Circa

Last week some friends and I dined at Circa, a posh, trendy spot smack dab on South Main downtown. We were celebrating that glorious, much anticipated, and far too rare occasion known to working people everywhere as—wait for it, wait for it—Payday! Now, we really wanted to do it up right, so, having heard good things about Circa, and after confirming that it offered a "Vegetarian Plate" to appease yours truly, we got together to blow a good chunk of said paycheck on some fancy food.

I was the last of my party to arrive and found my friends enjoying some bar snacks piled into a conical paper wrapper, much like Belgian French fries are traditionally served. One of my dinner-mates gave her seal of approval to a pear martini, which I mention because the drink is, of course, vegetarian.

While the options for a full-blown veggie entree at Circa are slim, there's a good variety of side dishes that can be paired with a salad for a fairly satisfying meal. If you're looking for sustenance, however, I'd skip the appetizer plate: the guacamole, one of the two veggie choices available for the plate, came in a Lilliputian-sized dab on a single tortilla chip, curled around itself. Were this the guacamole to beat all guacamoles, I'd say a little dab'll do ya', but alas, it was lackluster and slightly brown (as happens to avocados when exposed to air; certainly a restaurant as high class as Circa should know the tricks to keep guacamole looking green).

After a quick glance at the salad menu, I began to panic at not seeing the words "blue cheese" on every line. As I teetered on the edge of despair, I spotted the baby iceberg wedge with gorgonzola—which all of you playing at home will know as Italian blue cheese—and I was instantly brought back from the brink. The salad featured a quartered, mini-head of crunchy iceberg, dressed with the creamy cheese and garnished with nuts. On the whole, it was average: the textures were cleverly balanced—the crunchy nuts nicely complementing the crunchy lettuce—but as I got halfway through the dish I found myself eating bare lettuce, the dressing having been applied too thin.

The "Vegetarian Plate," the sole veggie dish, consisted in a choice of three of Circa's many side dishes—nearly all of them meatless—served on a single plate, entree-style (with the corresponding entree price: $26). I chose the fingerling potatoes, expertly roasted with garlic and rosemary and lightly dressed with pesto. These were some of the best potatoes I've had, and they overshadowed the other, less appealing options on the plate: mushroom risotto and sauteed spinach with garlic. The risotto was richly flavored, but it was much too dry. And the spinach was inadequately seasoned: I actually craned my neck around the table looking for a salt shaker (of which there was none).

If you've got money to burn, Circa is a fine place to dine. And I applaud Circa for making an effort to include meatless options on its menu. But better veggie meals can be had around Memphis, even when it's not Payday.

Circa is located at 119 S. Main.