Metro Pulse/Restaruant Rover/Little City

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Little City
11401 Municipal Center Dr.
966-9660

by Les DuLunch

Just a few years ago, Little City would've seemed remarkably unique. Its interesting fusion menu, sleek brushed steel accouterments, and black and white photography set against warm yellow walls would have lent a nicely sophisticated atmosphere of urbanity to the city's food scene—not to mention the former Farragut cow pasture it occupies.

But Knoxville's come a long way, baby. Fortunately, within the span of those few years, several establishments have come along that bear a similar look, tone, and feel. There's sunny Kalamata Kitchen and its pan-Mediterranean cuisine, Harry's before the menu retooling, slightly schizophrenic but classy Riverside Tavern, even Little City's sister restaurants Sunspot and Aubrey's with their curiously cross-pollinated menus—all seem to be swept up in a trendy tide of mish-mashed mod.

The sense of déj� vu Little City imparts isn't completely unwarranted. If you noticed that its menu is a little bit By the Tracks Bistro (rustic low country shrimp served over cheese grits, sweet-tart strawberry and blue cheese salad) and a slice of Mango (sesame-encrusted seared salmon) with an amalgam of Sunspot-like specials (balsamic-marinated steak) tossed in for good measure, it's little wonder since chef Amber Lloyd has honed her skills at two out of the three.

But all this is not to say that Little City is in any way bad. In fact, it is, to borrow a phrase, "a good thing." Although the eclectic approach may no longer seem startlingly original, everything the restaurant offers was done very well during the visits I've made to date. Lloyd's well-rounded menu can't be pinned down to one territory—or even one continent for that matter. For instance, the appetizer selections circle around the American South, with Carolina crab cakes and roe-filled South Carolina specialty she-crab soup, before shooting off into Italian territory, then departing for Asia. On the entrée front, southwestern stalwarts crop up alongside French influences. Overall, it adds up to a pleasing variety that's complemented by nice extra touches—small loaves of multi-grain wheat bread with scallion-whipped butter, tender julienne slivers of carrots and still-squeaky green beans, and appealing plate presentation served standard.

Besides those mentioned above, Little City's appetizers set a particularly fine tone for the food to come. Soft, thick-sliced fried potato chips snap to life with a cool horseradish dill sauce ($3.95). Southern staple fried green tomatoes are stacked and retrofitted with dollops of creamy goat cheese and a delicious, low-heat red pepper puree that's a kinder cousin of blazing red Indian onion chutney ($6.95). The lighter crostini platter offers a smorgasbord of fresh basil pesto, sundried tomato pesto, red pepper hummus, black olive puree, and more of the goat cheese for spreading on buttered and grilled "little toasts" of the excellent bread ($7.45).

All the main dishes have interesting twists and assorted side vegetable treatments (wilted spinach, blue cheese gratin) that promise to intrigue the palate, but Little City expends its most inventive energies on seafood. A tender, flaky white filet of tilapia, lightly coated in flour and seared to stay moist inside but dry out, provides a mild center for the puff of creamy white cheddar grits below and cold, peppy, cilantro-heavy black bean and corn salsa above ($11.95). It makes for a delightfully diverse combination of temperature, texture, and flavor. A thin rind of sesame seeds brings out the sweet flavor of Little City's salmon filet ($13.95) while the deliciously nutty and sticky ginger jasmine rice it's served with soaks up a rich caramel-toned soy sauce like a sponge. (Try it with the nicely spiced Riesling from Little City's small but well-appointed wine list.) Elsewhere, there are jumbo scallops in balsamic brown butter, tuna au poivre with brandy cream sauce, and a trout filet with basil bacon cornbread stuffing in a pecan and brown butter sauce that's first on my list for the next visit.

For dessert, don't pass go, don't collect $200, don't do anything but try a slice of the white chocolate banana cream pie ($5). Mellifluous and totally mellow, the colossal piece of pie comes still lightly touched with frost and is filled with chunks of banana for firmness, coated in unmistakably real whipped cream (such a rare delight!), and set atop a barely-there graham cracker crust.

A little bit of new-restaurant unevenness does linger, though. Two pepper-crusted filets ordered to identical specifications and served simultaneously were markedly different in size and temperature. The salads were also a slight disappointment. The pungent sweetness of balsamic vinaigrette was barely perceptible in either the sample house salad ($2.95) and the grilled portabella mushroom salad, a mixture of greens with caramelized red onions, blue cheese, toasted walnuts and tomatoes ($7.95) that came off rather flat without enough dressing to coalesce around. But if the consistency at owner Randy Burleson's other restaurants is any measure, these kinds of problems will likely fade fast.

Little City is also open for lunch—a drag for downtowners like me, but a boon to the Goody's and HGTV staffs. With compelling offerings like the Oyster Rockefeller po boy and a plum barbecue sauce grilled Thai tuna, though, my arm wouldn't have to be twisted too far to justify the hour-and-a-half lunch trip.

Fabulous for Farragut, and certainly worth the drive from Knoxville proper's ball-filled skyline, Little City may ultimately seem a tad bit derivative, but it's still a welcome addition to our town's increasingly eclectic collection of dining establishments.