In this economy, nothing succeeds day-to-day like the formula of the neighborhood pub: good food, low prices and lots of booze.
That — and quite a crowd — is what you’ll find most evenings at P’cheen (701-5 Highland Ave., 404-529-8800, www.pcheen.com). The restaurant opened three and a half years ago and, in retrospect, probably deserves classification as one of the city’s first gastropubs.
(Photo by James Camp)
THE BIG CHEESE: Margherita pizza at Varasano
At the beginning of the year, I was on the coast of New South Wales, Australia, in a sleepy beach community. When my sister’s birthday rolled around, we asked our neighbors where we should go to celebrate. They pointed us to a pizza place in a small town about 20 minutes inland. We drove out into the rural rolling hills until we came upon a tiny town called Mullumbimby. In the center of that town was a tiny pizzeria with sidewalk seating and a wood-burning oven.
We ordered a pizza for each of us. A ridiculous amount of food as it turned out, but when the pizzas arrived my mood changed from pleasant vacation stupor to delight. And then quickly to fury.
These pizzas were perfect. Thin, crispy, bubbly crust, fantastic flavor, sauce tangy but not too watery or thick, toppings super fresh, bold, balanced. “Why?” I sputtered to my amused family. “WHY? Why, if they can do it in the middle of nowhere in rural New South Wales, why can’t we have pizza like this in Atlanta?”
Continue reading “Review: Varasano’s Pizzeria”
(Photo by James Camp)
Ah, the Japanese steakhouse, the ultimate in gee-whiz dining. For many, Japanese steakhouses are the default choice for birthday/date night/family get-together eating. There’s a chef who kind of acts like a clown! It’s sort of ethnic, but the food is totally safe and familiar! We don’t have to talk to each other because there’s someone throwing spatulas around!
Nakato’s been the king of Japanese steakhouses in Atlanta for 35 years. The restaurant’s divided into two rooms, one for the hibachi grills and one that’s geared toward more traditional dining. It’s the hibachi room that’s always full, however. The garden room, where the sushi bar resides, stays relatively quiet. And that’s a shame because Nakato serves some of the city’s most varied and interesting Japanese dishes.
Continue reading this review of Nakato.
(Photo by James Camp)
The idea of tuna in a jar hits a kind of conceptual sweet spot in my mind. Somewhere between fresh and canned, just between highbrow and lowbrow, tuna in a jar makes me happy before I even get to eat it. And then it makes me happier.
At Craftbar, Craft’s less-formal downstairs neighbor, Tom Colicchio’s more casual sensibilities shine. Familiar ingredients and preparations make for simple, nibbly fun, but are executed with less pretension and more thought than you might see elsewhere. The tuna, lightly cured in oil, sits in its jar atop a mush of delicious, gooey roasted red peppers, and is sprinkled with shards of salty black olives. Heaped onto rustic grilled bread, it’s the perfect snack — a small bite of oily perfection to accompany a glass of rich white or light red wine.
Continue reading the review of Craftbar.
(Photo by James Camp)
GREAT BALLS OF RICE: The arancini at Cakes & Ale
Reviewing restaurants is a tricky game. We want to be fair, to give credit where it’s due, and to be respectful of the heart and hard work someone has put into a business. For that reason, we have guidelines — at CL we never do a full starred review before a restaurant has been open one month. A month isn’t a lot of time, and I often feel as though it’s not enough. A restaurant can take a few months to become what it’s destined to be.
So why not wait those few months to review? Because to be a part of the conversation, we need to weigh in early. By the time three months have gone by, people are talking about something new.
When I review, I rate based on what the restaurant is at the time, not based on what I expect the restaurant to become. This can be frustrating, for me and, I’m sure, for the chefs and owners of the restaurants. Often I can see the potential, but I have no way to say for sure whether that potential will be met.
For that reason I’ve decided to revisit some restaurants I felt had more potential than they achieved in those first few months. I wanted a chance to update star ratings and to give credit to businesses that are constantly evolving, and in these cases, becoming better.
Continue reading “Feature: Come again”
(Photo by James Camp)
TASTY SENSATION: "Slice fish and sour cabbage soup" at Tasty China
When Atlanta foodies first discovered Tasty China in 2006, the food developed mythic status in a matter of weeks. This was no fluke, no matter of hype or bandwagon-jumping — chef Peter Chang’s food was revelatory. Then, just as quickly as he appeared, Chang left town. Owner Yang Da He and powerhouse hostess Phuong remained, but since Chang’s departure, Tasty China’s food has gone through some major changes.
Many of the dishes Chang made so well — hot and numbing beef rolls, sharp pepper fish, wontons in hot oil — were still being served but lacked the finesse and balance he gave them. Over time, chefs came and went, some of them better than others. In the two years since I originally reviewed the restaurant, I’ve had great meals at Tasty China and some severely disappointing ones.
Just over a year ago, two new chefs took over the kitchen. It’s taken them some time to hit their stride, but these days chef Liu and chef Wong are cooking in a way that revives Tasty China’s reputation as Atlanta’s best Chinese restaurant. Their style differs from Chang’s, yet they do some of Chang’s signature dishes justice. But where Chang’s food was often a study in flavors ramped up to mind-blowing, nuclear levels, the new dishes deal more in balance.
Continue reading “Review: Tasty China”
(Photo by James Camp)
OK, now there can be no doubt: Tapas have been completely assimilated by the culture.
I say this because my friend Gregg called me this evening from the Colonnade, the iconic Southern restaurant on Cheshire Bridge Road, where he said a tapas menu is being offered.
I called the restaurant and was informed that the menu was offered all last week and will “probably” be offered all this week. The tapas basically comprise this week’s specials menu.
Dishes on the tapas menu include your usual Colonnade favorites like fried oysters. I couldn’t hear much else of Gregg’s or the restaurant employee’s description above the din of noisy diners in the background, but I can’t wait to try it.
I'D TAP THAT: The bar at Leon's Full Service
It’s a rare but beautiful thing when a restaurant inhabits its surroundings so thoroughly that it immediately feels like an intrinsic part of a city’s landscape. Leon’s Full Service, located in Rue de Leon’s old location on the corner of Ponce de Leon Avenue and Church Street, has managed to become such a natural part of Decatur already, it’s hard to believe the restaurant is only eight weeks old.
The reason may be the owners’ intimate familiarity with the hopes, desires, and beer enthusiasms of Decaturites. They’ve spent the last 12 years running the legendary Brick Store Pub around the corner. But it’s more than Leon’s pitch-perfect reading of what a young, booze-friendly customer base requires. The space is brazenly appealing, evoking a slightly nautical feel with its white wooden booths, blue walls and red accents. Just enough of the building’s vintage character has been left in place to communicate its aesthetic, and just enough has been done to modernize the space to make it feel clean and vibrant. It’s Decatur all over. Don’t you just hate Decatur sometimes for being so … awesome?
There are certain qualities of Brick Store the owners have imported to Leon’s. The commitment to outstanding beverages includes a manageable but thrilling beer selection, and extends into wine and cocktails. (Try the Belgian champale cocktail for something truly weird and delicious.) The enthusiastic service here mirrors the passions of Brick Store’s brew-loving barkeeps. It’s not uncommon for a server to take a seat at the table to fervently discuss a certain beer, cheese or dish. It sometimes makes for slow service at other tables, but is wholly worth it for the attention when you do get your turn.
Continue reading “Review: Leon’s Full Service”
(Photo by James Camp)
When the Porter opened in Little Five Points last September, I wanted to love it. The space, formerly Grandma Luke’s, was transformed into a quirky, personable bar and hangout, exactly what it always should’ve been. The beer list was to die for. The owners — chef Nick Rutherford and front of house manager Molly Gunn — had a great narrative, part love story (they got married in the midst of opening), part young culinary dream. There was a pedigree — both Gunn and Rutherford had worked at Seeger’s, as well as other restaurants beloved by Atlanta foodies.
Continue reading a review of the Porter.
(Photo by James Camp)
The guy leaning up to the bar at BLT Steak can’t wait to be sat to place his drink order. It’s 9:50 p.m., 10 minutes before the kitchen closes, and “Jones” here, as his companions are calling him, has just arrived at the hostess stand and announced, “There’s seven of us, we don’t have a reservation.” Without waiting for a response, he turns to the bar and barks, “I’ll take a Grey Goose, splash of cranberry and some lime.” (Clearly his time hanging out with sorority girls has influenced his taste in beverages.) “Roberts!” he says to one of the other blue-tooth adorned, square-jawed balls of machismo in his party. “You need a drink?”
Groups of these men make up practically every table at BLT Steak, Laurent Tourondel’s eponymous high-end steakhouse that first opened in New York in 2004 and now has outposts in L.A., Miami, Hong Kong and four other locations.
Tourondel aims to bring French sensibilities to classic Americana, and in New York BLT Steak is highly acclaimed, one of the city’s best-loved steak houses. In Atlanta, BLT has found a home in the new downtown W Hotel. The space exudes confidence, both manly and homey, exhibiting all the right shades of brown accented with oil paintings that lean to art’s safe side.
Apart from the swank man-friendly location and décor, the main reason cabernet- (or cosmo) swilling CEO types populate BLT is because they’re the only people who could possibly afford to eat here. In the hierarchy of Atlanta’s current ignore-the-recession, über-expensive restaurant trend, BLT wins top spot. Entrees, which are served a la carte and meant to be ordered with sides, hover between $30 and $45. Appetizers are mainly in the over-$15 range. It’s mighty hard for two people to get out of here for under $250. (more…)
The pigs in a blanket at Serpas
It’d be silly to assert that restaurant critics don’t come to the job with a certain set of prejudices. Over the years, I’m sure mine have become clear. If a chef stakes his money and reputation on a place of his own, if he gambles on a real neighborhood rather than a gleaming skyscraper, if he finally gets the opportunity to cook his own food rather than something a corporate boss dictates, chances are I’ll be rooting for him. These are the stories I relish telling; the success stories where substance wins out over artifice.
It was with this attitude that I approached Serpas True Food. The restaurant is Scott Serpas’ first solo venture after stepping out from under the Concentrics umbrella where he worked for three years as chef at Two Urban Licks. While I love the outrageous drama of Two Urban licks as much as the next proud Atlantan, I always found Serpas’ cooking there a tad too gimmicky for truly serious consideration. So I was excited to see what the chef could come up with on his own terms. Add a renovated old industrial building in the Old Fourth Ward and PR touting the chef’s passion for the “authentic tastes of single ingredients,” and I was ready to believe the hype.
Indeed, the space, in the Studioplex building at the tippy top of Auburn Avenue, is lovely. Exposed brick walls and warm lighting create the base for features such as an open kitchen with bar seating, a wall-sized photo of cotton blossoms, and a convivial bar hugging the corner of the room.
Serpas’ “true food” claim is a tad more confusing. The chef is experimenting with the idea of American cuisine as a melting pot. Much of his menu nods to his Louisiana roots, but there are many flavors represented, including Asian, Southwestern and classic French. Serpas finds the most success when he sticks to one influence per dish. (more…)
LIKE BUTTAH: The slow-cooked salmon at Market
It takes a special kind of openhearted restaurant critic to see “Tuna and Wasabi” pizza on a menu and keep her cynicism under control. At Spice Market, Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s first Atlanta project in the W Hotel in Midtown, the menu focuses on Asian street food and avoids frivolity like wasabi pizza. But at Market, Vongerichten’s second Atlanta venture, it’s as if the chef and his staff are aiming to see exactly how far they can push our discombobulation. As I sat and stared at Market’s menu for the first time, I realized it was gonna take a lot of celebrity chef magic to overcome fusions this silly.
The theme of confusion begins as soon as you exit the bar area (which is basically the lobby of the new W Hotel in Buckhead) and funnel through the restaurant’s claustrophobic entrance. Step out of the tiny wooden passageway and into a room that hides its largeness around curved walls and partitions. Designer hot shot Karim Rashid created the interior, which consists of amoeba-shaped recesses lit with neon-colored lights, and large, screen-saver-esque lined walls that could be accurately described as “trippy.” It’s hard to get a handle on the space and how it’s put together, and therefore hard to decide how to feel about it.
The same is true for the menu. Tomato soup with sourdough and cheddar is followed by truffle pizza, with a detour for sashimi spring rolls before going back to crab cakes and then into the more solidly Asian-influenced entrees. Maybe it’s stodgy of me to ask, but Why? Why throw all these things together on a menu? Just to see if you can?
THROW ANOTHER PIG ON THE BARBIE: A selection of meat on the grill at Honey Pig
I’m convinced there are those of you out there who still haven’t ventured to the corners of the city to seek out Atlanta’s dizzying variety of ethnic food. Not only that, I’m convinced it’s not for lack of wanting. The reasons hardly matter. It might be the intense American fear of appearing out of place. I suffer from this affliction myself. What if I can’t read the menu? What if I’m the only white girl in the building? What if the food is too weird, I can’t eat it, I offend my hosts, and I’m chased out into the parking lot by an angry mob??? Obviously I’ve overcome these self-doubts for professional reasons, and also because the payoff is so huge. But my guess is that many of you haven’t.
Well kids, this one’s for you. If the above set of totally understandable anxieties describes you at all, or if you’ve never ventured into a Korean barbecue restaurant but have an inkling that tons of grilled meat cooked in front of you might be fun, then get thee to Honey Pig. It’s about the most delicious, least intimidating Korean restaurant imaginable. In fact, it’s downright upscale. “I could bring my parents here,” my husband observed, somewhat impressed and somewhat disgusted. (He adheres to the skuzzier-and-weirder-the-better ethos when it comes to ethnic eating). The stone and black lacquered-wood accents and comfortable, fat leather chairs create a calming atmosphere that would please almost anyone. (more…)
HOW SWEET IT IS: The sweetbreads with kumquats at Craft
In June of last year, I ate at the original Craft during a trip to New York City. To say it was the best meal of my year doesn’t really do the experience justice. Everything was exceptional, from the imposing old windows overlooking 19th Street, to the pleasingly understated masculine décor, to the expansive wine list that still had room for quirks, to the simple, perfect food.
I’m not planning to do a compare and contrast essay here, although it is tempting (the hen of the woods mushrooms in New York — a juicy hedge of crispy and soft flavor; the hen of the woods mushrooms in Atlanta — a desiccated scattering of yummy oily bits). But many have questioned whether upscale restaurants can work as chain operations. Chefs who leave primary kitchens in the hands of staff members and set out to create empires do so with a fair amount of skepticism following them, and rightly so. Quality is often diluted, and the focus becomes celebrity and the money that follows it. Just ask anyone who dined at the recently deposed Atlanta Emeril’s, and you’ll hear just how bad the translation can taste.
But after my meal in New York, I had high hopes for Atlanta’s outpost of Craft. If chef/restaurateur Tom Colicchio could bring even a part of New York’s feel, precision in cooking, and quality wine list to Atlanta, then I figured we were in for something pretty damn good. (more…)
JUST DESSERTS: The mango parfait at Aja
Walking into Aja, Tom Catherall’s newest restaurant in his Here To Serve restaurant group, I felt a little like the main character in the ABC series, “Life on Mars.” In case you’ve missed it, the premise is that this cop falls down or something and when he gets up it’s 1973. Except in my version of the show, I’m a restaurant critic who gets bonked on the head and when I come to it’s 1989.
I uneasily take in my surroundings, looking for clues as to where and when I might be. Paula Abdul is blasting overhead. I make a mental checklist of everything needed for a late ’80s culinary hotspot. Red and black décor? Check. Attractive Asian hostess? Check. Lychee-tinis? Check. Menu of sushi/Chinese/Thai/Vietnamese/Indian/American/pan-Asian flavors? Check. Wasabi mashed potatoes? Well, no, there’s none of those — but there is a wasabi-crusted steak! Close enough.
The 10-foot golden Buddha in the center of the dining room — flown in by Catherall from Thailand — has nothing particularly ’80s about it, but it fits with the era’s disconcerting ostentation.
I would expect all this from Catherall. But I was also expecting exciting food from chef William Sigley (who previously blindsided me at Aquaknox, where I’d expected mediocre food and was happily surprised by his “global water cuisine,” whatever that means).
But Sigley seems to be flexing far less culinary muscle here. Offerings are broken up into sushi, dim sum, and the standard poultry/seafood/meat entrees. Very little jumps out as unexpected. (more…)
BUN IN THE OVEN: Shrimp burger with Nutella shake and fried rutabegas
At a time when restaurants are struggling, when many people’s dining budgets are severely curtailed, it’s quite a feat to be the guy who’s drawing a two-hour wait on a Monday night.
That guy is Richard Blais, molecular gastronomist, reality TV star, inventor of the foie gras milkshake, and now, purveyor of hamburgers so pedigreed they require a “boutique” to sell them.
Flip Burger Boutique is Blais’ first project since leaving Tom Catherall’s Home, where he stopped by for a while after almost winning Bravo’s “Top Chef.” There’s a vast difference between Home’s forced nature and boring Buckhead sensibility and Flip’s freewheeling nuttiness. Located on a congested strip of Howell Mill Road between tire shops and used car lots, Flip’s clean modern lines and playful aesthetic are apparent before you even turn into the parking lot. Once inside, it’s obvious that fun is the objective. (more…)
THE THE: A selection of tacos at the Original El Taco
“Consulting chef” is a slightly confusing term. Generally, it means that the chef in question has designed the menu and perhaps spent some time training the kitchen staff on how to execute his dishes. It rarely means that the consulting chef is actually spending any time in the kitchen during service. But the question is, if a good chef consults, can we expect the food to be on par with what that chef would deliver in his own restaurant?
Shaun Doty, arguably one of the city’s best chefs, is making a cottage industry out of consulting at other people’s restaurants. Last year he put his name on the menu at Midtown’s now defunct Spotted Dog. I stopped in there one afternoon and had a somewhat sad version of Doty’s East Village-style chicken livers, which resembled the original in concept but not execution. He is currently acting as consulting chef at the Original El Taco, Fifth Group’s new Tex-Mex restaurant in Virginia Highland (although the restaurant’s website lists him as Executive Chef), and there’s talk of other consulting gigs in the works.
The Original El Taco (roughly translated to “The Original The Taco”) has been an instant hit — there’s a wait for tables almost any time of the night on any night of the week. The crowds bring a party atmosphere, ramped up with large, well-made margaritas. There’s also a colorful mural painted by SCAD students that depicts, among other things, somebody who looks an awful lot like Hitler carrying a giant taco on his back.
You can see Doty’s touch on the menu of tacos, “Mexican pizzas” and Tex-Mex entrees: a pork belly taco here, a fried egg atop a stack of tortillas and chili there. But can you taste his influence? (more…)
LOVE ME TENDER: The grilled octopus at Veranda Greek Taverna
“Tell them that Yanni is their host!” Yanni Kasarhis says jubilantly. I’m talking to Kasarhis on the phone, trying to get the backstory of Veranda Greek Taverna, the Roswell restaurant where I’ve just had some astonishingly good Greek food. I’m getting a little information and a lot of enthusiasm. Hospitality is high on the priority list at Veranda.
Here’s what I did find out: Kasarhis (who, along with his wife Mary, is originally from Athens, Greece) was one of Taverna Plaka’s original owners. After he sold Taverna Plaka, he worked as a server at his sister’s restaurant, the Peachtree Diner, where he met Pete Pukish. Pukish had a pool hall in Roswell that wasn’t doing too well. He wondered if Kasarhis might want to go into the Greek food business again. And so Veranda was born about a year ago using Pukish’s space, Kasarhis’ management and Mary’s family recipes. Chef Clifford Tukes, who Kasarhis first met at Taverna Plaka, was brought in to execute those recipes. (more…)
