Omnivore Atlanta

Monday night is your opportunity to try out one of the city’s best bargains right now — Chef Shane Devereux’s 3-course menu at Top Flr for $15. You get you choice of two entrees and two starters.

However, reader Susan Hewitt writes to issue a warning:

Had a good meal at Top Flr recently except for one thing: it was roasting in the upstairs area where we were seated. I normally am cold everywhere we go and even I was sweating. Sadly, it ruined the experience for me. I understand the difficulties with cooling old buildings, but they could at the very least put in a couple of ceiling fans. I won’t be considering a return visit until the weather changes.

I eat downstairs there and haven’t noticed a problem with the air conditioning. So you might want to make a reservation (404-685-3110) for a downstairs table or snag a seat at the bar. …

Tonight is also all-you-can-eat Mussels Night ($15) at the Peasant Bistro. And P’cheen hosts “Mike’s Bone Lick BBQ,” where you can find some mustard-based, South Carolina-style sauce — a rarity in our city. …

OK, people, I’ve been to three restaurants lately whose menus were all but unreadable. No, it’s not just me, because in each case I heard people at adjoining tables similarly complaining. In one case, I loaned them my iTouch so they could use the flashlight application. Low lighting is cool, but how about putting more thought into the font you use for your menu? …

We had an interesting meal at Stella in Grant Park over the weekend. I ordered a caprese salad, anticipating flavorful and fresh summer tomatoes. To my surprise, the restaurant was using oven-roasted tomatoes. They were quite tasty but kind of a shock.

I also ordered a special of wild scallops over white beans. Well, sort of. The “white beans” turned out to be a very watery puree without a whole bean in sight. The scallops had been hacked up and skewered on a sprig of rosemary. It was impossible to remove them without tearing them into even smaller bits.

Wayne made the wiser choice with classic spaghetti and meatballs. We like the pizzas here and hope they will reprise the fig pie they served last summer.

Bookmark to:

Tonight, beginning at 10 p.m., is piggy pie night at Varasano’s. For $12.95, you get a slice of every pizza on the restaurant’s menu. Your entire table must participate and — here’s the worst part — the offer is only good for the first 20 people who get there. I’m sure you won’t mind camping at the front door for a few hours with your iPod.

By the way, I notice that Tom Maicon of Atlanta Cuisine is troubled by the inconsistency he finds at the vaunted pizzeria. The very mixed reviews of the restaurant themselves bear witness to the inconsistency.

Tonight is also P’cheen’s “Bone Lick BBQ” night. And $15 buys you all the mussels you can eat at the Peasant Bistro.

Bookmark to:

Wow. I challenge anyone to exceed me.

Bookmark to:

This is cool. When I was a teenager, I wrote a column for my school paper, but it wasn’t about food. In fact, I don’t think it ever crossed my mind to write a dining review. I don’t even remember any discussion about the idea.

How things change. The following review of the new Peasant Bistro is by Arielle D’Avanzo, a member of the class of 2008 at Grady High School. She wrote the review for the school paper and graciously agreed to let us reprint it here:

Peasant Bistro, the newest culinary creation developed by Maureen Kalmanson and Pamela Fur, opened its doors on Feb. 28. Kalmanson, who along with Fur owns Mick’s downtown and Pleasant Peasant, both on Peachtree Street, worked as a manager for the original Peasant Restaurants in its heyday and was inspired by the company’s philosophy.

“When I found out that Pleasant Peasant was on the market I knew that’s what I would do, so I bought it out,” said Kalmanson. “Everyone has a story about Peasant. It has a great sense of community about it. For it to change would destroy that.”

The new restaurant, located in downtown Atlanta, features a variety of bistro-oriented dishes with Executive Chef Shane Devereux incorporating country French and Mediterranean influences into the seasonal dishes.

“What I really wanted to do with this restaurant was create a type of restaurant found in Lyon, one that serves traditional Lyonnaise cuisine, such as sausages, duck pâté, roast pork, and is done really well,” Kalmanson said. “This is exactly what Shane had been doing in Philadelphia and where he also wanted to go. He applied here to be our sous chef, and at the time I was going to hire an executive chef as well, but I decided not to do that because I wanted to see what he could do. It turns out that he has risen to the occasion and done a tremendous job.”

(more…)

Bookmark to:

Today’s theme is little round things, like the onions in the dish of short ribs braised in red wine above. Or the minted couscous in the lamb tagine (below) or the lentils in the escarole-topped braised pork belly (right).

These are dishes — all of them quite good — we sampled at the brand-new Peasant Bistro (250 Park Ave. West, 404-230-1724) downtown across from Centennial Park, a minnow’s throw from the Aquarium. The new restaurant features French-Mediterranean dishes by chef Shane Devereaux, who comes to Atlanta from Philadelphia where he worked for French master chefs Dominique Filoni, Jean Marie LaCroix and Jean Francois Taquet.

The new restaurant is elegant and playful with the main dining room upstairs, overlooking the bar below. There are taupe walls, white brick, flashy lighting and a great staff.

I’ve got one complaint. The handicapped access sucks. To get to the upper floor you have to manage a dramatic curved stair case — or ask to be transported in the service elevator. And once you’re upstairs, at least one portion of the dining room is accessible only by a few steps.

The restaurant is also open for lunch. I’ll have much more to say in a few weeks.

Bookmark to: