Lusca
1829 Peachtree Road, Atlanta. 678-705-1486, luscaatl.com. $$$
A meal at Lusca is all sharp turns. You are eating a foot-long slab of toasted pain au levain smeared with avocado and blanketed in lime-and-scallion-dressed rock crab. And then comes stewed lamb neck with olives, peppers and (yes) tarragon over a puddle of runny polenta.
What are you drinking? A lot. Lusca is a restaurant for people who like to see if a Duchesse de Bourgogne Flemish Sour Ale goes better with the food than a nicely chilled glass of Gamay Beaujolais. In fact, both are great.
Maybe you’re spooning up fresh English peas set over a goopy swoosh of goat’s milk ricotta. There are also pistachios on the plate, as crisp and green as the peas. And you’re drinking a bone-dry Spanish cider.
Or maybe you’ve been here often enough to go right to the whole branzino — the best whole fish in Atlanta. Chef Angus Brown (who owns the restaurant with sushi chef Nhan Le) cooks it in a cast iron skillet with chili and garlic, which seem to have magically impregnated the crisp skin and insinuated their flavor into the flesh. You will pick the bones clean, maybe with a bottle of white Vin de Savoie.
There are blips, but this is a restaurant for folks who love to eat and drink.
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