Bailey’s Catering & Restaurant

3 1/2 stars

238 E. Davis Blvd., Tampa, 813-254-8018,

baileycatering.com

Bailey’s is not the kind of restaurant that you can get a feel for at first glance. The restaurant’s Davis Islands space — the former home of Chez Bryce — has a gorgeous outdoor courtyard that often sits empty. The main interior dining room is an oddly tight space painted a uniform cafe au lait color, with no art and little on the white-clad tables besides salt, pepper and sweetener caddies. No music to cut the conversation, no art on the walls. It’s stunningly bland.

But then you see the plates streaming from the kitchen, piled high with collard greens and mashed potatoes, grits and green beans, fried pickles and braised beef. Everything edible at Bailey’s is engineered for maximum culinary comfort, the no-frills atmosphere a blank palette for unfussy food. Simple food, sure, but far from bland.

This restaurant and caterer moved to the Davis Islands spot from Hyde Park, with regulars following closely behind to join a new crowd of prospective fans in the new neighborhood. Little has changed other than the setting, and a few higher-end dishes to suit the updated digs.

Bailey’s starters explain the restaurant’s philosophy — and culinary greatness — simply and succinctly. Tender bites of moist chicken, covered in tender, flaky breading, seasoned right and paired with pots of both honey and ranch dressing. Puffy donuts studded with corn and dusted with powdered sugar, like nothing more than corny mini-funnel cakes. Honey on the side there, too.

Sound like chain fare or fast food? Nah, it’s all fresh and executed perfectly, the fat, sugar and salt in it earned through traditional links to classic Southern cuisine and old-school home-cooking. In any case, you better get used to it.

Bailey’s menu changes weekly, but never strays from rib-sticking classic comfort food. Oh, you can reach for fine dining by picking entrees like crisply seared sea bass that are easily the equal of more high-end spots. But that’s not really what the restaurant is about. Here is the food of your youth, reminiscent of grandmas and church socials — executed with profound attention to the fundamentals and unerring flavor.

This article appears in Jan 13-19, 2011.