OPULENT
Overall rating: 2 of 5 stars
Food: globally inspired fare
Service: variable
Best dishes: burger, orecchiette
Vegetarian selections: salads, starters, fusilli
Price range: $$$
Credit cards: all major credit cards
Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays
Children: yes, note that they do have a children's menu even if the waiters are unaware of it
Parking: nearby paid lots, valet lot and street parking
Reservations: yes
Wheelchair access: yes
Smoking: no
Noise level: high
Patio: yes
Takeout: yes
Address, phone: 948 Canton St., Roswell. 770-998-3114
Website: opulentrestaurant.com
The Roswell restaurant scene has generated much fodder for wine-cooler discussions of late. Budding restaurants, parking pickles, chef quandaries, puzzling restaurant revamps — you name it, Roswell has it.
One of the hot topics in historic Roswell right now is the disappearance of the beloved food truck-decorated, Latin-inspired Inc. Street Food. This Canton Street eatery run by Hicham Azhari and Fikret Kovac seemed alive and thriving from a casual observer’s perspective. The front and rear patios were packed, as are most of the local spots occupying such prime real estate, including Inc.’s sister restaurants Salt and Little Alley Steak.
Much as we Roswellians might lament it (and we will), Inc. has been laid to rest. Azhari and Kovac scrapped the original concept and reinvented the restaurant. Opulent now steps up to play host to the crowds that lumber in on summer evenings.
At Opulent, bulbous drop lighting illuminates gleaming-white, diamond-shaped subway tiles and black-and-white posters of Charlie Chaplin. Azhari, who designed the space, chose the decor based on an era he believes epitomizes style and form, much as he hopes Opulent’s food will.
According to Azhari, Opulent fills a void in the community with its focus on seafood. But make no mistake, a seafood restaurant this is not. Instead, Opulent attempts to unite the best of the French brasserie, as Azhari came to know it from his days at Brasserie Le Coze, and the comfort of the American tavern.
With a nod to the margarita-loving fans of Inc., Opulent’s lengthy cocktail menu includes Inc.’s signature margarita bottled for two ($18). You can once again take up residence on the front patio overlooking Canton Street with the lime-and-Chambord-spiked libation.
Yet instead of a taco, the menu offers an assortment of globally inspired dishes to pair with that margarita or one of the impressive number of wines by the glass. The resulting menu potpourri may not be opulent, but the restaurant’s seats are full.
Bob McDonough, culinary director for Opulent, Salt and Little Alley Steak, partners with executive chef Andy Long to take diners on a culinary journey beyond Latin America.
Asian flavors weave their way into dishes like the eggplant fries ($9). A light batter with Szechuan spices encases thick fingers of smudgy eggplant. The play of the salty batter with the powdery Parmesan will have you dragging fry after fry through the sweet ginger soy dipping sauce.
Continue in this vein with the blistered shishito peppers ($7) that sparkle with oil and fleur de sel or the salmon sashimi ($12) dotted with powdered sesame oil, slips of yuzu, sliced serrano peppers and a dash of sweet hoisin. Simple preparation, clean flavors.
The menu heads due south with the simultaneously sweet and salty sorghum-glazed pork belly ($10). The richness of the crisp but gooey exterior offers a nice counterbalance to the crisp strips of apple and fennel slaw.
While the pork pays homage to the South, we Southern folk wouldn’t claim the strawberry shortcake ($6). The dense biscuit with an awkward gnaw would send our grannies straight for the White Lily bag.
Next we head to Italy with pastas and grains, like the heady confit chicken farrotto ($17) and the orecchiette ($18). The Italian-imported orecchiette pasta comes dressed with a white-wine and Calabrian-chile sauce bursting with tang and speckled with crumbled Pine Street Market Italian sausage and broccoli rabe. Take me to Italy via Pine Street.
Our travels go off course as we head into open waters. The Carolina flounder ($25) flaunts a perfectly savory and salty panko-parmesan crust that soon wilts with moisture from the watery fish. And then there’s the low country snapper ($24). This weepy gray specimen remained largely untouched while I snagged bites of my table mates’ dishes.
My favorite dish at Opulent smacks of good old Americana. The Amazing Burger ($16), made with two 4-ounce patties of American wagyu beef, was named to alert customers that this is one of the better burgers outside the Perimeter. I’d have to agree, thanks in large part to the garlic aioli, melted Gruyere and roasted shiitakes with their drippings soaking into a who-cares-if-it’s-no-longer-fluffy bun.
It’s time we embrace change. It’s time to face the fact that our Latin detours have come to an end. And while Opulent may not garner the same instant fan base, does it matter? Maybe not. But I say, let’s up the ante and give ’em something to talk about.
