Building a better mousetrap is an idea restaurant consultants love to run with. Large portions of American comfort food drive the success of franchises like Claim Jumper or Cheesecake Factory, two chain restaurants that always fill up at peak hours and do steady business in slower periods. That makes similar establishments inevitable, one guesses.
White Chocolate Grill, a Scottsdale, Arizona, import, emulates these places with a few original gimmicks, not the least of which are the terrific, birdbath-sized desserts, topped with huge amounts of fresh whipped cream or a delicious vanilla ice cream.
The appointments here are impressive. They include an exhibition kitchen behind a glass wall, booth seating on banquettes upholstered in gorgeous black leather, stonework and raw wooden tables. This is a beautiful restaurant where considerable expense is obvious. And so far, they are off to a good start.
Above the uniquely conceived bar, located in a large room also equipped with tables intended for dining, bottles are arranged, stadium-style, on ascending shelves, with back lighting for maximum visual effect. It takes inspiration from Frank Lloyd Wright, what with the form-follows-function styling and smart use of natural materials.
The restaurant is located in Sansome Park Place, a new development south of the 215 Beltway on Eastern Avenue. The mall already houses Sweet Water Prime Seafood, Pin Kaow, an Italian trattoria and a Korean grill, so what once was a drought of fine dining establishments around here has become a flood.
The holiday season seems especially apropos for this type of fare; there are many festive dishes to sample here, mostly served in giant bowls or on huge white plates.
A white chocolate martini comes straight-up, in a glass swirled with dark chocolate. I’d rather have the old-fashioned lemonade, presented in a sugar-rimmed glass. Nice touch.
Starters can be hard to resist. One of the more original dishes on the menu is something they call their tomato gin soup, which one must be 21 years old to order. It’s a chunky soup, redolent of bacon, stocked with bits of mushroom and chopped tomato. It is alleged to have Tanqueray gin in it, but I couldn’t detect much. Still, it’s a great soup.
Egg rolls are nice, too, more like deep-fried chicken wraps with a spicy kick, served with an even kickier jalapeno sauce. But my favorite starter is sesame-crusted ahi, a sushi-grade tuna, slightly seared and perched on a bed of tasty, sesame-oil-infused Asian slaw.
Salads are fine, if on the bland side. The chicken salad is the most inventive one on the list, composed of field greens, lots of cooked, shredded chicken, goat cheese, croutons and golden raisins, bound by a yogurt-based balsamic vinaigrette.
Southern chicken salad uses cubes of breaded, fried chicken, and the salad would be better if the chicken were hot. The best salad choice might be filet mignon Cobb salad, a fairly classic version with beef doing yeoman’s work in place of the more usual turkey.
The list of entrees has few surprises but is solid and hits most of the prescribed marks. There are a trio of filet mignons, one plain, the other two with blue cheese and Parmesan crusts, respectively. All three are just fine, requisitely tender and nicely broiled on wood. Good roast chicken and tender baby backs that have been steamed, then grilled come on a combination platter, or by themselves. They are both fine, unless you insist on wood ’cue.
The spit-roasted turkey French dip would be better if the meat came in thicker slices, and if the sauce, a wild mushroom dip so thick a spoon can stand up in it, were more like the au jus you get with a French dip. I like the blackened fish sandwich because of an herbal Green Goddess sauce. All the burger choices are good, especially the barbecue bacon burger with applewood-smoked bacon.
If you’ve been paying attention to the name of this place, you’ve saved room for dessert. Every one I’ve sampled is killer, though they don’t need the sweet caramel sauce drizzled on them, as they are already sweet—and satisfying—as it is.
First among equals may be the delirious white-chocolate banana cream pie, a thick shell made from graham flour lined with white chocolate, housing a heavenly custard and fresh sliced bananas, plus a scandalous crowning of whipped cream. There is a white-chocolate bread pudding served in a pool of crème Anglaise and apple pie, really a rustic apple tart, that comes to the table à la mode, sprinkled with chopped nuts.
Grilled white chocolate, it should be mentioned, is nowhere to be found.
White Chocolate Grill
9610 S. Eastern Ave., Henderson. 436-7100.
Open 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily.
Suggested dishes: tomato gin soup, $6; barbecue bacon burger, $9.50; combination platter, $21; white-chocolate banana cream pie, $7.