Hot Dish Review

TC is so sweet but it’s already time for her to go back to TX. On the eve of her departure, along with her sis E, the three of us chicks were treated to a great lunch by her Dad LC.

We were going to go to Robek’s but LC veared off to Chequers Seafood Grill on the way, despite TC’s aversion to seafood of every kind. LC was wound up so he got a vodka martini, which in turn influenced me to also drink at 1:30pm during my workday (yes, I am that easily influenced). A glass of zin for me.

The decor of Chequers reminds me of a French brasserie with checkerboard floors, lots of wood, etched mirrors, and brass accents. The spelling of the name drives me nuts, though….makes me think it’s a cheesy chain when it is, in fact, an upscale seafood restaurant that specializes in fresh fish flown in daily.

Like many restaurants, their menu lacks focus to a degree, offering sushi rolls, lobster tamales, and Vietnamese crab spring rolls…..18 starters! Soups, entree salads, sandwiches, and 12 entrees ranging from the benign blackened chicken penne to the more daring San Francisco style cioppino. And this is a lunch menu! So many options had me and LC pondering our choice for quite some time, as we chatted with the girls.

E chose the panko fried shrimp with French fries. Holy shrimp Batman! TC ordered a side salad with carrots, cheese, and a chicken breast. Not on the menu. Our server was very accommodating.

LC and I split a bowl of Creole gumbo to start. Described as spicy, I found the base a bit too thick, and of course, not spicy enough. My spoonfuls contained more sausage than seafood, along with bits of okra, tomato, and white rice.

Once I spotted the green curry mussels I couldn’t be swayed otherwise. Plus a side of lobster mac ‘n’ cheese, it made for a bizarre pairing. Just as strange was LC’s combo of the roasted duck breast flatbread and a tuna sushi roll.

A smattering of cilantro and sweet potato hay added enough interest to the coconut milk and curry broth to make the mussels quite good. My lobster mac ‘n’ cheese, its thick pasta corkscrews great for holding onto sauces, found little to hold onto. What promised decadence was instead dry and only contained a few tiny bits of lobster…..somewhat disappointing. I like my mac baked and bubbling with cheeses. The truffled bread crumbs on top were a nice touch, however.

LC seemed to like his tuna roll. Roasted duck flatbread, another name for mini pizza, was topped with fig barbecue sauce, fontina, gorgonzola, provolone, red onion, and julienned apple. Sounds gooey and delicious, right? But it suffered the same fate as the mac, with little cheese to be found. The absense of gorgonzola’s pungent bite was particularly evident, although the sweet and salty flavors presented did work well together.

E loved her crispy shrimp and fries, sticking her last shrimp on TC’s leftover salad, “contaminating” it before it was boxed up to go. Funny.

Verdict? If variety is the spice of life, this place is over-seasoned! What’s better….to do 10 things perfectly or 50 things just OK?

Nevertheless, I would order the mussels again and certainly try a grilled fish dish or entree salad like the lobster cobb in the future.

236 Perimeter Center Pkwy NE 770-391-9383

This place has great buzz. Over the years I have perused Haven’s menu online, salivating over a pork dish here, a salad there, and many of the small plates. So, it seemed the perfect place for PG and I to dine during her visit from LA. We both like to sample several dishes, tapas style.

However, upon examining the online menu earlier today, I realized the seasonal changes had eliminated my favorite accompaniments of sweet potato and fig (Ok, that’s not entirely true, figs and pecans garnish the bacon wrapped trout). Gone was the salad with goat cheese and frissee. Still, I had hope. Its convenient location and my relentless curiosity sealed our fate. We threw on our party dresses and headed to Haven.

The space mirrors the design of almost every modern Atlanta restaurant that’s opened in the last five or six years. Warm lighting, exposed brick, and dark wood were not unique but undeniably inviting. Reminded me a bit of The Shed at Glenwood. Haven is surely a definitive trendsetter in Brookhaven.

There is something to be said for consistency. Chef Stephen Herman has run the kitchen since the restaurant’s opening in 2003, drawing a loyal neighborhood following that has embraced his fresh, earthy approach, with a subtle Southern accent.

It was Friday night. Prime time, but there was one table available, near the semi-open kitchen, upon our unreserved arrival. The dining room was busy, the staff in absolute control. In fact, the service was completely on point.

PG ordered a glass of 14 Hands Merlot and I got an old favorite, the Dynamite Cab, $9 each. The wine list isn’t terribly creative, including recognizable names like Trefethen, Steele, and La Crema. Idiot proof.

We were all ready to be disappointed. Not finding a single item on the small plates list that intrigued us, PG and I opted for entrees. After much questioning of our ever-patient server, she finally chose the halibut. Being the duck junkie that I am, I was leaning towards ordering the bird. I asked if the skin was crispy and our server said the magic words “the fat is rendered, then the skin is pan-seared and crisped”. Bingo!

A basket of bread with sweet unsalted butter, good wine, great conversation. Dining with PG is always fun…two pisces food snobs!

Our entrees came out and they were lovely. Her thick chunk of halibut was served in a tomato water with local squash and a bean salad. Very light and summery. There was only a mere hint of tomato in the broth. A drizzle of pesto gave the mild fish a necessary dash of flavor.

My Sonoma duck breast was cooked medium and sliced thinly, fanned out around its accompanying braised red cabbage and brandied cherries. Almost German-style, the red cabbage imparted a hint of sweetness that works so well with duck. And the brandied cherries (brandied cherries!) made this one of my favorite duck dishes ever, almost as good as the now-defunct Globe’s Moroccan spiced duck with dried fruits and spicy yogurt sauce. There was literally no fat beneath the crispy skin of my duck at Haven….no small feat.

The dessert list didn’t thrill us with cheesecake, brownie, creme brulee and such. We chose the peach cobbler with blueberry ice cream. A huge individually baked dish was plenty to share, not too sweet, its crispy crust holding up well beneath the delicious ice cream. Good stuff.

Having watched him expedite orders all evening, we chatted with chef Herman after our meal, very nice guy. (For the record they had no idea who I was, the meal wasn’t comp’d, and no, I’m not being paid for this post!)

The verdict? I was thoroughly impressed.

1441 Dresden Drive 404-969-0700

After our enlightening educational tour of the winery with Bill, B and I chose to be seated on the beautiful deck outside at the restaurant, LeVigne, just next door to the tasting room. Views of the vineyard provided a stunning backdrop for our meal.

Chef Steven Hartman creates a special Sunday Supper menu each week. The restaurant serves lunch and its regular menu the rest of the week. On our visit the menu was a collection of small plates, ranging in price from $7 to $14.

Me and B are city chicks. We get the small plate concept. But this place is in Dahlonega. I don’t know if most diners here understand that a menu item described as short ribs at $14 isn’t a substantial entree. Maybe I’m just not giving them enough credit. Or perhaps Chef Steven Hartman is a touch out of his element here.

For a Sunday evening, the restaurant was far from packed, but there were quite a few tables occupied, especially outside.

We continued with more of the wine we had tried during the tasting, the Tormaresca from Italy, and proceeded to order two of the smaller plates to start. B was determined to try the Columbia River salmon tartar with chicharones, Meyer lemon, and red ribbon sorrel. Fancy sounding but when it came out B was perplexed about the sprinkling of crunchy stuff on top of the raw chopped salmon. It was the chicharones. They had no flavor but did provide textural interest. The dish was heavy on lemon for me, but I am not a salmon lover anyway.

Pea soup was a vibrant green matching the lush landscape of the vineyard. It’s flavor was unfortunately mediocre, the worst part being the mitake mushrooms on top. Seems like someone forgot to reconstitute these. Have you ever eaten dried mushrooms? I have. Difference is, these have no hallucinogenic effects. Too bad!

Chef Hartman does have my favorite, foie gras, on the menu but it is unfortunately prepared au torchon so I didn’t even go there. Instead we opted for the scallop, the Painted Hills beef short ribs, and the moulard duck breast.

The short rib was the most substantial of the trio. It’s hard to fuck up short ribs but I didn’t like the sauce on this dish and it was seriously salty. The sunchoke puree, asparagus, and morel mushrooms did little to balance it out. B really liked the scallop. I let her have most of it as it too was drowned in salt. The presentation was certainly beautiful, though, with its artichoke puree, bright radishes, and rainbow trout roe to garnish (maybe the roe added the extra saltiness?).

Cooked medium and served atop creamed leeks, fiddlehead ferns, and orange confit, the duck was my favorite dish of the three. Personally I wouldn’t pair citrus with duck but rather a sweeter fruit. What I really liked was the restraint used with the salt shaker.

After the cheese and charcuterie at the wine tasting followed by the five small plates, we still had enough room for a little dessert. We ordered the pear frangipane tart and the blueberry clafoutis. Both servings were huge compared to the savory dishes.

Served warm with vanilla ice cream, the rustic pear tart was absolutely delicious! I got turned on to clafoutis at Trader Joe’s. Somewhere between a custard and a cake, with fruit, they have a frozen cherry one that you bake at home. Although three times the size of the Trader Joe’s dessert, LeVigne’s version was fantastic, topped with sauce Romanoff and some whipped cream.

The two desserts turned out to be the best dishes of the meal. I needed the sugar-high to counteract the sleepy effects of a whole day of wine so I could find my way out of the Montaluce maze. And it was dark too. They don’t believe in street lights in small towns.

With B’s navigational assistance we made it back to GA400 and back to the city!

Me and B must be the most optimistic bitches on the planet. Enduring 12 hours of trauma and drama, barely escaping injury, we still managed to laugh our asses off and made it home alive.

On our way to Helen to meet my Mom and go to the Taste of Sautee this chick opened her car door as we were driving by, effectively ripping off my passenger side mirror and scraping the shit out of my car doors. Awesome. Great start to the day!

I called the police to make a report. Her neighbor, who was not even a witness, kept trying to imply that I might be at fault. Ugly lesbians vs. hot blondes….guess who won. After obtaining a police report that clearly showed her at fault, B duct taped the mirror back on so it wouldn’t be flopping around as we drove north on GA400.

No more than ten minutes later, some dude had a blowout and was swerving out of control almost rear-ending us. We finally got to Helen and made our way to the Taste of Sautee.

Like a mini version of Atlanta’s many “taste of” events, Sautee’s weekend of food and wine featured tastings from several local wineries and restaurants.

Yonah Mountain Vineyards, Habersham, and Sautee Nacoochee each offered tastes of their white and red varieties. I really liked Habersham’s muscadine and I always enjoy their reisling. The best red was Yonah Mountain’s Genesis, a heavy spicy blend of merlot, cab, and mourvedre.

Entrance to the festival was only $15. We were hoping small bites were included but they were not. In fact, full-size sandwiches were for sale from Sweet Breads Bake Shop, tapas-size dishes from Bernie’s and Nacoochee Grill.

My Mom got the bean salad and pasta salad with cheese, olives, and bread from Bernie’s. B started off with a pasta salad from Sweet Breads, and I ordered the BBQ duck tacos from Nacoochee Grill. I didn’t care for the flavor of the sauce and there was too much of it, not to mention they were served in what seemed like store bought hard white taco shells. A dollop of slaw drenched with mayo topped the shredded duck. A smattering of cheese and lettuce was lost somewhere in between. My Mom’s plate looked like the best choice of the three.

Me and B sampled every wine, then we all shopped a bit. SS was blowing up my phone which was a bit odd. Turns out his 4 year old son had passed away the night before. He was crying and I was miles away sweating my ass off in the blazing hot sun in Sautee, of all f*ckin’ places.

A bit more food and we’d call it a day. B got the bean salad dish my Mom had earlier, while I tried a steak and caramelized onion sandwich on a mini baguette. Problem was the bread was hard and the plate was slippery. Each bite was a disaster, squirting the beef with copious amounts of sauce (seems to be a theme here) all over my hands, then to top it off the beef was hard to chew. Again, the bean salad dish had more flavor although it didn’t blow me away.

There were lots of artist booths with everything from jewelry to wooden birdhouses. B got one of those for her sister-in-law.

We had to pace ourselves on the drinking since B and I would be visiting Montaluce Vineyard for a tasting and a tour later in the afternoon, then dinner at their restaurant, LeVigne.

Sautee was just the beginning of our food and wine adventure….here we come Dahlonega!

I’m a Southern girl. Sorta. My Mom is German, my Dad is American and I grew up in a small town in Tennessee.

Although my Dad’s family was poor, they ate remarkably healthy. They grew what they ate….green beans, corn, squash, tomatoes, everything. The chickens that ran around the coop could easily end up on the dinner table, having already provided their eggs for breakfast.

Fast forward to my childhood. My Mom was a health nut, always looking for ways to modify Southern favorites. She substituted low-sodium chicken broth for regular in my Grandma’s cornbread dressing. Later, she started using Egg-Beaters instead of whole eggs. Just suble changes, the same great flavor, better nutrition. We ate from the garden in the Spring and Summer, canned green beans for the Winter. I loved okra, poke salad, fried green tomatoes, and sweet taters….and still do!

So what most folks consider Southern cooking is somewhat unfamiliar to me (by most folks I mean yankees). There were no grits or casseroles in my house, no fried chicken or macaroni and cheese.

What I’m getting at is I don’t like typical Southern food….the artery-clogging butter-laden Paula Deen fare. I tend to avoid any restaurant that is even remotely Southern. However, ST had a nice gift card for Dogwood. I had been wanting to go since they opened, having perused the menu, despite its Southernish pedigree.

The space is beautiful with big photos of Dogwood blossoms, white tablecloths, and soft, romantic lighting. I started with a glass of the peppery Hullabaloo zin and ST got a Negra Modelo.

Their specialty is the grits bar. Not a bar at all, but rather specifically Red Mule yellow stone ground grits from Athen, GA topped with one of three toppings: Brunswick stew, pimento cheese and Benton’s fried ham, or braised mushrooms and shaved parmesan. ST likes grits and I felt compelled to try them so we got the Brunswick stew topped bowl. Super creamy, they seemed to have some cheese in them. I could eat a ton of this stuff!

Another Southern thing I don’t like is biscuits. Dogwood’s bread service was reminiscent of biscuits….kudos for creatively making that connection without serving actual biscuits. The crust was crunchy and it was hot out of the oven, admittedly pretty good, although it would have been better with unsalted butter.

We split the grilled baby romaine salad with smoked bacon, blue cheese, Fuji apples, dressed with a creamy red wine vinaigrette. It was awesome, probably my favorite dish of the evening.

My starter of roasted Georgia quail with cornbread-andouille stuffing with country ham butter and mushrooms was really good. The skin was somewhat crisp, a solid flavorful dish.
ST ordered the crispy gulf oysters with caramelized fennel-onion jam, and fried shiitakes. I’m not a big fan of oysters but tried one of the four. I was a big fan of the sweet caramelized onions.

For our entrees ST ordered the Painted Hills NY strip, medium, served with duck fat potatoes and I had the (no surprise here) local honey glazed Ashley Farms duck breast with sweet potato and poached pears.

His steak was huge and delicious. The leftover meat became steak and eggs for breakfast. My duck was the best I’ve had in a long while and as you all know, I eat a lot of duck. Cooked medium, the skin was crisped, the thick slices displayed atop pureed sweet potatoes and poached pears. The best part, however, was the surprise of a bit of honeycomb. Fucking awesome!

Our dessert was a modern take on s’mores…..chocolate creme brulee with a dollop of torched marshmallow, and a graham cracker biscotti. I didn’t taste much graham flavor in the biscotti, it would have been better with just plain ol’ graham crackers like the ones Grandma used to keep in her cupboard.

Ingredients like Georgia mountain trout, pecans, hominy, pimento cheese, peanuts, and grits sound Southern but don’t let the menu fool you. This is upscale dining. My Grandma never made blood orange fumet or sauternes sabayon.

If Atlanta restaurants keep blowing me away with modern comfort food (like Miller Union) and kickass “Southern” fare, I may just consider myself converted.

565 Peachtree Street 404-835-1410

My birthday dinner at Woodfire Grill was Thursday night, rescheduled from last week since B was out of town. Sexy Argentinian artist MS and his partner S joined us.

(Sensitive readers beware, this post will be full of cursewords and italics!)

This was my first visit to the restaurant since the interior re-do. We didn’t like it. A place called Woodfire Grill should be warm and cozy.

Our evening got off to a frenetic start as B and I were running late to our already late reservation. Who cares, I looked fabulous in my outfit, entirely from Target! Earrings, necklace, scarf, and dress (OK, it was Anna Sui for Target).

It was my birthday dinner and I wanted a drink! Our server greeted us and explained the menu options available….3 course, 5 course, chef’s choice, vegetarian, pescitarian, with or without wine pairings, or a la carte. TMI. S was allergic to him. He recommended a half bottle of Veuve then ran off. When he finally returned we ordered the champagne to toast my birthday.

Did I mention it was my birthday? Yes, I am the bitch that made a special request for my birthday. I wanted foie gras, damn it! They often have it on the menu at Woodfire, just never when I’m there, so it wasn’t an insane request. It wasn’t like I was asking for filet mignon at McDonald’s.

Also, I was excited to meet Kevin Gillespie. His performance on last season’s Top Chef won him many fans and (I believe) saved the restaurant’s life. I had confirmed with the staff that he would be there, although I knew he was possibly flying out for a special event. He was not there.

But B did confirm they would have foie gras! Fabulous. I didn’t think it was necessary to explain that it should have a sweet accompaniment, like fig and pear compote. Or mascerated berries. Or candied kumquats. Everyone knows that. Everyone! Unfortunately, it was served simply on top of the standard (and might I say inexplicable) grease soaked toast. I’ve never understood why a rich meat like foie gras would be served with greasy toast but it happens more often than not. I would have loved some watercress or frissee, maybe a drizzle of balsamic reduction and a sweet component. I usually toss aside the toast but had nothing else to eat with the foie gras this time (the flavorless smudge of something on the plate was dried so it doesn’t count). On the bright side, it was seared perfectly (although MS prefers his cool in the center).

Quail or duck? I asked our server which had the cripier skin. Neither, they were skinless. What the f*ck, why skin a d*ck? Or grill a quail without skin? Maybe he was trying to deter me from ordering either as it was late and they could have just run out. He recommended the sturgeon to B rather than the quail. I ordered the pork tenderloin. The menu description said it came with roasted root vegetables, Coca-Cola glazed country ham, and sweet potato sauce. This was all true, but the veggies and ham were microscopic. Why mention a dish is served with something if one has to search for it on the plate? The meat was dry dry dry.

B liked her fish. I tried it. No complaints. MS ordered the Maine peekytoe crab salad appetizer as his main. S had it as a starter and it too was microscopic. Big plate, small food. S ordered the black trumpet mushroom risotto as his second course, a really tasty dish. His beef strip loin, however, was the best dish of the trio of entrees at our table. Again, I didn’t see anything on the plate except the meat.

Thankfully, B ordered the brussels sprouts as a side. Roasted with sweet herbs and tossed with a smoked onion vinaigrette. They were amazing! The best in town.

B and I followed our champagne with a glass of red. The boys were having margaritas. We talked about art, we talked about Rio. MS entertained us with his riveting tale of working out on the beach at Ipanema, stumbling upon a tarp that concealed a dead body!

Ah, mortality. Birthday cake. Or, rather, birthday chocolate bread pudding. It should have been orgasmic, like the pork and the foie gras should have been, but again, just didn’t wow me. The best part was the chocolate chip cherry ice cream on top, the scoop no bigger than a walnut. I blew out my candle and made a wish (for more f*cking ice cream!)

I know Kevin Gillespie is kickass. So why am I always disappointed with Woodfire Grill?

1782 Cheshire Bridge Road 404-347-9055

At the close of the Winter Olympics in Canada, what could be more appropriate than dining at Saskatoon, a new restaurant specializing in wild game from the Northwest.

I sorta expected the staff to say “ay?” at the end of every question…”having wild boar tonight, ay?” LG and I arrived hungry for some meat! I was ready to try wild game that is not as common here in the States, like elk and venison (yes honey, that’s Bambi).

Mountain lodge decor complete with antler chandeliers creates a rustic and warm ambiance. We ordered a bottle of full and spicy 2005 Campo Viejo Reserva Rioja to start. Most of their wines come in around $30….very reasonable. Hot bread with three flavored butters eventually arrived.

The original Saskatoon has been open in Greenville, SC for 13 years, and although the founder is Edmund Woo, the owner of this spin-off is Yash Patel. A few Asian influences remain on the meat-centric menu like the buffalo lettuce wraps that LG and I sampled. A selection of julienned veggies like red pepper, cucumber, onion, scallions, and tomato accomany the strips of buffalo, cooked medium, served with two Asian dipping sauces. Not bad.

But I preferred the other starter…..wild boar sausage flatbread. Basically a mini pizza, the flatbread was topped with portabellas and parmesan. I couldn’t tell the sausage was made with boar, but I did like the flavor.

Our server, Dan, was very helpful and brought out a taste of the ostrich. I think it was good, but too much BBQ-ish sauce masked the flavor of the meat. Executive chef Kevin Backus came out to chat and offered to create a mixed grill entree for me so I could taste a variety of game….I wanted something wild! I chose the trio of quail, elk, and kangaroo while LG stuck with the plate as it was offered….duck, quail, and lamb. Venison, rather than quail, was on my plate atop a mound of skin-on mashed potatoes. Then a separate plate with the little bird arrived. I wish the skin had been crispier.

LG and I said a prayer for the animals that died for our extravagant meal as we savored each bite. My favorite was the kangaroo (probably because of the marinade), although it was almost well-done it was very tender. Requested medium-rare, my venison was quite rare which made it chewy. Seems as though the sauces and marinades conceal rather than enhance the meats’ flavor. The menu says the steaks and meats are grilled over a live hickory fire. Really? I just didn’t get that grilled frontier flavor that I craved.

Saskatoon also offers ribeyes, filet mignon, pork tenderloin, and a variety of fish for diners with tamer tastebuds.

The couple at the table next to us were raving about their dessert. It was the creme brulee napoleon. Creme brulee layered with phyllo dough, caramel sauce, and pecans. What made it amazing was the slightly burnt flavor of the phyllo squares, crisped in the oven just before assembly. Staff wine specialist Stephen Pouleris suggested a Hungarian dessert wine called Royal Tokaji with dessert, like a glass of liquid raisins.

360 Pharr Road 404-891-1911

It has been a while since I’ve dined at Serpas, so I was thrilled to get a chance to go with AD, on her last night in Atlanta, accompanied by her injured dude NC.

The restaurant was packed at 8:45 on a Friday night. Modern industrial chic describes the space, with a huge mural of cotton on one wall, exposed brick on another, all cozied up with soft lighting. Chef Serpas can be seen expediting orders and chatting with customers in a non-frenzied manner.

Tuna is not my thing. However, AD loves it. Contrary to all logic, I love it at Serpas too, having tried it at the media dinner. Diced ahi, green apple, and onion are dressed with a chile sesame dressing, the perfect marriage of sweet and spicy, served with huge homemade potato chips, and a big serving of gratuitous cleavage.

A bottle of cava was well-priced so we started off with a sparkling toast to AD’s upcoming worldwide travel adventure. I will be meeting her, perhaps in Chile, so we decided to follow up the cava with a bottle of pinot noir from Cono Sur.

We also agreed on the crispy duck rolls. I’ve had them on every visit and always love them, filled with rich and flavorful pulled duck, each piece resting in a sweet and spicy chili syrup. I wish we could have had the eggplant hushpuppies and Scott’s signature oysters too, but I had to save room for the house salad and entrees, who’s descriptions define comfort food.

Chef Serpas has a knack for sauces and dressings. The Serpas house salad is a perfect example, just simple fresh field greens, candied pecans, and goat cheese, dressed with a blistered grape vinaigrette….a little sweet, a little tangy, just plain awesome!

Although chef Serpas is from Louisiana, he includes a few Asian inspired dishes, like the duck spring rolls, that are extremely successful. I’ve had the jumbo sea scallops served with bok choy on a perfectly executed panang curry.

On this visit the three of us decided to split two entrees. The duck breast, stuffed with Andouille sausage was served with an “open faced vegetable relleno”. I’m still confused about that, but I can tell you it was made with Brussels sprout leaves, chilis, mushrooms, and raisins. All sat upon a slightly sweet and savory sauce that complimented the crispy skinned duck and vegetables.

The short ribs with pappardelle reminded me and AD of the amazing dish we used to get at The Globe (R.I.P), but its presentation was entirely different. The beef was not pulled but served as a chunk atop the large paste squares with a scrumptious sauce with roasted shallots, asparagus, and sunchokes. The meat was so tender it easily fell apart as we dug in with forks, making “yum” sounds as we cleaned both plates.

Bread pudding you say? Hell yeah! I like mine not drenched in sugary sauce so I requested the bourbon cream sauce on the side. Not too sweet….just right!

I just love Serpas. Scott Serpas is a genuinely nice guy and, in my opinion, ranks among the top five chefs in Atlanta (possibly even the best?). There’s no pretense with the food, the chef, or the location. Perhaps it’s his play on sweet and spice that I love so much. Or his masterful sauces and dressings. It certainly lives up to his “True Food” name.

659 Auburn Avenue at Studioplex 404-688-0040

After yet another visit, this time with a semi-rowdy group of friends actually seated in the dining room, I had to bump my neighborhood Tex-Mex fave El Taco and seedy yet surprisingly healthy Tex-Mex fave El Myr to give Abattoir a spot. Neither seriously deserved spots in the Top Ten, but I so love Mexican food, I just wanted it represented. (lame, right?)

We snacked on chicharrones and the lovely, fatty rabbit rillette (photo above). Crispy bread with real sweet butter and a bottle or two of a deep and spicy malbec (only $36!) set the stage for a hearty meal.

This time I tried the duck breast with cabbage and pear slaw. Served sliced thin and medium rare, the side didn’t have enough sweet to adequately compliment the meat. One friend had the tender and tasty short ribs with sweet potatoes. The rest is all a meaty blur, although no one had anything offal. (did I mention my friends are pussies?)

But it was the dessert that really did it for me. The new hazelnut meringue with coffee ice cream and chocolate sauce stole the show, all of us digging in with spoons clanking against the huge bowl….I can only imagine the scene as a bit frightening for on-lookers! It was chewy, creamy, light, and rich all at once. We also ordered the not-so-special chocolate creme cookie with ice milk and the always amazing maple bacon beignets.