In search of ... pasta
Your trainer is screaming no more carbs, but your inner caveman wants to load up for winter. Go ahead and give in — how bad for you can pasta be?
Ecco
40 Seventh St. N.E., Atlanta, 404-347-9555, www.ecco-atlanta.com
Ecco’s kitchen values freshness and sourcing, a fact most evident in the offerings of charcuterie and fine cheeses that should be made into the meat of any meal here. But pasta is primo, too, as in a luscious slice of wood-grilled pizza with roasted winter squash and comte, or silky ribbons of pappardelle with chile-braised pork.
Signatures of fried goat cheese with honey and gorgonzola ice cream round out a classic but fun menu that’s best when not taking itself too seriously.
La Tavola Trattoria
992 Virginia Ave. N.E., Atlanta, 404-873-5430, www.fifthgroup.com
You want pasta? Chef Craig Richards cooks up tagliatelle with Bolognese, braised beef ravioli and pennoni with rabbit for an evening at La Tavola Trattoria that proves the perfect combination of all that’s good about Italian cooking, American-style. The deep wine list will have you sipping Sartori Amarone Valpolicella; the candid cooking denotes the kind of culinary honesty for which Italy is most known.
La Pietra Cucina
1545 Peachtree St., Suite 100, Atlanta, 404-888-8709, www.lapietracucina.com
One of Italy’s most cherished sauces, all’ Amatriciana, gets royal treatment at this Midtown enclave of all things Italian. Made with as many interpretations as there are cooks, everyone can agree on one ingredient: guanciale — cured pig jowl coated in black pepper. It’s rare to see this sauce in Atlanta; even rarer to have it taste as good as it does at La Pietra Cucina. It’s served over perfectly cooked bevette, a string pasta that lies somewhere between spaghetti and tagliatelle, or perhaps bucatini cooked al dente.
Either way, it is pasta perfection.
Chef Liu (not rated)
5221 Buford Highway, Doraville, 770-936-8181
The stand-alone building in the middle of Pinetree Plaza looks more like an old-fashioned photo mart drive-through than a dumpling house, but it doesn’t stop the local Chinese community from gathering and slurping down dumplings by the score.
My favorite, though, is the noodle dish of cha chiang mein, with its thick, spaghetti-like noodles and rich bean paste sauce with a side of sliced cucumber. Save room for a Chinese doughnut to have with your noodles.
Stone Bowl House (Woo Nam Jeong) (not rated)
5953 Buford Highway, Atlanta, 678-530-0844
This tidy spot in Seoul Plaza has fine offerings of traditional Korean favorites, including chap chae, Korean-style noodles with vegetables — a heaping plate of bean thread noodles stir-fried and tossed with mushrooms, onions and garlic galore.
