| If Spolumbo’s is any indication of how successful a restaurant run by former football players can be, then Myles Avery Restaurant & Martini Bar is sure to score a touchdown with Calgary foodies.
Willie Fells, former linebacker with the Calgary Stampeders, opened the city’s first soul-food restaurant (720 - 11 Ave. S.W.; phone 266-3257) in mid-October. Fells played college ball with the University of Purdue Boilermakers, went on to join the Hamilton Tiger Cats and later the New Orleans Saints. After wearing Number 39 with the Stamps from 2001 until the beginning of this season, Fells wanted to give something back to the city that gave so much to him. That something was a piece of his heritage – soul food.
A native of Palatka, Florida, Fells grew up eating soul food prepared by his grandmother. She imparted those recipes to Fells and he, in turn, taught the comfort foods of the South to Chef Marcel Bondea, formerly of Stromboli’s and Rococo’s. The restaurant is named after the athlete’s six-year-old son, Myles Avery. The subterranean space was once home to the Spanish tapas bar Bodega and, most recently, to the romantic goth lounge Dolce. Fells runs the restaurant in partnership with Kelly Knies, co-proprietor of Dolce, whose dowry included his former restaurant’s hot rocks and chocolate fondue.
With a celebrity owner maintaining a visible presence, attracting sports fans and female admirers alike, the future of the Myles Avery looks promising. For starters, it’s already served dinner to Nelson Mandela’s grandson, thrown a Grey Cup party and hosted the Second Annual Willie Fells Wine Fest in support of For the Love of Children Society. (Next time you’re in Orissa, India, look for the village school bus with Fells’s name on it.)
The menu features such soulful delicacies as roasted yams, catfish, smothered chicken, "lip-smacking" Southern ribs, collard greens and sweet potato pie, all to be read aloud with that lovely Southern lilt.
As an appetizer, we ordered prawns cooked in coconut rum butter and served on risotto cake with an accompanying mango papaya salsa ($9). The outside batter was playfully crunchy, the prawns themselves were meaty and juicy, and the coconut rum butter mixed with the mango papaya created a lovely tropical flavour. The Southern Paradise ($8), tender slices of chicken breast cooked in white wine, served on sweet-potato cakes and topped with mango papaya salsa, was a sweet sensation.
For my entrée, I selected the de-boned, fried catfish ($16), which was light and juicy though I tired of the breaded taste halfway through. What I could have eaten a whole plate of were the side dishes. Every soul food entrée comes with your choice of two sides from a selection of six dishes: red beans and rice, macaroni and cheese, collard greens, candied yams, mashed potatoes and gravy or black-eyed peas.
The gravy on the mashed potatoes was surprisingly and delightfully spicy and the perfect complement to the sweetness of the candied yams. My date ordered the chicken breast ($18), baked and smothered in a thick chicken broth gravy, with mash and collard greens (a variety of cabbage resembling spinach).
Sade and James Brown records played in the background until the live entertainment began at 9 p.m. Sultry vocalists and pianists Mohini Cox and Zoë Nimijean perform Friday and Saturday nights. They pack the house and are not to be missed. Fells is an accomplished singer himself.
I couldn’t leave Myles Avery without ordering up a true Southern treat — sweet potato pie. I was presented, not with a typical piece of pie, but instead with a contemporary take on this old-fashioned favourite – three art-nouveau rounds topped with whipped cream. It’s served cold, has a slighter thicker consistency than pumpkin pie and is mmmm, good.
In 2001, Fells provided the Stampeders with the team’s biggest play of the year in the CFL final. He scooped up a blocked punt and rumbled 11 yards for the touchdown, leading the Stampeders to a 27 to 19 upset win over the heavily-favoured Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Grey Cup. Clearly, Fells is still serving up winners.
For more information about the restaurant’s New Year’s Eve party, call Myles Avery or e-mail mylesavery@shaw.ca. |
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