Insider tip
You don’t need a reservation to grab a seat at the bar at Bacchanalia, where you can gaze through a big window that looks into the kitchen and order a la carte selections or the full tasting menu, along with beer, wine, cocktails, cheese and desserts
Call it a prix fixe, degustation or tasting menu, the multi-course meal with an artfully planned progression of dishes at a set price can make one of the most leisurely, adventurous and entertaining ways to dine out. Chefs at some of Atlanta’s finest restaurants offer tasting menus to try out new ideas and feature seasonal ingredients along with wine, and sometimes beer and cocktail pairings. They usually provide little treats between courses, too.
This story originally appeared in the November 2015 issue of Living Intown magazine.
4th & Swift
At 4th & Swift in Old Fourth Ward, chef and owner Jay Swift offers a weekly five-course tasting menu ($75), with optional wine pairings and ingredients sourced from nearby farms and purveyors, as well as the restaurant's on-site garden.
Designing the tasting menus at 4th & Swift give the chefs a chance to have some fun. "We use it as an opportunity to push the edge a little more and be creative," Swift says. "I think our menu is always somewhat adventurous for the average diner, with things like uni and sweetbreads, but there are aspects that are familiar and comfortable, too, like steak with wild mushrooms."
An example from one menu is simply called Perfect New Potatoes, described as roasted potatoes accompanied by smoked trout and trout roe, mascarpone cheese, crispy garlic, watercress, and brown butter.
"We buy this beautiful local trout and it often comes with the roe," Swift explains. "It's really delicious, just lightly smoked and served with the crispy garlic, local watercress and a bit of brown butter."
Overall, Swift describes the slower pace and sometimes exotic dishes on the tasting menu as like "taking a mini vacation" to a new place. "It's for people who like to explore," he says.
Bacchanalia
Open since 1993, and often heralded as Atlanta's best restaurant, Bacchanalia in the Westside Provisions District offers a five-course prix fixe menu ($85) that is the most sophisticated in the city.
Composed of three savory courses, a cheese course and a dessert course, the menu can be ordered with wine pairings or special supplements, such as caviar or foie gras. The strictly seasonal menu uses only organic ingredients, many of which are sourced from the restaurant's North Georgia farm, Summerland.
Bacchanalia's large culinary team is led by executive chef David A. Carson, who has worked at the restaurant or one of the Star Provisions sister concepts for more than a decade.
"I think the tasting menu is great way to showcase what a great restaurant can do, from top to bottom," Carson says. "There are different takes and different styles of tasting menus, but the one we do at Bacchanalia right now is certainly a progressive tasting, from start to finish.
"With the amuse, intermezzo and petit fours, you probably get to try somewhere around 10 different bites. But what's unique is that among the five courses, guests get to choose from among four to six different selections for each course. That means there's a lot of room for guests to choose what they like."
With all those options, though, the menu is carefully designed to have a rhythm and a flow that Carson likens to a symphony of flavors and textures.
"We make it so the first course is a little lighter, and it's usually something chilled like a raw or cured fish or oysters, and it's driven toward a lighter wine or even a beer," Carson says. "Getting into the second course, it's a little bit heavier and more savory. The third course is the entree, and we like to offer a rich pasta or a game bird like duck or pheasant, and feature our house prime dry-aged beef, along with things like lamb or venison.
"The cheese or contrast course is a bridge between savory and sweet, so we're doing something like Taleggio with honey and candied roasted hazelnuts with a little spice. Dessert is obviously going to be a sweeter element, but just like our savory dishes, we like to have a good range of options, from a light yogurt panna cotta to a decadent, warm chocolate cake."
Carson sums up the overall approach of the Bacchanalia menu as seasonal and ingredient-driven, with an emphasis on what comes to the kitchen from Summerland Farm.
"What we really try to showcase is the amazing versatility of the products that we're getting," Carson says. "Often times we will take one ingredient and use it in multiple dishes. It's about the farmers and what they're growing, and it's kind of like telling a story about the versatility of the seasons and the crops."
Restaurant Eugene
Located on Peachtree Road in South Buckhead, Restaurant Eugene links fine dining and Southern cuisine with ingredients sourced from the region and offered in five-course tasting menus ($85) with vegetable or chef's options and a variety of supplemental courses and wine pairings.
Brian Jones recently took over as the executive chef, after working at the restaurant for more than two years, and stints at Atlanta restaurants such as the Ritz-Carlton downtown before that.
"I've always believed in using the best local ingredients, and we have an incredible community of farmers and artisans here that make that easy," Jones says. "It just makes sense operating a Southern kitchen within the seasons.
"We get ingredients in and then we write the menu. We have two tasting menus, the vegetable and the chef's. The vegetable tasting is not vegetarian or vegan, but it's a representation of the vegetables that are in season the time."
Like other chefs who write tasting menus, Carson says the trick is using what's on hand in different ways and with sometimes surprising accompaniments.
"We try to build flavors that complement each other and each course," Carson says. "On our vegetable tasting menu right now, we're using Concord grapes from a little farm nearby and we're pairing then with charred and chilled okra and a purée of sorrel emulsified with egg to create a dressing, so it becomes something of a salad."
Carson's take on the Eugene tasting menu is particularly poetic and reflects the sense of hospitality the restaurant strives for.
"I see the menu as escalating through the courses, kind of like a composed piece of music that's lifting you up. There are canapés between courses that aren't listed on the menu, and little surprises here and there as signs of generosity and hospitality. The key is that it's a representation of us and what is special to us: our story and the time and place and the experience."
4th & Swift. 621 North Ave. 678-904-0160. 4thandswift.com
Bacchanalia. 1198 Howell Mill Road. 404-365-0410. starprovisions.com/bacchanalia
Restaurant Eugene. 2277 Peachtree Road. 404-355-0321. restauranteugene.com
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