By Stephanie Salter
Looking for a place to get in and out in 30 minutes? To be served a load of beef or chicken, swimming in a thick sauce on a platter the size of a pizza pan? Crave a baked potato with five toppings? A bowl of lettuce with a cup of Ranch dressing?
Stay away from Magdy’s. Stay very far away.
Tucked into a corner of Farrington’s Grove, this is a restaurant for people who are serious about fine dining.
“Our clientele has been exposed to a variety of cuisines. Many of them travel the world,” Magdy Atwa said. “Good food takes time to cook. The people who come here know that.”
Atwa has been the chef-owner of Magdy’s since December 1999. For eight years before that he presided over the MVP Room at the Boston Connection. Before that he learned classic continental cooking in some pretty fair New York City spots, among them Maxwell’s Plum, Tre Scalini and Violetta.
“I learned in every place,” he said. “Sometimes I offered to work for free just to learn. And sometimes I worked for free.”
A naturalized U.S. citizen, Atwa emigrated from Alexandria, Egypt in 1980. He says he learned to speak English, French and Greek while studying in college.
To be frank, I did not expect much from Magdy’s. It is off the beaten track and so low-keyed in marketing, I wondered if it was still open. No one I talked to had been there in awhile. Our loss.
The beautiful Victorian mansion that houses Magdy’s was built in 1873. Several restaurants have come and gone there. When Atwa moved in, he says it took three months and more than $100,000 to renovate the kitchen and two floors of dining rooms.
The result may be the most genteel dining spot in Terre Haute. Low lighting. Soft music. Crisp white table linen. Silverware with some heft.
A tiny bar (with a three-way license) is a bit incongruous — mirrored and neon beer signs — but it’s also intimate: a few stools and four linen-covered tables. Two main-floor dining rooms can seat up to 50 people — or not.
“If a table is bothering someone, if they feel too crowded, I take away the table,” Atwa said.
Then there is Magdy’s food.
What I sampled, during an unannounced dinner visit and some follow-up tastings, was strong incentive to become a regular.
It all starts with high-quality, fresh ingredients. From the tiniest condiment to the largest cut of meat, “I’m very picky about the food I buy,” Atwa said.
It shows. Salad greens have texture and taste that serve as a worthy companion to Atwa’s rich, hand-blended bleu cheese dressing or his Caesar, in which every proper ingredient of that much-mangled dressing is detectable.
Warm dinner rolls are sweet, light and obviously fresh. Steeling myself for the usual refrigerator-tainted butter so many places inflict on diners, I was happy to taste just unadulterated creamy butter. (God is in the details.)
The night I dined, my companion ordered a Magdy’s menu staple, filet mignon with a quiet Bordelaise sauce ($19.50), and I chose a special: grilled rack of lamb marinated in red wine, garlic and rosemary ($23). Both meats were cooked precisely as we requested and came with crunchy baby string beans and onion, and slow-roasted potatoes, reminding me what a treat a simple spud can become with patience.
In subsequent visits I sampled Atwa’s appetizer risotto ($7), which is done in authentic Italian style: arborio rice, stirred slowly in chicken stock, wine and chopped onion and pulled from the heat while still al dente.
The menu offers it with saffron, sweet green peas and freshly grated Parmesan, but Atwa is ever flexible. I’ve tried two variations, with porcini mushrooms and with spinach. Both — when savored, not inhaled — make the risotto a fine main course.
A smoked salmon appetizer ($8) was meaty, mildly salty with just a hint of real wood smoke and served simply with rye quarters and a sprinkling of minced bermuda onion and capers.
Speaking of capers, they capped a dazzling luncheon special — snapper fillet in a whispery tomato-and-shrimp-stock sauce ($12) — that transported me to the Amalfi Coast of Italy.
Sauteed shrimp and sea scallops is the most expensive menu entree at $21. Pastas run $14 to $18, chicken or roasted leg of lamb, $15 to $16. Meat and seafood specials are in the low to mid-$20s. Sometimes Atwa will offer a veal chop for $32 (he uses only milk-fed Provimi), but he says such prices are still viewed as special-occasion-only in Terre Haute.
All dinner entrees include a salad of mixed baby greens, a vegetable and rice or potato.
A couple of What’s Right readers told me their only minus at Magdy’s is the desserts, which they find so-so. I sampled only the tiramisu, but found it lovely: moist with rum and Kahlua, creamy with marscapone, and small enough to provoke no guilt.
In addition to cocktails, Magdy’s offers about a dozen domestic and imported beers. The wine list is modest in size but equipped to complement a range of dishes. Bottle prices range from $18 to $70 (for Moet & Chandon White Star Champagne).
Five decent house wines are $5 by the glass (not $4 as the list says), or $9 for a half-carafe.
Atwa swears he manages to find time to be at home, cooking and eating with his wife and two children, but it is hard to imagine how without a twin. Usually with only his sous chef Joey Thompson, a waiter, busboy and dishwasher, Magdy’s is open six days a week. Atwa also offers an extensive catering menu and can accommodate groups in three second-floor private dining rooms.
“I will not compromise on what I buy or the length of time it takes to prepare and serve each dish the way I want it to look and taste,” he said. “I won’t take shortcuts. Any restaurant I work, the experience of dining is at least one-and-a-half to two hours.
“I’m lucky, I have loyal people who understand this and come here because of it. When someone says, ‘That’s the best I ever had,’ that makes my day.”
Magdy’s is at 1000 S. Sixth St. Dinner is 5 to 9 p.m., Monday-Thursday; 5 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday. Lunch is 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone is (812) 238-5500. Major credit cards are accepted.
Dining Notes:
Not only has Pino’s Il Sonetto reopened with veterans of the kitchen again at the helm, a strong rumor puts several other departed Pino’s staffers downtown and only a few weeks from opening their own dinner spot. (It may be in an existing space that already serves breakfast and lunch.)
Meanwhile, bradeneli’s executive chef Michael Schwendau is augmenting his regular menu — filet of beef, pan roasted lamb loin, sauteed lobster tail — with specials such as Chesapeake Bay scallops in a roasted garlic and cream sauce or strip steak with sweet onion and bleu cheese.
A report from some What’s Right readers gave a thumbs-down to Schwendau’s grouper because a napping of herb-infused olive oil “didn’t work; it overwhelmed the fish.”
On the other hand (or claw), his Thai-style crab-and-shrimp cakes are among the best I’ve ever tasted. Moist inside, their exterior is so light and crispy, it’s as if it grew naturally around the meat like a crunchy edible shell.
Wine tip: Among bradeneli’s $5 glasses of wine is a super Terazzas Malbec from Argentina.
A few blocks down on Wabash Avenue, chef Eddie Wilson at Clabber Girl is educating foodies in the most pleasurable way invented: teaching them to cook a multicourse meal then allowing them to sit down and consume it.
Every other Wednesday evening, Wilson opens the Clabber Girl test kitchen to a couple dozen folks who watch, help and eat. The cost is $50 per couple, $20 for a solo diner. Coming up April 12, southern-style Easter dinner; April 19, Mediterranean feast; April 26, traditional Mexican. Reservations are a must: (812) 232-9446.
Throughout April, Wilson also continues his free Saturday cooking and baking classes. Sessions run from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The Asian approach to food education will be taken April 24 at Sushi Umi, 2801 S. Third St. Lovers of hamachi, anago and ikura can learn the techniques of sushi and sashimi. Class begins at 7 p.m., lasts about 90 minutes and costs $30. Call (812) 232-7874.
About the report:
— “What’s Right with Terre Haute Dining” is a periodic report about local, non-chain restaurateurs who work to deliver more than an ordinary dining experience. Dinner is the primary focus. Reader feedback is essential. Contact Stephanie Salter at (812) 231-4229 or stephanie.salter@tribstar.com.
