When you think of Three Cats, you probably think of the decor first. That’s understandable, and seemingly intentional. “Amusement park meets tchotchke,” said one friend. If you like zany in your restaurants, come prepared for old posters from carny shows (“The Man Who Knows”), a glowing “Home-Guest” scoreboard from a high school somewhere, a roulette wheel, a Reddy Kilowatt cartoon, carousel horses, a pair of carved wooden lions guarding the door, a plate collection to envy, and much more. You could come with people you have nothing to say to and easily fill all the conversation gaps.
My favorite was the restroom, where you could linger for a while reading that “Bob said don’t worry about a thing, Otis said try a little tenderness, Neil said rock & roll can never die, Jimi said excuse me while I kiss the sky” and many more immortal words.
Three Cats opened four years ago under the leadership of the late Matt Prentice, initiator of many a beloved area restaurant. “He loved to feed people,” said co-owner Mary Liz Curtin, who also runs the Leon & Lulu store next door. Curtin says that a while back, the Metro Times gave Leon & Lulu her favorite award ever — Best Roller Rink Turned Into a Furniture Store. Three Cats also had to be transformed: it was the Clawson Theater, built in 1941, before a thorough makeover.
Almost everything I ate at Three Cats was at least good, and some dishes were stellar. A press release described the food as “American influenced,” whatever that means (but the less said about restaurant press releases the better; I remind myself sternly that the publicist is not the chef).
The menu is eclectic. The fall list includes Italian dishes like risotto and a pizza-like flatbread called pinsa Romana, lobster, a flatiron steak, beef and shrimp burgers, great soups. The French fries are labeled pommes frites. Events are frequent, such as a Cider Dinner or Italian Rat Pack Dinner, with appropriate pairings.
I recommend the soup trio, which comes in little ceramic pots with drizzles a la Starbucks. Matt’s Mushroom is a thick bisque of oyster mushrooms with chive crème and represents the very essence of mushroom-ness. Matt Prentice was, of course, known for his mushrooms, and this recipe comes from the late Morels in Bingham Farms. Likewise the Sun-Dried Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper soup is bursting with bright tomato-osity. The rotating third soup when I visited was Sweet Potato, also top-notch. Together these show a chef making good on the promise of fall (and on Prentice’s legacy).
Some of the same ingredients also shine in salads. I liked Sweet Potato Beet, where the potatoes are fried and the beets pickled, the onion is red, the cheese is goat, and the dressing is made from apple cider. Even better was the very large Warm Exotic Mushroom Salad (though oyster mushrooms are not that exotic). The intense umami of the mushrooms is offset by some slight bitterness in the greens, with crumbled bacon and bleu cheese. I congratulate the salad makers for their light touch with the dressings, which is rare.
Among the entrées I liked best was nicely browned scallops with bacon jam and apple slivers, though I would have liked more than three for my $29. It’s hard to think of a better umami-plus-umami combo than briny, buttery scallops and smoky, salty bacon. The shrimp burger on perfectly toasted brioche is fine too, with a good mayo. The bright pink Maine-style lobster roll was bounteous and also on brioche, with housemade chips; the lobster taste was maybe too obscured by the other flavors in the rich salad.
The night I went, truffled risotto was a failure — too dry and dense, too cool, not creamy as risotto must be, and not tasting of mushrooms, acorn squash, Parmesan, or truffles as advertised.
For brunch, which is a la carte, the two dishes I tried were fine though not outstanding. Shrimp and Polenta: I should have noticed they were calling the three shrimp Cajun, which produced an odd flavor, and polenta is pretty much grits, i.e., bland, without the promised cheesiness. There was a good sweet corn relish, however. In Chicken and Waffles the tenders were good, because they are fried chicken, after all, and the waffle was tall if not particularly fluffy. Hot honey was just… sweet.
A chocolate tart was purely super-dense chocolate, no crust, but no complaints here; I loved it and found room after a large dinner. The coulis called “mixed berry,” not a hopeful sign, actually tasted of raspberry, which is the best accompaniment to chocolate. A panna cotta also had more flavor than most panna cottas, mild coffee with a cookie crust.
Cocktails are constantly changing, the work of a bartending team that makes infusions in house. I enjoyed the Re-Animator, which comes in a tall glass and three tones of pink; it’s sweet and bitter with three kinds of rum and spicy falernum. There’s also a “Cattails” list of virgin drinks that sound delicious, like the Wallace and Gromit: coffee, chocolate syrup, blood orange, cinnamon sugar, and whipped cream, or the Virgin River with anise stock, ginger beer, and lime.
Take a look at the Three Cats logo and see if you spy all three cats. It looks like two at first glance, but they’re all there.
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