career has taken him to faraway places,
he made his permanent home in nearby Charleston 13 years ago.
When visiting Mississippi, he often regretted that he had
to drive to Memphis or Oxford for a fit feast. A few ideas
and a lot of money later, Madidi opened, gloriously filled
with flavor and fine art.
The actor and his business partner lured David Krog-then sous-chef
of Memphis' La Tourelle-to their kitchen.
I had to try his catfish cakes: tall and meaty, with compote
of tangy dried tomatoes and a squiggle of saffron aioli. And
I left nothing on four perfect lamb chops with port jus. Pastry
chef Anden Hamilton makes decisions impossible with a half-dozen
dessert choices nightly. The wine is more limited and lowbrow
than at KC's, but the list is approachable.
