LeGrand: Eating Our Way Through The South

Article by Chris Fellini with photography by Joshua Fitzwater

(above- Chef Steve Marsh with Sous Chef Nick Green) 

We broke the cardinal rule of dining out: we showed up thirty minutes before close. We arrive as the last of the evening’s tables are wrapping things up. The kitchen has begun to break down for the night, and we’re the assholes coming in at the eleventh hour. To be fair, we were invited by Chef Steve Marsh to taste our way through the menu after Fitz contacted his sister a few days previous to inquire into a good night to photograph LeGrand. We thought he was exaggerating when he told us that they were going to make us everything on the menu. Six starters, five mains, and two desserts later, we were loosening our belts to the widest notches we could.

The evening started with creamed morels on toast. Tender and reminiscent of chicken, the morels were sauteed in cream and poured thick slices of toast from Chelsea Bakehouse. Served with a fried egg on top, the dish was simple in preparation yet ran deep with flavor. The toast was dense enough to stand up to the cream and not go soggy. The whole dish encapsulated comfort food perfectly, leaving me feeling warm inside like tomato soup on a rainy day. At the end of the first six plates, I kept coming back to this dish as my favorite. I grew up with a father who heavily abused canned mushrooms in our dinners, so I came to associate mushrooms with that slimy texture. Especially if you’re not fond of fungi, I highly recommend trying this dish. Marsh has a way, as I would find out throughout the evening, with vegetables and preparing them in a way that only enhances their natural deliciousness.

(above left- creamed morels on toast / above right- LeGrand’s charcuterie)

We work our way through the charcuterie board, which features several house made pates. The rockfish pate (not normally included with the charcuterie) stands out as my favorite, and is served with a grilled lemon half to squeeze over the fish. Marsh does a fine job of capturing the flavors of the fish, without over seasoning. Between the pork pates, the Surry sausage pate stands out to me, perhaps due to the intense smokiness derived from the sausage. Also served with our charcuterie were the pimento cheese and farm egg schmear. The pimento cheese at LeGrand is probably my favorite in the area. It’s got the perfect balance between the sharp flavor of the cheese and the tanginess from the mayonnaise. I didn’t ask, but can only guess from the taste that these guys are using Duke’s (the only mayonnaise that counts) in the mix. Many pimento cheese spreads have an artificial taste to them, perhaps from using pre-shredded cheddar or just the quality of the cheese being used, but at LeGrand you’re getting the real deal. Good as the pimento cheese was, it became but a memory once I tried the farm egg schmear. Imagine all the best parts of a deviled egg, then lose the egg white vessel. The story behind this dish goes that Marsh was prepping deviled eggs for his wedding, but was having difficulty keeping the eggs in one piece when peeling them. Becoming frustrated, he decided to just make a spread with the yolks and all the makings of deviled eggs. Thus, farm egg schmear was born. Now, I would never wish extra stress on anyone on their wedding day, but I am oh so grateful that this happy accident happened. Spread atop a Ritz cracker, this is the perfect dish to share with friends, before moving on to the main event.

(above left- “The Burger”/ above right- wall decor)

To start, Marsh sent us the burger that has many people in the area raving. The preparation couldn’t be simpler. Two thin patties with American cheese, topped with griddled onions, jalapenos, pickled lettuce, and mayo all sandwiched in between a Big Marty bun. This burger is what the Big Mac tries, yet fails, to be. This burger is like the older brother that goes off to college and discovers a lot of “cool, underground” music while pursuing a degree in bioengineering, while the Big Mac stayed home, got a job at McDonald’s as an assistant manager, and still thinks Godsmack is cool. The burger is exactly what one would expect from Norfolk’s “Finer Diner.” I have to say though, as delectable as the burger is, there are some things that fall a little flat. I wouldn’t have known the lettuce was pickled if I didn’t read it in the menu, and the jalapenos may as well be replaced with pickle relish for the heat they don’t have. I’m not saying the burger should scorch your mouth, but even a little zing on the Scoville scale would be nice. As we finished the burger, it was replaced with the flounder. The fish itself didn’t stand out too much with me, but the accoutrements are what pull the whole dish together. A bite of the flounder with some of the smoked peanuts created an interesting umami taste, pulling some of the saltiness from the fish sauce vinaigrette and injecting the whole bite with a sharp smokiness from the peanuts themselves. The brussels sprouts in the dish were some of the best I’ve had. I often find the bitterness off putting, but the vinaigrette added enough sweetness to counteract that taste and the brussels sprouts were charred perfectly. In fact, I almost enjoyed the brussels sprouts more than the flounder. As the flounder dish was taken from our table, I was beginning to feel the strain on my waistline and started hoping for the finish line. Chef Marsh had other plans for us, as we would have three more plates plus dessert coming to us.

Next up, we were served the open-face BBQ sandwich. The pork was so tender, it was almost spreadable with a knife. I mean, if you kept a bite in your mouth long enough, it would probably dissolve right there on your tongue. Seriously, I cannot stress enough how tender the pork was. Marsh serves his BBQ with Alabama white sauce. Alabama white sauce, for the uninitiated, is mayonnaise based instead of ketchup based, and derives a good bit of tang from said mayonnaise. As a bit of a BBQ sauce junkie, I take some offense to this. Although people do sometimes use Alabama white sauce on pork, it’s traditionally used to smother on smoked chicken. Besides, between Eastern Carolina, Lexington, and Virginia styles, who needs white sauce. Call me a stick in the mud, but I want my pork covered in thin red sauce with a nice vinegar snap. The house hot sauce, however, is phenomenal. Many people who dabble in making their own hot sauces just go over the top, creating a sauce that you can only use in small doses. The hot sauce at LeGrand is the perfect table sauce, and had me contemplating cheating on Texas Pete. If Marsh ever bottled the stuff, Texas Pete would definitely become yesterday’s news for me. It hit the perfect heat notes to be used on everything, and had a great acidic bite from the vinegar. It was perfect for the bits of pork not drowned in white sauce. After the BBQ, Marsh served us the glazed pork belly.

(above left- glazed pork belly/ above right- sweet breads)

A lot of places have a tendency to cook the belly into toughness, but Marsh has a way with it that many people in the area could learn from. Like the open-faced BBQ sandwich the pork belly nearly dissolved like butter on my tongue and the carrots are another treat unto themselves. Again, Marsh truly shines when it comes to veggies. These guys hold their natural sweetness and are cooked just to the point of al dente. The story behind the carrots is that a local guy grew a bunch and dropped them off just to see what the kitchen could do with them. The freshness absolutely comes through, and a bonus of being such a seasonally focused restaurant is when little perks like this happen and you can share the bounty with your guests.

To round out the mains, Marsh served us a sweetbreads dish that differed from the one listed on the menu. Instead of the morels, he used South Carolina red peas. One of the biggest problems with offal, and a huge turn off for most people, is the intensely metallic taste from the blood in the meat. This is why so many people have bad memories of liver and onions. However, sweetbreads are like the gateway drug into offal. They’re rich and creamy, and the least metallic tasting of organ meats. The meat was tender, juicy, and very decadent. This was probably the heaviest of all the dishes, and after working our way through seven other plates, we struggled with finishing this one. That says nothing of the flavor, however, just our full bellies. This is like the savory version of ice cream after a bad day. Everything about the dish is rich, rich, rich and gives you instant amnesia to all your problems before biting in. Marsh’s preparation ensures that the sweetbreads are tender and almost flakey, completely avoiding the chew of overcooked liver and many other organ meats. After the sweetbreads, we shared a chocolate pot de creme and a butterscotch and caramel jar for dessert. The butterscotch and caramel jar had the perfect blend of sweet and creamy, and as one who’s not often a fan of caramel, I would get this again and again. It’s a smaller portion, so it’s perfect after a rich meal of the morels on toast and the sweetbreads or glazed pork belly. The chocolate pot de creme doesn’t hold back on flavor, blasting my tongue with an intense coffee flavor from the espresso shortbread. The coffee salt did an incredible job cutting through the richness of the chocolate without being overly salted. The pot de creme would be a great end to a lighter meal of perhaps just the burger or flounder.

(above left- Flounder/ above right- Shrimp escabeche)

Marsh was pretty much done in the kitchen as we finished our desserts, so he came to chat with us. The hospitality this man has is the best characterization of that charm that makes the South one of the greatest regions in America. Marsh just wants to feed people. He wants to serve delicious, yet simple, meals focused on what’s available seasonally. From the Surry sausage in his pate to the carrots a neighbor up the street grew, Marsh is intensely connected to his surroundings. His menu changes weekly, to reflect what’s available now. You won’t find meaty tomatoes in January, and the rockfish pate will disappear come summertime. We talk about him growing up in Pungo, and how the wood bar is actually made from repurposed wood found on a friend’s property in Pungo. We talk about the farms and farmers that keep LeGrand stocked, from the backyard gardener up the way to the career farmers that supplying Marsh with most of his produce. Marsh may have become a city slicker, but he hasn’t forgotten his roots and he certainly hasn’t forgotten that the simple things in life often taste the best.

(Steve and staff after dinner service)

LeGrand is located at 4515 Colley Ave. Norfolk, VA

LeGrand’s website: http://www.legrandkitchen.com/#eat-together

LeGrand’s facebook: https://www.facebook.com/legrandkitchen