Style, class and American flavor fit Loving Spoonful to a tee

Articles: Style, class and American flavor fit Loving Spoonful to a tee

Posted by admin on Friday, July 02, 2004 - 01:00 AM

Shawn Loving likes to quote Julia Child: “You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces — just good food from fresh ingredients.”
And the talented chef/proprietor behind Loving Spoonful, the restaurant overlooking one of the emerald fairways of the Copper Creek Golf Club, does just as Ms. Child instructs. His pure American bill of fare, with everything from the corn and shrimp bisque with which many people like to start lunch or dinner to the rum truffles on the plate with the warm chocolate cake for dessert, is made meticulously from scratch in his kitchen and served by a staff that knows the menu. Loving Spoonful is an outstanding restaurant that deserves to be higher profile than it is. Opened just a few days after the September 11 attack, a date to which Loving was committed well before the national tragedy, it had a tough beginning. There couldn’t have been a worse time to open a restaurant, but Loving, a certified executive chef with a 1991 culinary degree from Schoolcraft College and years of experience in the corporate restaurant world, persevered and gained strength. It took time, but he has gradually built a word-of-mouth following. Now his sunny restaurant in the cream-colored dining room with accents of bright blue and long bank of windows is ready to take its place among the best in the area. On but not part of the golf course, it seats just 100, with room for 30 more on the terrace where there are tables under sand-colored market umbrellas. The bar, separated from the dining room by a low partition, has room for a couple of dozen more. Loving’s menu is just the right length. It’s briefest at lunch, when he pares it down to a few specialty dishes spun off the dinner menu, along with classic sandwiches such as French dip and pulled pork, and salads including the house mix of greens with Gorgonzola and toasted walnuts and a beautiful Caesar topped with Parmesan croutons. Croutons and corn bread (and what’s more American than corn bread?) are, like virtually everything else, made in house. At dinner, the menu expands, but not so much that it becomes confusing. It’s as pure an American lineup as can be found, with its smoked country pork ribs, thyme-roasted chicken, New York steak and pan-seared scallops, each with individual accompaniments. You won’t find generic vegetables here. Loving likes to work with fresh corn, Swiss chard, spinach, wild mushrooms and heirloom tomatoes — he’s serving the tomatoes now with broiled halibut on his summer menu. Candied yams, very discreetly sweetened, come in neat little cubes with the glistening chicken, which has been marinated in a soft brine with herbs before roasting. On Sundays, he dispenses with the regular menu and puts together a three-course, fixed-price dinner ($26.95, children 10 and under, $10.95) and it’s an especially good value. It begins with a platter of chilled appetizers that changes each week. Last Sunday, that included Southwestern black beans spiced with ancho chili paste, garlic and cilantro; julienned curried carrots; house-pickled beets with goat cheese; and a mustardy penne pasta salad, all on a plate to be shared by those at the table. Then diners chose between Caesar salad, chicken confit with baby arugula and pepper relish, and asparagus soup with a little garnish of mushrooms, dilled sour cream and lemon-accented bread crumbs. The deep green of the soup mirrored its intense flavor, not at all the wimpy women’s-luncheon soup it sometimes is. Main courses offered were ribs with roasted Yukon gold potatoes, corn relish and cherry barbecue sauce — a dish that was served to virtually every table on this particular Sunday — baked tilapia in chive butter sauce, Cajun-dusted salmon with braised black-eyed peas, thyme roasted chicken atop creamy cabbage with yams and natural juices, and seafood fettuccine with lobster sauce. Chef Loving says he usually chooses the Sunday array from the most popular dishes served during the week. Loving teaches a class at Schoolcraft College, and his kitchen crew of 12 is culled almost entirely from its culinary program. Tom Guffy is chef de cuisine, with Sandy Learman turning out the beautiful desserts that include a soufflelike chocolate cake with a molten center, served with espresso ice cream. Loving has another feather in his toque, or maybe that should be championship ring. He is the personal chef to the Detroit Pistons’ Richard Hamilton. Like Hamilton, he’s a winner.

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