Road house/fish camp atmosphere is not my favorite decor, even for downhome dining — unless I’m, you know, at a road house or a fish camp, two unlikely prospects — but Flying Fish, owned by the group that owns Flying Saucer down the street on Second, has the style down pat, so the place is sort of funky/junky/ironic, and even if you don’t care for “fast casual” service — you order at a counter and a waiter brings the food to the table — the place ticks along like clockwork. I had a terrific bowl of dark, flavorful seafood gumbo; a “BBQ” shrimp po’boy of which I expected greater things, and a plate that brings a trio of fish tacos accompanied by rice and beans. The tacos are heaped (as you can see in this image) with good cole slaw and a fresh-tasting pico de gallo. The result is pretty good, coming midway on the chart of my gustatory pleasure principle between the gumbo and the shrimp po’boy. Interestingly, you can pay a dollar more ($8.99 instead of $7.99) and trade-up to actual tilapia instead of whatever anonymous finny friend is utilized. What I must return to the restaurant for are catfish, which is fried or grilled, and shrimp and oysters, now that we’re in an “R” month. Flying Fish is — and I’m quoting from the take-out menu — “Open 11-10 Daily 7 Days a Week.” Yeah, me too, I’m always forgetting what daily means. The address is 105 S. Second. Call 522-8228.

I drive out Covington Pike pretty frequently because our animals’ veterinarian is there at Stage Road. Before you get to the expressway, on the right, is a BP service station with a small restaurant attached. Formerly a Dairy Queen occupied that space, but it’s now home to New Mexico, a taqueria. You know how it is, you drive past a place a zillion times and every time you say to yourself, “I’m gonna pull over and check this out,” and then you don’t but resolve to do it next time.

So, finally I did that.

New Mexico is unprepossessing, a little cluttered but clean and homey. Handwritten signs are posted on a high menu board behind the counter; the offerings here are basic: tacos, tostados, lunch combinations and so on. There’s also a more formal menu with a full line of tacos, tortas, gorditas, egg dishes, seafood dishes and dinner combination plates.

Standing at the counter, I typically ordered too much: A plate of beef and bean nachos and a lunch deal that brought two tacos (one chicken and one beef), a beef tostado, rice and beans. With a bottle of water, this all cost about $10.50. You can see what the food looks like in the photograph. Topping the tostado are slices of avocado and pickled jalapena. You have to ask for salsas at the counter; they come in little plastic containers with lids, which doesn’t impress me much, but the salsas they hold are good. I put green sauce on the tacos — the chicken was a little dry — and on the rice and beans a fiery red sauce that gives new meaning to the term nuclear detente. The nachos, dripping with cheese, of course, were ridiculously addictive. Everything was good. No, not great, but simple, authentic and honest.

I’ll return to New Mexico to try items from the printed menu soon.

New Mexico Restaurant is at 1184 Covington Pike, south of I-40. I called the two telephone numbers listed on the menu but got several personal voicemails.

We stopped by Itta Bena after work for a glass of wine and a couple of appetizers. One thing cool about being a “secret,” i.e., having a door without a sign, is that–well, it’s cool. Seems so Meatpacking District or something–so Sex in the City. The bad thing is that no one knows you’re there! We were the only folks in the admittedly very cool place, but we were early and only there for a while. The intent, as I understand it, is to draw diners from below–Itta Bena is above B.B.King’s club on Beale. People weren’t even on their second round downstairs while we were nibbling on scallops in a tomato truffle sauce, served over white cheese grits, and mussels upstairs.

Both were very good and I’m looking forward to a full dinner there. The menu is limited–steak, chops, fish and shrimp, but I’ve got a good feeling about the place and high expectations. Dinner nightly, Mon.-Sat. Let me know if you check it out. I’m having computer glitches, but I’ll try to post pictures tomorrow.

We enjoyed our meal at Assaggio — Italian for “to taste” — last night, but I want to say first that the restaurant is close to impossible to find. To say that Assaggio is located near Germantown Parkway and Macon Road is like saying that planet Earth is located near the sun and Pluto. The problem is that the restaurant, open since March, occupies a space in a new (and largely unoccupied) shopping center that’s behind or in back of or enclosed by two other perpendicular strip shopping centers that do sort of converge at Germantown Pkwy and Macon. In other words, Assaggio and its shopping center are invisible from any street.

My advice is that if you’re heading north on Germantown Pkwy, turn right on Macon, drive past the little strip shopping center where Bubble Tea Cafe is, turn right at the next street, aim at the over-sized American flag, turn right again when you get almost to the flagpole, go down a few yards and that’s where Assaggio will be. If you’re driving south on Germantown Pkwy, of course, you turn left on Macon.

Assaggio offers a short menu of Italian and semi-Italian fare that’s generally thoughtful and well-prepared. We started dinner — in an almost empty restaurant — with shrimp bruschetta and beef carpaccio. I thought the shrimp needed to be grilled or broiled, but LL pointed out how perfectly, barely, firmly cooked they were. The carpaccio, with that deep, ripe flavor of raw beef, really should have been sliced paper-thin, as tradition calls for; slightly bitter arugula and excellent shaved Parmesan were as they should be.

A beef filet, stuffed with Gorgonzola cheese and accompanied by roasted tomatoes, was — ready? — one of the most tender and flavorful hunks of beef I have ever eaten. Assaggio’s lasagna is so over-the-top that you can’t help laughing in wonder when it appears before you. Unusually, the lasagna, rich and irresistible, comes in a long strip, arranged diagonally across a wide plate, rather like the Great Wall, dripping with ricotta cheese, white bechamel sauce and bright red tomato sauce, ground beef and basil. We took home at least half, but saved room for a delicious wedge of ricotto cheesecake.

The dining room at Assaggio is so stark that it’s a little daunting. All the dark marble tables are round four-tops; all the chairs are tall of back and dark of color; the assemblage of dark massive furniture against pale yellow walls is disconcerting. The contemporary lighting fixtures are handsome and appropriate, but something needs to relieve the monotony of the decor, say painting the back wall a different color or putting up a few simple, discreet photographs.

Assaggio is at 8100 Macon Station. Hours are Monday through Thursday, 5 to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5 to 11 p.m.; and Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call 752-0056.

I went to lunch at Circa, John Bragg’s sleek new restaurant in the Pembroke Square part of
Peabody Place on the ground floor of the old Goldsmith’s building; that’s 119 South Main. Just think: Someday a reference to Goldsmith’s will be unintelligible.

Anyway, we’re accustomed to saying in these parts that if a restaurant has any sense of contemporary style: “It feels as if you’re not in Memphis.” Poor provincial us. Circa, as it happens, is high design from the start, swanky yet casual. The main feature is a series of “walls” down the center of the deep, narrow restaurant that double as wine racks and divide the space into three long segments. The dominant visual motif, as you can see in a couple of these images, is the lozenge shape.

Circa offers a good lunch, an interesting yet ultimately safe lunch that caters to a (slightly adventurous) downtown audience. Restaurateurs and chefs understand that people don’t want elegance and finesse, much less innovation, when they hafta get back to the office. A soup special — and it was special — was a delicious bright red puree of tomatoes with basil, summer in a bowl. A “chopped” salad was a bit of a culinary joke, unless the definition of “chopped” means “anything cut with a knife.” This was an attractive arrangement of green beans, very ripe and flavorful halved cherry tomatoes, slim white asparagus and chopped (yes) artichoke hearts.

My friend and I went for sandwiches, though entrees are available. He chose the over-the-top hanger-steak and foie gras sandwich served on ciabatta bread. My only objection to this death-defying feat of cholesterol overload is that the foie gras was overcooked. The point of foie gras is its opulence and succulence, it’s incredible ripe, almost sweet and melting meatiness and its cloud-like texture. Cook foie gras too much, though, and it’s just another piece of flesh. I chose the grilled cheese sandwich with prosciutto, an impressive effort, made more so by the excellence quality of the bread, which we noticed all around. Both sandwiches came with superior frites.

Yes, we did dessert, too. My terrine of gelatos (vanilla, blackberry, peach and cinammon) and my friend’s Diplomatico cake were each extremely tasty, the terrine almost deliriously so, but the concepts were weighed down and blurred with too much frou-frou on the desserts and on the plates. There’s no need for all that swagging.

Lunch prices at Circa are $4 to $13 for appetizers; $9 to $16 for sandwiches, accompanied by frites; $10 to $14 for entrees; and $7 and $8 for desserts. Lunch is served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday. (Dinner is 5 to 10 p.m., Sunday and Monday, 5 to 11 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.) There is no smoking in the building. Call 522-1488.

I generally don’t like buffets, for all the obvious reasons: The food is kept at the wrong temperature, the good items go fast and what’s left is gross, etc. You know–you probably feel the same way I do.

Swagath, an Indian restaurant at 4205 Hacks Cross, is a different story, though. I was told, (incorrectly, it turned out) that I couldn’t order from the menu at lunch at a recent visit, so to the buffet table we went. I was surprised at the quality and the integrity of the food. It was hot (in heat and flavor–surprisingly spicy,probably too spicy for many people), items were frequently replenished and even the gulab jamun, those tasty little dough balls in a light syrup, weren’t reduced to mush like on most buffets.

More in an upcoming review, but if you’re in the area and you like Indian food, stop by. There were probably 75 people there for lunch when I visited and I’m guessing 90 percent were Indian. That’s always a good sign.

Snuck into My Greek Cafe on Madison today after hearing good reports from friends and co-workers. Something I heard from several people was that the Greek salad was great, and they were right on about that. No lettuce–just big chunks of tomatoes, rings of red onion, chopped cucumber and a few Kalamata olives on a plate, topped with a slab of tangy feta, sprinkled with oregano and doused with olive oil. A big squeeze of lemon would’ve made it perfect–but then I’ll put lemon on anything.

Atmosphere was calm and relaxing, a little funky. Although the bar was empty at lunch, it’s a nice size bar and could turn into a great neighborhood spot. I haven’t been in at night yet, so I suppose it’s possible that it’s already hopping in the p.m.

We’re doing these “first bites” just to give you a taste of new spots that have opened. Usually they’ll be followed up before long with a review in Playbook, although they might not always be. It’s an opportunity for you to weigh in, too, so let us know your thoughts…