Stove, The Restaurant, a new Portsmouth hot spot

By Tammy Jaxtheimer

For several months now, the Port Norfolk section of Portsmouth has had a new eatery.

Stove, the restaurant - that's the three-word name - opened where Market Fare used to operate.

Stove is the brainchild of Sydney Meers, a downtown Norfolk pioneer when he opened his much-talked-about Dumbwaiter in 1989.

He was most recently at Cowboy Syds in Port Warwick in Newport News. Shannon Mitchell, a Peninsula resident who frequented Cowboy Syd's, is Meers' operating partner at Stove; you'll often find her there, hosting, bartending or tending to the restaurant's books.

Stove is bright and alluring.The separate bar area serves 10 drinkers or diners. A settee for two and additional standing and leaning space accommodate folks waiting for their table. Our more than 30-minute wait for a table allowed us to pore over Stove's inviting wine list.

Stove's dining room is a mini gallery filled with Meers' original artwork. Wood floors, white linens and "stovetrons" (the waitstaff), dressed in chef coats and delivering knowledgeable, attentive service, give Stove flair. Whimsical sprouting onions and grass in planters and orangey mesh chairs add warmth to the 32-seat room. Meers prides himself on his wry wit, not to mention creative spelling. Expect to see examples on his menu.

After seeing a dish at a neighboring table, we wanted the salad of mixed lettuces with daikon radish and "smoochie bear ham," Meers' homemade version of Tasso ham ($8). Although our server said it was a good choice, she suggested we try another salad, which was dressed in Dijon mustard vinaigrette ($7). It arrived as fresh and attractive as our neighbor's salad; the slightly pungent dressing played nicely with crisp romaine hearts, baby lettuces, sweet yellow beet curls and nutty manchego cheese.

For a small course, we chose the jumbo shrimp ($9). It was perfectly prepared, sweet and snappy. The accompanying saute of fingerling potatoes with basil, capers and rutabaga - grown locally - packed punch.

Cracked pepper seared yellow fin tuna ($7) on ming noodles with fennel, shiitake mushrooms and sesame sauce was velvety and delicious. Complimentary kalamata bread sopped up the lip-smacking sauce. Herb butter was well suited to the homemade bread.

From the large courses, we chose moist and flaky rockfish ($23) served atop smoked tomato etouffee sauce with white corn and scallions and a taste of green pepper. It was another well-executed fish dish.

Jumbo diver scallops ($22) were "griddled" to simple succulence. A burst of savory goodness from roasted yellow beet root, tomato, daikon radish and kalamata olives with herb onion butter made me happy with each bite.

The menu addition rack of lamb ($26) delivered herb-encrusted tender chops done to requested medium-rare. Asparagus and savory cheesecake completed the appetizing spring entree.

The dessert offered the evening we visited was Holy Cow Bat Person ($6). Chocolate hazelnut cake topped with three layers of ganache - milk chocolate, white chocolate and dark chocolate - was lovely and luscious. It rested in a puddle of bittersweet chocolate sauce. If it becomes a regular dessert offering, I'll be in a quandary. Syd's sextuple truffle is an equally decadent and delicious chocolate concoction, good enough to be included in the second edition of "Death by Chocolate" by Marcel Desaulniers, owner of The Trellis in Williamsburg.

Meers makes his own breads, desserts, chutneys and relishes. He smokes his own meats and tomatoes. He even makes his own vanilla extract. When dining in Port Norfolk, you know that an artisan is in the house.