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Fairhope Fairhope Inn &
Restaurant Restaurateur Mike Pair and his wife Gayle acquired the old Fairhope Guest Quarters in 1998 and converted the main floor into an elegant restaurant. The main dining room is stunning in white and black, with walls painted the color of café au lait. There’s more seating in a smaller front parlor room painted a bright burgundy and on a glass-enclosed wraparound porch overlooking an outdoor dining courtyard. The pan sautéed crab cakes with a tomato caper tartar sauce proved worthy of its billing as the signature appetizer. We also liked the wilted spinach salad with fresh peaches and candied pecans and the seafood pasta of shrimp, crawfish and fried oysters in a basil alfredo sauce. Other choices on the short menu included caramelized salmon on grilled peach salsa, grilled pork mignons with an orange-grand marnier demi-glace, and beef tenderloin stuffed with wild mushrooms and spinach ragoût. Desserts were vanilla crème brûlée, banana bread pudding with white and dark chocolate sauce, and dark chocolate brownies with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. Similar fare, with an emphasis on salads, is offered at lunch. The Sunday champagne brunch menu features a shrimp and eggplant frittata, poached eggs with crab cakes and stuffed pain perdu. (334) 928-6226. Entrées, $12 to $19. Lunch, Wednesday-Saturday 11 to 3. Dinner, Wednesday-Sunday 5 to 9 or 10. Sunday brunch, 11 to 3. The Wash House
Restaurant Unless you knew about it, you probably would not stop at this shed-like structure that was the old kitchen and wash house behind the Victorian Broadbeck House, now home of Punta Clara Kitchen. Venture inside and prepare to be charmed. Norris the waiter puts on quite a performance as he takes and serves your order from an old-school menu that rarely changes. There’s usually only one cook in the kitchen, so the meal is leisurely. The ambiance of white-clothed tables with low-vaulted ceiling, pine walls and fireplace is quite appealing. Fried artichoke hearts are the appetizer specialty, although you also can choose spicy fried crawfish tails, stuffed mushrooms and "steak fingers" (sliced filet, deep-fried and served with a special cherry-mustard sauce). Main courses come with soup du jour or gumbo and salad. Choices are all seafood, except for prime aged steaks. They include broiled or fried gulf shrimp or bay oysters, sautéed shrimp on fettuccine, seafood platter, lump crabmeat over rice and a casserole of lump crabmeat and smoked provolone cheese. Desserts are described as "Old South," the selection changing daily. (334) 928-1500. Entrées, $15.95 to $22.95. Dinner nightly, 5 to 9 or 10. Aubergine Here is an architecturally distinguished restaurant with an appealing menu. The ambiance is urbane and haute, as is the continental cuisine given regional accents by chef-owner Ann Curtright Bridgeman and her chefs. Starters could be a tropical shrimp martini (marinated with a papaya and mango salsa), seafood marguery en coquille, escargots bourguignonne and baked oysters foch. Soft-shell crabs stuffed with crawfish, served with red pepper-garlic sauce, is a seasonal main dish. Others include flounder stuffed with crab and shrimp, roast chicken in brandy-tarragon sauce, and roast leg of lamb with mild pepper jelly glaze. Chocolate roulade and crème brûlée are staples on the dessert menu. (334) 928-9541. Entrées. $16.95 to $23.95. Lunch, Tuesday-Saturday 11 to 2. Dinner Tuesday-Sunday, 5:30 to 9:30. Sunday brunch, 11 to 2. Church Street Café The largest restaurant in town, this 250-seat establishment offers an extensive menu of updated regional specialties. Consider starters like crab and artichoke bisque or "citified tomatoes," crispy fried green tomatoes on a bed of roasted red pepper sauce, sprinkled with feta cheese. Or entrées like southwestern chicken linguini with spicy black bean sauce, coastal crab cakes, sautéed peppercorn-encrusted oysters over pasta, crawfish étouffée, veal piccata or grilled lamb chops with chorizo sausage chutney. Desserts range from bread pudding topped with bourbon sauce to an ethereal Bailey’s Irish Cream and coffee sabayon. All this may be enjoyed in a variety of venues, from the Board Room to the main Magnolia Room with a big artificial tree in the middle to the bar and bistro to the outdoor side deck. Live jazz is presented Thursday-Saturday nights. (334) 928-6611. Entrées, $10.95 to $19.95. Lunch and dinner, Monday-Wednesday 11 to 9, Thursday-Saturday 11 to 9:30. The Royal Oak The Union Jack flies along the American flag outside, a red British phone booth stands alongside and James Field’s English accent mixes with wife Lisa’s Mississippi drawl inside. The Fields started in 1995 with an English pub in a quaint 1930s cottage. It proved such a hit that they broadened its size and appeal with a large front garden room and a "more Americanized" menu. The extensive menu features English sandwiches and traditional pub food. Among the latter are fish and chips (augmented here with mushy peas), cornish pasties, and steak and mushroom pie. Evening additions to the all-day menu include four pasta dishes, seafood choices from coconut fried shrimp to broiled cod, and roasted Lancashire chicken, roasted Aylesbury duckling and grilled strip steak. (334) 928-1714. Entrées, $11.95 to $18.95. Open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 11 to 3 and 5 to 10, Friday-Sunday 11 to 10. Closed Tuesday. Material excerpted from Inn Spots & Special Places in the Southeast, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2000. Wood Pond Press E-mail feedback to: Home
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