by erin thursby scopes1925@msn.com
As I stepped into 1171, I couldn’t help but feel that I’d walked into the pages of a stylish home designer magazine. They’ve added a dose of sophistication to the Jacksonville dining scene with this flavorsome and attractive bistro.
Home-style touches, such as the aqua night-stand lamp at the end of the bar and small dining nook they call “The Living Room” makes 1171 comfortably hip. The shabby chic Living Room features a coffee table made out of an old door.
Sitting at their bar actually makes me feel cooler. I feel so Jacksonville Urban with my drink sitting on the stone bar under the drop lighting. It’s fully stocked with the hard stuff, and they make a fabulous Scarlett O’Hara. Not only does it taste divine, it has a skewer of a small spiral staircase made from three progressively smaller slices of green apple, with a cherry ending the yummy cocktail spear.
Fruit in my drinks makes me happy, particularly when it’s securely skewered. Elusive olives and cherries that cause me to go on a fishing expedition as I desperately try to spear them mid-drink should be banned. I’m never patient enough to wait till the end of the drink (as I ought to). When I do, it just ends up hitting me in the nose, especially after the third cocktail. 1171’s Scarlett O’Hara offered me fruit I could pleasantly graze upon between imbibing. The skewer was just the right height for the glass, which meant that after nibbling off the cherry, I could place the apple-laden skewer back into the glass without the danger of losing them to the depths of the cocktail.
Perhaps you’re not into cocktails as much as I am. Fear not! There are many other alcoholic beverage selections to be had. They will be revamping the wine list for spring, but I doubt the prices will change. Wines are about $6-11 by the glass, and go for $20-70 by the bottle. Most of what you’ll find by the bottle is in the $30 range. Standard beers by the bottle such as Bud, Corona, Mich, Miller and Heine make their list, as well as Woodchuck, Sail I.P.A and Yuengling. Before I glanced at the bar, I knew somehow that they served Stella Artois on tap, but I didn’t guess that they served Tucher Weizen.
A few months into service, 1171 has its legs underneath it as a restaurant. The prices are excellent for the level of cuisine they offer. Most of the entrées are about $18, with options to downsize the meal at a slightly lower price (ranging from $12-$20). The most expensive item is the filet mignon at $30, but it’s the only one that currently goes over $20.
The bread that came out before the meal wasn’t entirely to my liking. It’s just a matter of preference, but I enjoy bread that’s crisp on the outside and oh-so-soft on the inside. The batch I had was mostly crisp all the way through. I ended up with crumbs littering the table (my mother says I’m a messy eater, so it might not be the bread that was to blame). Maybe it was good that they were crisp, because the bowl of balsamic and olive oil that they brought out was fairly deep. Because the balsamic sinks to the bottom, in order to experience a balsamic/oil taste, I had to plunge my bread into the bowl, getting far more oil on my bread than I generally prefer. Because the bread was mostly crispy, it didn’t soak up as much of the olive oil as it normally would. So the crispiness and the bowl depth formed a rough equilibrium. Still, next time I go, I’ll simply ask for a small dish instead of a bowl. Since the staff gladly accommodates the various tastes of their diners, it should be no problem.
Back in the kitchen the sous-chef is Ian Gabbe, who has cooked in some of the area’s finest eateries (Pastiche, Crush) and helped to open various restaurants (he re-opened Angelos and helped establish Tastings). The head chef and part owner is Fernando Silveira, a Brazilian native with a passion for culinary experimentation. He’ll have a new spring menu out soon, although he’s keeping some of the favorites that they opened with.
“We want to give our customers something new when they come in, something exciting,” Silveira says.
He’ll be making slight modifications to some dishes, making them a little lighter for the spring. “The only way we’ll change something is if we can make it taste even better,” he says.
Those who have a favorite that has been banished from the menu or modified can still get the same dish that they’ve become addicted to (do try the escargot, if you want to be as instantly addicted as I was). Chef Fernando Silveira is happy to make a dish up if they have the ingredients on hand. He does ask that diners call ahead to be sure.
The salads run about $6 and they are sized very well for the price. The house salad I sampled was outstanding: baby greens with gorgonzola and toasted pecans tossed with house-made raspberry vinaigrette. Salads will stay the same on the spring menu, with an added miso spinach shitake mushroom salad.
Seared ahi tuna photographs beautifully in most preparations, so it often ends up on my plate. When I took a look at the menu at 1171, I realized that there’s a host of other intriguing dishes in the entrée section. The low country shrimp with saffron grits, grilled andouille and jumbo shrimp is a menu favorite that will stay during the spring. Another item that caught my eye was the butternut squash risotto with truffle oil and butter braised wild mushrooms. Each description on the menu called to me, singing siren songs of polenta, guava sauce and lemon capers (these were not all in the same dish, by the way).
I resigned myself to the tuna just the same—mostly because it’s impossible to try an entire menu in one sitting. The plating of the dish wasn’t all that innovative, but it was passably pretty. I tasted the tuna and the companion baby bok choy. It was not bad, but also nothing special. Then I tried the potatoes and that changed everything. Mashed potatoes as part of a seared ahi tuna dish is actually not all that standard (except to prop things up) because it generally isn’t a great combination. But these potatoes were wasabi mashed potatoes, with just a little ginger thrown in for good measure. The wasabi livens up typical potatoes while the staid starch gives the wild wasabi poise.
It’s hard to choose a desert at 1171, because they make their own and display the luscious lovelies in their dessert case. While certain desserts are available most of the time (strawberry cheesecake, Italian crème cake, peanut butter chocolate pie) they also have dessert specials. One of the regular desserts is the chocolate therapy, an intensely therapeutic experience (hence the name), with espresso blasting through the chocolate, making it all the richer and self-indulgent.
In case you were wondering, the bistro takes its name from its address on Edgewood Avenue. Since it just opened a few months ago, the name isn’t yet well known (I’ve heard it called 1172, 1173 and 1971 respectively). After having a meal there, I think 1171 is an address worth remembering.
1171 Edgewood Ave (in Jacksonville’s Murray Hill neighborhood) (904) 384-3160
Article Published in the April 2008 Issue of EU Jacksonville
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