33 Liberty, Greenville, South Carolina

I had a very successful meal at 33 Liberty this week (I wished that I could have eaten there twice, but it was not to be - I also had a nice meat-and-three meal at OJ's and an OK dinner at Pomegranate, a Persian restaurant downtown).

33 Liberty is not yet a "destination restaurant," but the food was always well-cooked, and some was really excellent. Greenville has come a long way with the influx of non-locals through their BMW and Michelin plants. The downtown is really quite "spiffy."

33 Liberty is, however, not downtown, but in a rather unprepossessing area on the east side of the city (the Spartanburg side), if my sense of direction is correct (about ten minutes from the airport). The restaurant itself is quite informal, given Chef Malik's culinary efforts (the menu changes on a weekly basis). I don't mean this in a negative way, but the mismatched (and sunny) decor will either be pleasing or off-putting. This doesn't have the feel of a high-end Atlanta restaurant - again, either a positive or not. The service (our waitress was Christina) was very pleasant and charming, but also informal. And in the dining room chef John Malik's wife Amy was dining with her children (she also runs the restaurant). 33 Liberty has almost a family restaurant vibe (and is quite different from, say, Hugh Atcheson's Five & Ten restaurant in Athens).

The dishes were generally excellent, although perhaps not as pretty as, say, Five & Ten. I particularly enjoyed a terrific amuse of White Bean soup with truffle oil. An evocative start, simple, properly made, and classical. I also throughly treasured the smoked sea bass spring rolls with green salad and buttermilk dressing, my favorite dish of the evening. The spring rolls were crispy and not at all greasy, and the seabass was nicely smoky without being overwhelmed. The salad, simple, complimented the plate. I also enjoyed the rabbit rillettes with croutons, homemade mustard, and cornichons. Not an A-ha kind of dish, but straightforward. The roasted beets with goat cheese, sherry vinaigrette, and pound cake croutons were most notable for the surprisingly wonderful and sweet croutons. Otherwise the dish was well-made and honest.

The main courses were likewise pretty straight-forward, but always well-cooked. Lamb shank with whipped potatoes and peas was as advertised, as was a tender, juicy pan-fried veal liver with whipped potatoes and Vidalia onion sauce. How often can one order properly cooked veal liver.

Dessert was a high point: a buttermilk chess pie with grapefruit marmalade. I was impressed by how the bitter-tartness of the marmalade matched the pure sweetness of the pie.

If I am near the Greenville area, I will certainly return to John Malik's 33 Liberty with great pleasure. The visual and taste profiles of the dishes are not now so dramatic as to make 33 Liberty worth a drive from Atlanta or from Charlotte, but chefs must be attendant to the preference of potential diners. With entrees priced at about $20, there are limits to the magic of the kitchen, but such pricing also means that 33 Liberty is not only for special occasions.

33 Liberty
33 Liberty Lane
Greenville, SC
864-370-4888
http://www.33liberty.com