Purple Onion goes for growth
Sunday lunches and evening meals have been served at the 90-seat Purple Onion brasserie in Middlesbrough, Cleveland, since last November. It represents another step by the owners, father and son John and Bruno McCoy, to build the business they launched in October 1995
Attracting more customers into the Victorian premises - with bric-à-brac garnered from Parisian flea markets and the dominating feature of an 18ft-long zinc bar salvaged from a café in the same city - is worlds away from the aspirations John McCoy had in 1964 when he set up the original Purple Onion, also in Middlesbrough.
More than 30 years ago, he ran a coffee bar-cum-soup kitchen in the old part of town. He ran this for seven years while, in a warehouse next door, he put on live music with acts including a then-unknown rock group, the Rolling Stones.
Although McCoy doesn't believe the 110-cover restaurant will ever win any accolades from Michelin, the menu reflects his preference for using top-quality fresh ingredients to create straightforward, tasty dishes. For example, the finest buffalo mozzarella is flown in fresh from Naples twice a week.
A brigade of three chefs - Richard Hudson, Neil Shutt and Italian sous chef Massimo Cecere - led by head chef Graeme Benn follow this dictum, offering a constant menu of 14 starters, 14 main courses and eight desserts.
Daily variation comes from the specials board, with a selection of three starters and three main courses for the 1,000 to 1,200 diners who weekly walk though the doors to be served by Bruno and his 11-strong front of house team. Dishes include a warm salad of king scallops and water king prawns surrounded by crab and coconut sauce (£9.25), and local partridge served whole with a duxelle of chestnut and wild mushrooms, glazed baby onions and deep-fried sage (£16.95).
Favourites are chargrilled Italian vegetables topped with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar and black pepper (£4.95) and rack of spring lamb with wild mushrooms, blackberries and redcurrant jelly (£14.95). And "we sell bucketfuls of sticky toffee pudding (£4.25) - it probably reminds people about when they were at school," says McCoy.
He is keen to expand the proportion of vegetarian dishes to keep up with growing demand. Oven-baked field mushrooms sandwiched with creamed spinach and roasted garlic on a toasted brioche (£9.75) is one of three choices currently on offer.
The wine list shows 36 wines, including Champagne. Thirteen house whites and reds, starting at £10.95 a bottle, lead the way. McCoy offers Peroni and Budweiser alongside a host of other French and US designer beers. Customers currently pay an average of £18 for meals, with drinks an extra £7.
Now Sunday opening is established, the McCoys' next move is to double their £240,000 investment by setting up a private dining room for 30-40, and a cocktail bar with live music in the basement. "This is not a temple of gastronomy where if someone drops their fork, everyone looks. We just want everyone to have a good time," says McCoy.
The Purple Onion, 80 Corporation Road, Middlesbrough. Tel: 01642 222250
