RESTAURANT REVIEW: Canvas still artwork in progress

The name of the restaurant at the Arkansas Arts Center has been, since there has been a restaurant at the Arts Center, historically clever and art related.

It started out as Drawings; in 2002, Rob and Martha Best took it over and renamed it Best Impressions, which reflected not only the family name (which they also used in their main business, Simply the Best Catering) but the collection of Impressionist paintings that financier Jackson T. Stephens donated in 2000 and in which the Arts Center has ever since evinced considerable pride.

Upon the Bests' recent decision to retire, Brian Kearns (formerly of Arthur's, Kemuri, etc.) took over ownership and has changed the name again -- to Canvas.

It is still a work in progress, but even while Kearns and his staff are adding, subtracting and putting things in place, it is becoming a work of art.

Kearns' culinary concept is to focus on slightly upscale comfort food with a Southern accent, and as much as possible, a local source for everything on the menu. So the menu will change not only seasonally, but sometimes week to week, depending on what's available in the way of local produce.

The restaurant offers seating for about 100 (with a decent-size party room that can be closed off for meetings or more private gatherings). The layout hasn't appreciably changed but brand-new canvas tablecloths and glass tabletops have just arrived, replacing the butcher paper that had covered the composite-top tables (with sturdy wood chairs).

The feature wall behind the cash register now sports a collection of empty frames that in turn frame the new name. The place is bright with natural light -- the northern wall is mostly windows, and much of the ceiling consists of skylights. Actual artworks from the Arts Center collection hang on the taupe-to-brown walls.

Principal access is from the Arts Center main lobby -- through the gift shop, and why not? -- but a street-side entrance is mainly useful on weekends when the restaurant opens at 10 a.m. for brunch but the Arts Center doesn't open its doors until 11.

Service has been universally good so far.

Speaking of brunch, Kearns has started augmenting the existing menu with some very welcome innovations, including four current $10 Benedicts (poached eggs and hollandaise above, English muffins below; what comes between them is what makes them distinctive).

In addition to a "standard" Eggs Benedict with Canadian bacon, there's Eggs Florentine (Kent Walker feta cheese, spinach and tomato), Eggs American (grilled tomato, bacon and cheese sauce) and our new favorite, Eggs Irish, with house-made corned beef (that shows up also in the $10 Reuben, also on the lunch menu, and the $9 Corned Beef Hash). The corned beef could be sliced a little thinner (more along the lines of East Coast delis), which would make it easier to negotiate, but the flavor is near perfect. Shredded basil atop the hollandaise adds a nice taste touch.

Benedicts, as with many of the other brunch dishes, come with a choice of pyramidal and nicely seasoned house-roasted potatoes or coarse-ground War Eagle Mills grits.

Kearns' other touch of menu brilliance is the French Toast Waffle ($5 waffle only, $9 including bacon and eggs). It has all the properties of good French toast (and better -- slightly thinner and less egg-heavy), waffle-ironed, then sliced into triangle-shaped halves and topped with confectioners' sugar that might let you skip the supplemental syrup. The bacon is nicely cut to just the right thickness; we like ours a little crisper, but we've enjoyed it too much to complain.

We have, however, complained several times and on one occasion even sent back our fried eggs, which the kitchen consistently over-salts (and, most of the time, over-peppers). The solution is too simple for the situation to ever be an issue: Every table in this place has salt and pepper shakers, and a customer who likes salty eggs is free to lay on with a free hand. But once somebody in the kitchen has added the salt, it cannot be removed. (And it's more than just a matter of taste. Lots of people are on reduced-salt or salt-free diets.)

Moving on to lunch, which Canvas serves as pleasantly as any place in town, we opened with the Warm Spinach and Artichoke Dip ($5), served with slightly chewy pita chips. The innocuous dip had a nice texture but it was close to flavorless (interestingly, what we mostly tasted was the artichokes).

All three of our main dishes were masterpieces, especially the Gnocchi ($12), firm and hearty potato dumplings in a tangy broth with roasted Sweden Creek Farms shiitake mushrooms, butternut squash, rosemary and parmesan.

We'd judge as a close second the Lasagna ($12), firm noodles layered with ground beef and pork from Grass Roots Farmers' Cooperative, a lively San Marzano marinara sauce, mozzarella and ricotta. The portion size might be a bit large for some for lunch, but we'd live off this stuff if we could.

Also excellent: the Shrimp and Grits ($14), Gulf shrimp over War Eagle Mills grits with Kent Walker cheddar, bacon, mushrooms, shrimp and tomato reduction and slices of grilled baguette. The brunch version ($14) now also comes topped with poached eggs.

Somethings for subsequent visits: the Boursin Cheese Burger ($11), Grass Roots ground beef patties topped with Boursin cheese, sweet onion, tomato and butter lettuce, and the Grilled Salmon and Vegetable Penne ($14), a grilled salmon filet served with assorted Arkansas fall vegetables, pasta, fresh herbs and pecorino cheese.

Weekend on 11/17/2016