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When Craig and Marcia Jervis opened The Mad Platter in a quirky Victorian brick house at the corner of Sixth and Monroe in 1989, it was Nashville's cutting-edge "destination" restaurant. Twenty years later, amid a host of new dining spots in the now-booming Germantown neighborhood, it is the stalwart and elder.
Surviving for 20 years is praiseworthy, given the rollercoaster ride that can be the life of any owner/chef-driven restaurant. The Mad Platter still serves creative dishes - some new fare, alongside long-standing favorites - a testament to its dedication to innovative, multicourse menus using seasonal, local ingredients.
If you haven't visited for a while, much will feel familiar. The Mad Platter style has always been charmingly shabby-chic. Well-worn wood floors, exposed brick and plaster walls and mismatched chairs contrast with white-linen-covered tables set with votives and vases of pastel snapdragons picked from the restaurant's backyard garden.
It's on the menu where you'll notice changes, evidence of the work of lead chef Shane Autry. A native Mississippian, he cooked under renowned master chef Michel Richard at Citronelle in Washington, D.C., before manning the Riverhouse Restaurant/Inn at Palmetto Bluff in South Carolina. Classical and regional cuisines, notably French and Low Country, are his passion and align well with the Jervis' intention for the restaurant.
The seasonally designed menu changes daily. You may order à la carte, but the five-course dinner - add $20 to the price of the entrée and choose four other courses - presents a compelling deal.
Two soups were featured on our visit. The andouille sausage gumbo, brimming with rice, beans and spicy rounds of andouille, was rich and glossy from roux, deep-toasted to the brink of black - delicious, but a little heavy for summer dining. Instead, try the corn chowder. It was savory-sweet, thick with fresh market Silver Queen kernels and "corn milk" - that goodness released from properly cutting and scraping the cobs. Dressed with snips of chive and shards of crunchy bacon, the chowder was simple and satisfying.
Vegetarians would be pleased with the well-executed artichoke risotto entree, which can be made on request with white wine and vegetable stock. Creamy Arborio rice, infused with thyme, was stirred with generous bites of tender artichoke hearts, mushrooms and tomatoes. Great curls of shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano embellished the dish.
Craig Jervis' signature Dijon-herb-encrusted rack of lamb remains a Mad Platter constant, getting its updates from seasonal set variations. For this evening, Autry chose a Mediterranean rim motif: pan-roasted garbanzos, red onion, green grapes, toasted almonds and wedges of tiny figs, harvested from the back yard tree. Chocolate Elvis, Mad Platter's notorious king of desserts, still rules. For the uninitiated, this chocolate triple threat tart, bold with stripes of bittersweet, white and milk chocolate ganache, has been wowing diners for two decades.
If that indulgence is more than you want, we recommend the locally made mango-blood orange gelato. The chef nestled a half-moon slice of fresh peach atop two melty scoops that were dreamy.
As urban pioneers and forerunners of local and green practices in Nashville food service, it must be gratifying to the Jervises to witness the changes in the dining landscape and have fellow chef-entrepreneurs in the neighborhood. And it's gratifying for diners to know that longevity counts. The Mad Platter is still crazy-good after all these years.
