Lunch at Sycamore - Columbia, MO
There are a few things I didn’t get to over the past few months so travel back in time with me as I cover a little lost ground Nakamura style.
From Mastodon to moe., and all points in between, over the years I’ve been to far more than a handful of concerts at The Blue Note in Columbia, MO. For years, each time I arrived with little time on my hands, I’d peer into the windows of Trattoria Strada Nova and quietly say to myself “someday” before scurrying across the street to Ninth Street Deli or Bangkok Gardens short of the necessary finances and time to do so.
Unfortunately the only someday that came was that someday most good things come to an end. With business apparently faltering, the Trattoria was non più. I’d missed my chance.
But then through the grapevine known as Chowhound I heard that the “good chef,” Mike Odette, had rounded the corner opening up a spacious new restaurant called Sycamore at the corner of Broadway and Eighth. Specializing in local seasonal food, Sycamore, like 222 Artisan Bakery, is the kind of place you step into and wonder how it ended up where it is in the first place. With a section of about 6 tables just inside the front windows, my quick gazes while passing by never yielded a real grasp for the restaurants size. Once inside, however, it’s an absolutely enormous space, and frankly, really cool.
Three to four times as long as it is wide, the restaurant seems even larger do to the high ceilings. Along with the warm color scheme, the floors, a combination of wood and vintage looking tile, reminded me of an old drug store soda fountain and gave the restaurant a familiar welcoming feel. A well stocked bar runs briefly down the right side before the room narrows and you find yourself looking at the seemingly mandatory open kitchen in back.
Making the kitchen especially unique, it is also elevated up a short flight of stairs so that everyone in the restaurant can easily see it. On the side of the line facing the restaurant a short bookshelf is lined with cookbooks obviously tattered by cooks and chefs scouring for inspiration — which did not go overlooked. For me a kitchen with cookbooks is one where the staff is always interested in learning; understanding that no matter how great a cook you are, there is always room for growth, and there is always someone better. Sycamore it would seem, gets it.
Seated in the narrow section of the restaurant near the kitchen, we looked over the menu making our final selections as the scent of a kitchen deep into their Friday morning prep work wafted into the dining room from the elevated kitchen. The unmistakable smell of bacon roasting in the oven, the perfume of grilling onions as they caramelized slowly making them something better than before, and the sound of cold butter hitting a hot pan; its scent signaling its change from yellow to brown confirmed even before a bite was taken, that good food was being cooked here.
The lunch menu at Sycamore is made up of salads, soups, sandwiches, and a handful of lighter lunch entrees. Also listed is an option of 1/2 a sandwich & any side item for only $6.25. Although I don’t recall what Ellie had, she wisely made this choice. I however was starved, and having read about their use of Patchwork Farms pork on their website, combined with the heavenly sent of bacon in the air, I knew I had to have a full Peppered Patchwork pork loin and bacon served on focaccia with grilled onions, fontina, sundried tomato mayo and housemade barbeque sauce with a side of fries as soon as I saw it.
Initially I was a little worried that so many flavors might make the sandwich overwhelming. The flavors melded together nicely, however, with the smoke of the bacon and the strong pork flavor of the loin being complimented nicely by the bite of the fontina and the zip of the light-handed addition of barbecue sauce.
At $7.50, it was also incredibly reasonable because it was an absolute monster. A testament to its deliciousness, it was one of those items where you know you should stop eating, but it tastes so good that unless someone physically removes it from your sight, it begs you to keep powering on even though you know you shouldn’t.
The fries were a fit compliment to the sandwich as well. Roof of the mouth searing hot, they were the biggest I’ve ever had by a wide margin.And everything paired nicely with my beer. I’m normally more of a wine man with my upscale dining, but a glance at their beer list quickly changed my mind. Not only do they actually have one, but the beer list at Sycamore is possibly the best I’ve ever seen in a restaurant of this type. It was filled with thoughtful and unusual brews representing some of the finest beers in the world. Listed at an incredibly reasonable $6, I went with the Brasserie des Rocs Triple Impériale Ale. At around 10% ABV you’d expect this Belgian Strong Dark Ale to give an immediate hit of alcohol as you take the first sip, but instead, it’s only somewhat apparent do to the beer’s sweetness. Not cloying in any way, it comes from the punch of funky dried fruit flavors which lingered through the finish. Well played, it was a shockingly good pairing with the sandwich.
We can’t wait to go back for a dinner at Sycamore, and will certainly be making sure to arrive with plenty of pre-concert time from now on.
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