Cakes and Ale gets a major nod of approval
August 8th, 2009 by Cliff Bostock in Food media, News, Restaurants, grazing, reviewBon Appétit has named Decatur’s Cakes and Ale one of 2009’s top 10 best new restaurants:
At the age of 27, Billy Allin gave up his job as a money manager and enrolled in culinary school. After graduation, his cooking skills landed him gigs at renowned restaurants, including Chez Panisse in Berkeley and Watershed in Decatur. With his farm-to-table cooking philosophy fully established, Allin and his wife, Kristin, decided it was time to open “the restaurant where we would want to eat,” he says.
That restaurant is Cakes & Ale (from a phrase in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night meaning “the good things in life”), located east of downtown Atlanta. The couple’s ideal restaurant turns out to be a 50-seat neighborhood spot where the kitchen staff often answers the phone when you call to make a reservation, and a chalkboard announces the daily menu, which features simple, precise dishes like braised rabbit grits with saba vinegar and spring onion; buttermilk-rhubarb fool; and the addictive arancine here.
August 9th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Well deserved, Cakes & Ale is amazing. Congrats to Billy and Kristin.
Do Andrew Knowlton’s family live in Decatur or something? There’s been a ton of Bon Appetit shoutouts to the East Side lately (Watershed and Morelli’s spring to mind). Not that I’m complaining.
August 9th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
It’s unfortunate that Billy Allin is a jackass. When my wife was 9 months pregnant she requested food from Cakes and Ale. Instead of making an exception and just boxing the food up for my 5 minute drive home he said the only thing they could do was a burger to go. I haven’t been back since.
August 9th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Sorry you’re so bitter, arsonist. hopefully your little one won’t get that trait from you.
August 9th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
Actually, Andy grew up in Sandy Springs/Dunwoody….