Omnivore Atlanta

GROUP EFFORT: It was a packed house at the new Tin Lizzy's in the days following John Henderson's murder.

The Grant Park community has been in a mixture of sadness and anger since the killing of bartender John Henderson at the Standard on Memorial Drive Wednesday, Jan. 7.

As has been widely reported, John was closing the bar with fellow bartender Ashley Elder when four young men broke through the front door. They shot John once in one leg and, as they were leaving, fired shots through the door of the office where the two bartenders were left. A bullet struck John in the head. He died a few hours later at Grady Memorial Hospital.

Wayne and I are regular customers at the Standard and John waited on us many times. He was a funny, energetic man. Like many others in the neighborhood, we felt like we were in a nightmare during the few days following the shooting. We were at the Standard last Monday for its regular curry special and the mood of the pub was subdued but it was good to see it busy. The front room was filled with flowers, candles and notes commemorating John.

Apart from the sheer grief, there’s also concern about the increasing crime in Grant Park and the city in general. Wherever we dined in Grant Park last week, people were talking about John and the need for better police and private security. The murder at the Standard was exceptional but the armed robbery was not.

One thing seems certain, though. The event isn’t keeping people from dining in the neighborhood’s restaurants. In fact, we’ve had waits at the newest spot to open, Tin Lizzy’s Cantina (415 Memorial Drive, 404-554-8220). Tin Lizzy’s, the child of a Buckhead restaurant with the same name, is located in the space recently vacated by Six Feet Under, which has moved to a larger space half a block away.

Not much has changed about the space that I noticed. There’s still a large and very crowded bar. The interior architecture is unchanged. The restrooms are still too small.

I was prepared to hate Tin Lizzy’s. (more…)

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BITTERSWEET: The brown sugar cake with grapefruit at Craft

Here is what William Grimes, former dining critic of The New York Times, wrote on June 27, 2001, not long after the opening of Craft:

“Craft invites diners to take a trip. The destination is a simpler, cleaner, more honest America, a place where the corn is bright yellow, the bread exhales clouds of yeasty sweetness and the fish swim in water as pure as Evian.”

What is it about Americans that we are always engaged in utopic yearning? Grimes’ words seem almost trivial until you read mention of the year 2001 and unavoidably think of the nation’s apocalyptic loss of innocence in the attack on the World Trade Center.

And yet, even now, in the midst of the worst economic times since the Great Depression, we are looking more zealously than ever for purity and transcendence at the dining table. We have become Proust, munching on a madeleine whose first taste prompts him to write: “And at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous, its brevity illusory – this new sensation having had on me the effect which love has of filling me with a precious essence; or rather this essence was not in me, it was me.”

I can’t lay claim to a either Grimes’ or Proust’s experience after my first meal at the new Craft Atlanta (3376 Peachtree Rd., 404-995-7580). Undoubtedly, this will cause some to gasp. We’re talking a major pedigree and, dammit, I wanted to transcend the vicissitudes of life and become a precious essence. (more…)

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ON THE FLIP SIDE: A selection of Blais' burgers

Pity Richard Blais. The brilliant runner-up in Bravo’s “Top Chef: Chicago” has a local history of jumping from one restaurant kitchen to the next.

Critics – by which I mean average foodies – grouse repeatedly about Blais’ peripatetic ways. They want him to stick to one kitchen for a few years, pushing out the same menu night after night, refining his skills, holding his nose to the grindstone, learning to be miserable, laboring under owners who wave market receipts in his face and scream, “Less liquid nitrogen! I beg you! It’s eating up our profits!”

My guess is that Blais would stick around a restaurant that (a) gave him enough freedom to experiment fully and (b) attracted the kind of business his work deserves. In the meantime, who can blame him for enjoying himself by following his bliss? Go, Richard.

His title at Flip (1587 Howell Mill Rd., 404-352-3547) is “creative director.” He has designed a menu for owner Barry Mills that features wacky and mainly delicious takes on the classic American burger. I’ve visited the restaurant twice and found Blais cooking both visits. While I’m all for this concept, I think it would be ridiculous for Blais to devote his talents exclusively to this undertaking, no matter how much foodies think he should chain himself to one stove. (more…)

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BETWEEN A ROCKERFELLER AND A HARD PLACE: The nostalgic oysters at Harry Bissett

When a friend saw me perusing the website for Harry Bissett’s (360 Pharr Road, 404-425-5995), he got excited. A Georgia Bulldogs fan, he’s eaten several times at the Athens restaurant, which has been serving New Orleans-style cooking since 1986. He was happy to learn that a clone of the restaurant opened here a few months ago. “You’ll enjoy it,” he promised.

I’ve never eaten in the Athens restaurant, but if the restaurant there is anything like the one here, my friend has either lapsed into a culinary coma or was playing a practical joke on me. I’ve seriously not had such an unpleasant experience in a restaurant in memory.

I don’t feel good about writing that this restaurant is a landmark in poor service and food, but the missteps were so bold and so obvious, we felt like we were watching very bad theater. The lead actor, the server, did such a miserable job that, halfway through the performance, I couldn’t look at him without flushing with embarrassment, much less point out to him his most recent error.

There was no crowd to explain the incomprehensibly bad service. On a Monday evening, the restaurant had only a few tables of diners and maybe eight people at the bar. This is generic space in a generic mixed-use building in generic Buckhead. Mardi Gras beads and a few other visual clichés make you suspect les bon temps are not going to roulez too good.

Not long after we were seated, our server appeared at the table and asked for our drink orders. I ordered my usual tonic water. I thought it might be an oversight that I received a lukewarm glass of tonic that was about half-full, with no ice. But the server twice replaced the glass during the meal in identical fashion. (more…)

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STEAK IT OR LEAVE IT: The Kansas City strip steak

Last week, Our Fearless Leader finally uttered the “r” word: recession. Never mind that anyone who has rolled a cart in a grocery store or coasted to a gas pump has known the word has been applicable for months. Now it’s an official part of reality. We’ve been in a recession for a year.

Given that, it’s surprising that restaurants, especially higher-end restaurants, continue to open. My bank account says “burger,” not “steak,” so it felt almost decadent to show up at a new steakhouse last week. Parker’s on Ponce (116 E. Ponce de Leon Ave., 404-924-2230) is located in the former Mick’s building across from the courthouse in downtown Decatur.

The restaurant seems huge – all restaurants look huge to me these days, owing to their epidemic emptiness – but Parker’s space is broken up into several dining rooms. We ate in the front room, where a few other tables were seated.

It’s been years since I was in the building, so I’m not sure how much remodeling has occurred. The space is warmly lit, almost minimalist in décor, and features a few glowing fireplaces. I saw my first Christmas decorations of the year here – a few poinsettias and a silvery stocking.

Our server gave us the scoop. The restaurant, more than a year in planning, has been opened by brothers JT and Chris Scott, who earlier worked at Mick’s. (They are the sons of the late Tom Scott, DeKalb County’s longtime tax commissioner.) Chef is David Hartshorn, who earlier was the chef at Einstein’s in Midtown. (more…)

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I had one of the best meals for the money I’ve had in a long time last week at Desta (3086 Briarcliff Rd., 404-929-0011), after hearing my friend Broderick rave about it.

That’s saying something for me. Desta is Ethiopian, which has never been on my list of favorite cuisines, partly because I get tired of picking up every bite with the injera, the sour-dough bread on which the food is typically served. But I expect Desta to become one of my regulars.

The restaurant is located in a shopping center that contains two other Ethiopian restaurants. This one’s chef, Titi, prides herself on depending as much on high-quality meats as the usual spices. I don’t mean that the food doesn’t feature exotic flavors — it does — but you’ll immediately notice the difference in quality if you’ve eaten Ethiopian cuisine before.

Above are two of the restaurant’s most ordered dishes — fish tibs in the foreground and a vegetarian combo platter. Do not fail to order kitfo (raw ground beef), seasoned with hot chiles, served with cooling aiyb (similar to cottage cheese).

It’s a very convivial place with a wonderful staff.

Read more in next week’s Grazing column.

(Photos by Cliff Bostock)

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We journeyed to Tucker this week to visit Mint’s Grill (6330 Lawrenceville Hwy., 770-414-3999), a Vietnamese restaurant opened by the same people who operate Lee’s Bakery on Buford Highway.

The restaurant features classic dishes, including the beef chunks in the photo above. This is actually the “shaken beef” that Nam serves but at the very low price of $7.50. Of course, Mint’s makes it with beef tenderloin while Nam uses filet mignon.

We also ordered a bun (rice vermicelli) bowl featuring lemongrass chicken (above). I didn’t like it much because it had a very strong flavor of soy sauce. The owner told me the lemongrass marinade includes oyster sauce, which includes some soy. My hypersensitivity to soy aside, Wayne thoroughly enjoyed it.

Among starters, we chose the “special salad” — sliced lotus roots and other veggies with shrimp and pork, garnished with roasted peanuts and served with chili-lime sauce (left). This is very much like the lotus salad available at Com, although not nearly as complex.

I’ll have more to say in next week’s Grazing column.

(Photos by Cliff Bostock)

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