Overall rating: 3 of 5 stars
Food: a blend of Creole/Cajun, Asian and Southwestern flavors
Service: a little slow and overly familiar, but well-meaning
Best dishes: veal porterhouse, lemon crab cream cheese fritters, venison
Vegetarian selections: eggplant hushpuppies, salads, sides
Price range: $$$
Credit cards: Visa, Mastercard, American Express
Hours: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and 5:30-9 p.m. Sundays, 5:30-10 p.m. Tuesday-Thursdays, 5:30-11 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays
Children: well-behaved ones
Parking: yes, valet
Reservations: yes
Wheelchair access: yes
Smoking: no
Noise level: high
Patio: yes
Takeout: yes
Address, phone: 659 Auburn Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 404-688-0040.
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Part bistro and part pub, P'cheen opened in 2005 as one of the Atlanta's premier gastropubs. The restaurant, now smoke-free, recently received an interior face-lift and menu redesign. The beverage menu also now features moonshine-based cocktails. 11:30 a.m.-midnight Sundays and Tuesdays-Thursdays, 11:30 a.m.-1 a.m. Fridays-Saturdays. 701 Highland Ave., Atlanta. 404-529-8800. $$.
Barcelona Wine Bar sits on the main drag in Inman Park, forever bursting with customers overflowing the generous interior to a wrap-around patio. Chef Shane Devereux helms the kitchen at the Atlanta location of this Connecticut-based restaurant group. Stop in for tapas like the cuminy spinach and chickpea casserole or the octopus, with its nice char and hearty paprika-spiced fingerling potatoes. Linger to try the many wines by the glass. 11:30 a.m.-late Sundays, 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m. and 5 p.m.-late Mondays-Saturdays. 240 N. Highland Ave., Atlanta. 404-589-1010. $$-$$$.
The small kitchen at Rathbun's cranks out a hefty menu and list of daily specials. It's easy to hover in the small-plate region of the menu, with items like thin slices of lamb scallopini topped with cubes of salty pancetta and soft goat gouda. But you'll also want to indulge in dishes like the perfectly crispy duck with Thai risotto and a sweet-and-spicy green curry essence. Pastry chef Kirk Parks prepares an impressive list of sweet temptations to end your meal. 5:30-10 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, 5:30-11 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays. 112 Krog St. N.E., Atlanta. 404-524-8280. $$$-$$$$.
A brass band marched through the restaurant playing a lively rendition of “When the Saints Go Marching In” at full tilt, the musicians weaving through the tangle of tables and motioning for diners to join the impromptu parade.
This New Orleans Flavors dinner was presented by chefs Scott Serpas, John Besh, John Currence and Donald Link, sons of Louisiana, during the inaugural Atlanta Food & Wine Festival more than two years ago. My lasting memories from that experience include the parade, long waits and surprisingly dense beignets.
The meal cemented my firm association of Serpas with New-Orleans-inspired fare. But, upon my return to the restaurant, which originally opened in 2009, I found the menu more reflective of Scott Serpas’ entire culinary career. In the food that Serpas calls “approachable with an edge,” you’ll see hints of Southwestern flavors from his time at Nava and Asian touches from Sia’s.
The open kitchen overlooks a spacious dining room decorated in warm orange and gold tones. The back wall features oversized sepia-toned close-ups of cotton plants, whispers of the building’s origins as a cotton storage factory.
Serpas often delivers dishes to tables himself, proudly presenting little masterpieces assembled with gentle grace. Both the menu and atmosphere reflect his unpretentious style, all at once refined and casual.
According to Serpas, the menu is kept small so he can run a tight kitchen. But once you dig into it, you won’t find the menu so small, after all. I have the most fun exploring the appetizer menu, occasionally making my own tapas meal by splitting four to five dishes with a friend.
I always start with the restaurant’s signature lemon crab cream cheese fritters ($10). Difficult though it may be to locate the crab, the bright, citrusy scent makes them deceptively light for a fritter. The accompanying avocado salad echos these flavors with its grapefruit-jalapeno reduction.
Another Serpas signature is the eggplant hushpuppies ($8). They pack a nice little kick, but I find them somewhat mushy inside. Redemption comes in the form of a chunky, tangy red gravy with blue cheese to scoop up using the hushpuppies.
Lighten your meal with the tuna tartar ($14) — tiny cubes of tuna and green apple in a gingery chili-sesame dressing over thick housemade potato chips. Those same chili-spiced chips also come loaded with house-smoked salmon ($10), red onion, capers and a whopper of a chipotle cream cheese spread.
After a few appetizers, share the veal porterhouse ($28), an impressive specimen lovingly called “the beast” by our waitress. The tender, smoky meat comes simply spiced with a house rub. Its juices mix well with the slightly sweet blue cheese and onion gratin.
Also try the cast-iron seared venison flank ($25), another generously portioned entree. The meat, from New Zealand, has a milder, less gamey flavor than its domestic cousin. Serpas seasons it with a mixture of dry spices and cooks it medium-rare. He strikes a natural balance by pairing it with items a deer might eat, like arugula, acorn squash and blackberries. A light sherry-vinaigrette, toasted pistachios and dots of goat cheese bring it all together.
If you head in for the popular Sunday brunch, you can start with the same appetizers or an order of beignets ($5), still offputtingly dense and heavy. Save room instead for the sweet shrimp and single scallop ($18) layered on top of a juicy tomato ragu and thick Logan Turnpike grits.
To end the meal, I’d order a second Church Lady cocktail ($11), the cucumbery-fresh concoction that’s a contender in the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau’s cocktail contest. It’s infinitely more refreshing and likely a better digestive than the beignets or the desserts, which include the teeth-achingly sweet lemon bombe ($6).
If you long for New Orleans-inspired flavors like those prepared for festival-goers a couple of years back, be on the lookout for special events like the crawfish boil that Serpas holds about twice a year. But I suggest you also give the regular menu a shot. Laissez les bons temps rouler. Let the good times roll.
