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.