Metro Pulse/Restaruant Rover/Edison Park Steakhouse

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Edison Park Steakhouse
111 South Campbell Station Road
777.3663

by Connie Seuer

This is a public service announcement: What used to be known as Little City is now Edison Park Steakhouse. Same location (the nether reaches of Farragut), same owner (Randy Burleson, proprietor of Aubrey's and other successful K-ville dining venues), and same décor (black and white, framed prints of New York skylines, Billie Holliday, Frank Sinatra, and masculine, wood-framed mirrors). Beyond the name being renewed (Edison and Park are taken from Burleson's grandfathers' names), it appears the menu has been only slightly retooled, but these two change-ups have given the spot a new energy.

If you never made it out to Little City, you'll find Edison Park to be a pleasant surprise in the "Steakhouse" category. In fact, after eating there, it appears the name is more tongue-in-cheek than a direct reference to the buffet-cursed, mega-portions that drive most steakhouses. Indeed, Edison Park serves up plenty of beef, but it offers some appetizing surf as well. Even humble chicken makes an interesting appearance, such as in the cracked black pepper chicken pasta ($11.95), along with inspired pork and rabbit fare.

Alas, vegetarians will find the usual salad and potato their best option, but at Edison Park, the choices of salad are truly healthful. My experience with the Spinach Salad ($4.45) being a fine example: tender leaves of baby spinach topped by finely diced fresh red onions, sweet summer tomatoes, petit nuggets of walnut, and a toss of Parmesan cheese. Heinrich took in the Caesar salad ($3.95) and found the dressing to have good, tangy flavor. Most importantly, there wasn't too much dressing, as can so often be the case with the dear old Caesar. Edison Park shook it up right.

At the moment between salads and entrees, I offer a few words about the front of the house. The hostess stand, the foyer, the vestibule, the lobby, purgatory—call it what you will—is one of the most important parts of a restaurant. It is the diner's first introduction to a place and sets the tone for their entire experience.

To that end, it's important to keep those waiting comfortable and apprised of the situation. Are tables getting ready to turn over? Could we have a drink while sitting in the smoke-free lobby? If we are obviously concerned about the wait, let us know that you are, too.

Our quoted 45-minute wait spanned into an hour and drove me to check their book more than once. Note to self and readers, if you head to Edison Park, especially on a peak eat-out night—like Friday or Saturday —you can expect a wait. Plan accordingly.

Past the hostess stand, the servers and kitchen knew what they were doing. By the time we'd tacked an extra hour onto our evening out, we were ready to eat and go. Our server recognized this and did her all to get our order quickly, bring the food expeditiously, and wrap up with our dessert-to-go and our check in a hurry.

Heinrich ordered a glass of the ultra-smooth Santa Cristina Sangiovese ($7) delivered to him in an attractive, miniature carafe and poured at the table. And perhaps as part of the restaurant's revamp, you'll find an above-average wine selection at Edison Park.

Accompanying Heinrich's wine was the 9oz. filet mignon ($21.95), a tender-as-a-cloud, marvelously rare-in-the-center piece of meat. All entrees come with a wedge of iceberg lettuce and blue cheese dressing and a choice of multitudinous sides. The list of side dishes presents some refreshingly green finds and also offers some additional options for vegetarians. Creamed spinach ($2.95), grilled asparagus ($4.25) and green beans ($2.95) were tempting to me, but Heinrich selected the skillet steak mushrooms ($2.95). Swimming in meaty skillet juice, the mushrooms were a delight and an easy segue back and forth with the filet.

Lovers of scallops and grits that we are, we actually fussed over who would order the pan-seared jumbo scallops with cheddar cheese grits ($16.95). I won the fuss and am happy to report that Edison Park's version of Low Country is a fair take. The scallops were nicely done, not overly cooked, and the grits were cheesy, buttery goodness. Both were served in a short bath of bacon, tomato, and balsamic vinegar. In my opinion, the hand was a bit too liberal with the balsamic, but perfect bites were easy to find with a forkful of scallop, grits, and a gentle dip into the juice.

As I mentioned, we snagged our dessert to go and enjoyed the Health bar chocolate mouse cake ($5.95) at home in front of the news. With crunchy toffee topping and chocolate cookie crust, the cool wedge of sweetness didn't stand a chance.

As we discussed dinner over our last forks of dessert, it became evident to us that Edison Park is not an entirely new dining experience, but rather a honing of what was best about Little City. Why fix what ain't broke?