Omnivore - Back to the Glenwood
OK, all of you concerned that I’m in league with Besha Rodell to advance a nepotistic agenda should read on. Besha’s husband, Ryan Stewart, is chef of the Glenwood, which I reviewed recently here. I had no idea he was the chef when I filed my positive review.
I returned to the restaurant Saturday night — you know, just to enjoy a good meal. It’s really the best cooking in the Grant Park-East Atlanta Village area. Go try it yourself if you think I’m just trying to get Besha, my editor, to stop moving my commas around.
Our meal Saturday night included the best she-crab soup, laced with fennel, I’ve tasted in memory. As usual with she-crab soups around town, I couldn’t find any roe in the bowl, but there was a generous amount of crab meat. We also ordered a plate of pimento cheese, fried pickles and candied pecans.
My entree was chicken-fried “filet mignon” over mashed potatoes and collards that actually tasted a lot like sauerkraut. There was gravy with caramelized onions on the plate, too. It was a quick transit to Texas where I used to eat chicken-fried steak constantly.
Wayne’s entree was pasta with wild mushrooms, slick with porcini oil.
But here’s what I really wanted to report. As any foodie in the city knows, there is no really good, serious German food in Atlanta. On Monday, Oct. 29, Stewart prepared a five-course Oktoberfest menu, each dish paired to a German beer. Here’s the menu I’m sorry I missed: appetizers of munster and oysters with apple-bacon mignonette; pastrami-cured salmon with pumpernickel and coriander creme fraiche; rabbit and rye gnocchi with butternut squash and hazelnut foam; duck schnitzel with scalloped potatoes and onion gravy; pork chop encrusted with pretzels and grain mustard on ricotta spaetzle; gingerbread pudding with pumpkin ice cream and caraway-lemon sauce.
Apparently, Stewart creates these menus without notice. If he keeps it up, the restaurant needs to develop an e-mail list.
The place was packed Saturday night — so noisy you could barely hear the blaring music. I’m not complaining, though, because Janis Joplin was among the selections played.