A Peek Inside Grit American Cuisine
I swung by Eagle's newest addition, Grit American Cuisine, yesterday for lunch. The light wood tables in the smallish space are branded with the word "GRIT" and topped with two round red Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum salt and pepper shakers. The restaurant also features a few booths around the perimeter and some high tables near the stocked, steel-top bar. The crimson walls are splashed with the vibrant, whimsical work of artist Lukas Evergreen.
The menu has a mash-up of influences, but leans heavily on Southern fare. Though the apps feature standbys like mac & cheese and hummus, they've got some interesting twists. The mac is a blend of cheddar, smoked gouda and that jiggly minx Velveeta, with the option to add house chipotle and adobe to spice things up. And the hummus is a mix of roasted garlic and basil pesto served with a side of "waffled falafel."
Other app offerings include crispy cauliflower and pumpkin with cashew yogurt dipping sauce and fire roasted fingerlings with starlight truffle salt. I ordered the two-piece lemon-brined fried chicken, which was a sweet deal at $7. Encased in a perfectly crisp and well-seasoned shell, the chicken was super moist and left me licking the salty, fatty sheen off my fingers with pleasure.
The rest of the menu boasts a fairly standard line-up of salads, burgers, sandwiches and mains—everything from a Margherita pizza to a mixed green salad to a pepper-crusted burger with bacon. Some interesting highlights include: a crispy tofu sandwich with pickled shiitakes and the "Lots of King" crab sandwich with tarragon, celery and pickled onion on brioche.
I ordered a chewy farro salad to accompany the fried chicken, tossed with a few sparse spiced pumpkin cubes, charred kale, pumpkin seeds and a cranberry vinaigrette. The hearty salad also shows up as a vegetarian main, with the addition of pickled shiitake and sesame seed sauce.
My lunch date opted for the Cobb topped with smoked chicken, avocado, bacon hard-boiled egg and roasted tomatoes.
Grit also has a full bar with liquor. Cocktails include the Grit Sour with 8 Feathers bourbon, fresh lemon juice and a red wine floater, and the Jamaican Rabbit with Myers Dark Rum, fresh lime juice and fresh carrot juice. In addition, there are a couple Brunch Cocktails, like the Old Fashioned Joe with Bulleit Rye, coffee, muddled orange, Peychaud's bitters and Bailey's, along with the Club Grit Cocktail, with Aviation Gin, Koenig Apricot Brandy, fresh lime juice and Peychaud's bitters.
Grit boasts a number of beers and ciders on draft—including Ninkasi's Noir Milk Stout and Three Creeks Crowd Pleaser Session IPA—along with a diverse wine list with showings from California, Idaho, Argentina and France and plenty of $6 and $7 by-the-glass options.
Here's a scanned copy of the full food menu:
