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DEL.ICIO.USRocky Mountain High
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THE BAR AT BACCHANALIA: Is it the best seat in town?
Photo: Johnny Crawford/AJC
I spent the bulk of the weekend in Denver, where I saw my first Jandek show (which will blow your mind), and drove the short stint to Boulder to have dinner at one of that area’s favorites, Frasca Food & Wine.
Master sommelier Bobby Stuckey and chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson have a shared passion for the Friuli region of Italy, and it shows in the hand-cut pastas like chitarra with local lamb and tomato ragout, a perfectly fried rendition of fiore di zucca (fried squash blossoms) and frico caldo — here the crusty cheese is mixed with potatoes for a best of all worlds bite. Stuckey’s fine wine list boasts some fabulous varietals, soem of which are what he calls “indigenous ancient varietals” such as a bottle of Girolamo Dorigo Pignolo, Friuli, Italy (2004) that we drank from bowl-shaped glasses to our hearts’ content.
It made me think hard about recommending restaurants in Atlanta. I did my research about Frasca and asked friends who live in the area what all the hype was about. I’m often asked where to eat in Atlanta, and it would be very hard for me to narrow my recommendations to just one spot: Rathbun’s? It certainly embodies the spirit of new Southern cooking combined with other regions, and is in the hippest part of Inman Park, one of the city’s most cherished neighborhoods.
Shaun’s? Shaun Doty’s fresh take on modern bistro cooking is probably my favorite in town, and the restaurant is in the heart of one of Inman Park. Bacchanalia, of course. Thats’ a given. Repast? As part of the Old Fourth Ward/Midtown, Joe Truex’s menu just keeps getting better, and it was wonderful to start with.
But there are so many others. If you were recommending a restaurant to someone who had never eaten in Atlanta before, what would top your list?
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