ABATTOIR
1170 Howell Mill Road, Atlanta. 404-892-3335, starprovisions.com. $$$
Chef Hector Santiago has landed at Abattoir after making the decision to close his Poncey-Highland mainstay, Pura Vida Tapas, late last year. He cooks with a nod to his Puerto Rican heritage, an interest in advanced cooking techniques, and an eye for plating dishes in a way that makes your mind let out a small “wow.”
He stands halved radishes upright in a bed of aji amarillo (spicy yellow pepper) mashed potato, their tendrils waving in the air like hands in a gospel choir. What a novel way to scoop and dip. A pork chop and manila clams arrive with a luxurious blanket of corn masa-thickened poblano pepper sauce. The best part is the chop’s rind, snipped and fried into crisp chicharrones that you crunch on.
By all means, ask to see the nightly butcher menu, which features the off cuts that might make sensitive souls squeamish. Chicken hearts with chewy dried corn nubbins in a spicy broth were a recent highlight. There’s a great Spanish plural noun that describes Santiago’s spirit of brazen audacity, if not an occasional item on his butcher menu.
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