Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Taubman cafe offers some new angles
Food writer Lindsey Nair
- lindsey.nair@roanoke.com | (540) 981-3343
Front Burner columns
Fridge Magnet blog
- We want YOUR review of Firefly Fare in the Roanoke City Market Building
- Valentine’s Day specials
- Greek stuffed pork tenderloin
- Visit the Fridge Magnet blog
Look who's cooking...
Meet our lineup of home cooks
One of the keys to an exciting dining experience is that it offers the customer a fresh perspective.
At Norah's Cafe in the new Taubman Museum of Art, that perspective has as much to do with the setting as it does the food -- and I'm not even talking about the art.
As I ate lunch there with a friend on a recent weekday, I realized that nowhere else in Roanoke can a person gaze upon the vibrant Coca-Cola mural and a larger-than-life H&C coffee sign while putting away a thick roast beef sandwich.
And I was transfixed by the lines of the railroad tracks visible through the glass walls. The Williamson Road bridge curved away above them, flirting with the slope of the cafe ceiling.
I don't want to belittle the food, though, because Norah's is not your average museum cafe. I think that's because the Taubman is not your average museum, and Roanoke is not your average city.
My hope for Norah's was that it would become another attractive lunch option for downtown workers, because to eat there at any time of day does not require a museum ticket. Deep in my cynical heart, though, I worried the food would be decent at best and overpriced at worst -- basically, what I've experienced at every other museum cafe I've visited in my lifetime.
But Food and Beverage Director Suzanne Bird and Executive Chef Kasey Thexton, who both previously held the same positions at Hollins University, were smart enough to consider that the Taubman isn't a Smithsonian-sized museum in a huge metropolis. Grabbing a snack or a meal to energize a Taubman museum-goer is as easy as crossing the street.
"We definitely looked at all the different menus being offered downtown and the price points," said Bird, who works for SAVOR Food and Beverage company, which is also the exclusive caterer for the museum.
Bird and Thexton have emphasized unique, fairly priced, well-prepared meals at the cafe. The current menu is the same for lunch and dinner and ranges in price from $7 to $10, which is very competitive with other downtown restaurants.
The cafe offers several sandwiches, such as the Verdant Panini with eggplant, red peppers and fresh mozzarella on foccacia bread and the Roast, a ciabatta roll piled with roast turkey or beef with bacon, cheese and toppings. Norah's has two soups every day and a selection of salads.
My friend ordered the Norah Cobb salad, which was served in a sweeping white bowl the size of a soup tureen and topped with lobster, bacon, egg, watercress and avocado.
Thexton and Bird said the cafe will venture into more dinner options in March, about the time the galleries switch out in the art museum. At that point, Thexton wants to get the outdoor seating set up for spring and summer, serving tapas, or tiny Spanish appetizer dishes, and cocktails.
The tapas menu would begin about 3 p.m. and be served in addition to the standing menu items, Bird said. The cafe already has a full ABC license.
Bird said the outdoor seating will include about 10 tables and be situated on the Williamson Road end of the museum, with a full view of the railroad tracks on one side. If the industrial view is initially a turn-off, Thexton said, don't forget the cool breeze from beneath the underpass during those hot summer months.
If the tapas take off, Thexton wants to establish a full-fledged dinner menu, which he envisions will also switch out with the art on a quarterly basis each year. He's said he may even braid the culture of a new exhibit into his menu selections for Norah's Cafe, all the while keeping the prices below $20 per entree.
"I really can't tie myself down to one cuisine," said Thexton, a 2005 Johnson & Wales University graduate. "I really love cuisines from all over the world. If I had to pick one, I don't think I could."
Another little-known fact about Norah's: The cafe is serving Sunday brunch from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
"If it takes off, hopefully we will do it buffet-style and coordinate it with some of the music events," Bird said. "We could put tables out there and let the buffet flow out into the atrium."
A-ha -- yet another fresh perspective on dining in downtown Roanoke.
Happy holidays
"The Front Burner" will take a break next week. Here's wishing you many delicious moments as you celebrate the last days of 2008.
