THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Sweet Lowdown

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Sweet Lowdown Restaurant Review:

Sweet Lowdown's bright, contemporary interior blends cozy booth seating, views of the kitchen, and enough flat-screens upstairs to let it double as a sports bar. The proposition that Southern food may be lifted to new heights causes trouble as many of those noble dishes don't require improvement. Example: Sweet Lowdown's straightforward biscuits are made with lard (the correct fat for a proper biscuit); they are fluffy inside and crisp on top. But the kitchen goes astray with chicken and dumplings whose dumplings are clumsy and tasteless, with a sauce lacking seasoning and body, and chicken that seems disconnected from the dish. Besides the biscuits, successes include crispy fried green tomatoes, lovely macaroni and cheese, fried chicken and mashed potatoes. Shrimp and grits are spot on, and the crispy catfish is very nice. The fine barbecue sandwich is based on Eastern Carolina models, home turf of executive chef Paul Wooten. The quite unremarkable wine list offers no rosé (which would do well with much of this food) nor a single Southern wine.