We ate lunch at The Brushmark today, wanting to see what Wally Joe is doing at the restaurant in Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. Joe and his chef de cuisine Andrew Adams have been at The Brushmark since October; Joe’s acclaimed eponymous restaurant closed at the beginning of 2007. 

At first, the menu seemed pretty standard for an upscale lunch in Memphis, but the differences lay in the details of ingredients, execution and presentation. Joe had to keep the restaurant’s long-popular chicken-peanut soup on the menu; I ordered a cup of that and it was tasty but leaned toward the salty edge. An arugula salad, however, was beautifully done, the bright green arugula leaves balanced in a stack surrounded by balls of pale green honeydew melon and orange canteloupe sprinkled with pistachio nuts; the dressing was perfectly balanced and sparely applied.

For entrees, we chose an item from the menu, wild mushroom ravioli with a saffron sauce, red peppers and hair-thin chives, and today’s seafood special, a roasted filet of salmon with wilted spinach, roasted tomatoes and squash agnoletti and a corn-truffle sauce. Both dishes were terrific looking and tasting, as rich in flavor as they sound, and sumptuous in texture, yet with all the elements working in harmony so that no part dominated.    

We finished by sampling scoops of luxurious corn ice cream and brown-butter ice cream.

Glasses of the Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc-Viognier were crisp, floral, lemony and delicate with the entrees. The tab was about $63.

Our conclusion is that for lunch Wally Joe is wisely keeping The Brushwork within the parameters that the ladies who lunch and their gentlemen counterparts will accept but taking matters a step or two out of the ordinary by touches that are witty, sophisticated and inevitable without ruffling lunch-time feathers. The Brushmark is open for dinner Thursdays and for special events such as the monthly 1st Wednesday festivities; at those times, Joe plays around with ingredients and experiments a bit more.

None of this is what you want to hear, of course. What you want to know is where and when Wally Joe will open a restaurant to replace the original Wally Jo. (He has said that he will also remain at The Brushmark.)

Here’s what Joe told us: Zoning has been approved, but he and his investors are still negotiating to buy a property and building in the Poplar-Perkins area. Once that process is completed, it will take quite a while to convert and remodel the building. So, Wally Joe fans, patience is required.

Waiters from the former Wally Joe restaurant have dispersed. Satoka is visiting family in Japan; Joe is at Ronnie Grisanti & Sons; Patrick is at Umai.