Woodfire a pleasure for the senses

Food: Local, seasonal, ingredient-driven focus

Service: very high level, professional and attentive, but relaxed

Best dishes: wild boar sugo, cage-roasted quail, croque monsieur, egg custards

Vegetarian selections: Entire tasting menus for vegetarians

Price range: $$$$

Credit cards: all major credit cards

Hours: 5:30-10 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, 5:30-11 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays

Children: better not

Parking: valet

Reservations: yes

Wheelchair access: yes

Smoking: no

Noise level: moderate

Patio: no

Takeout: no

Address, phone: 1782 Cheshire Bridge Road, Atlanta. 404-347-9055.

Over the past few years, many restaurants across the South have returned to our agrarian roots, sourcing ingredients from local farms and developing menus based on seasonal availability — fresh, flavorful and more healthful.

With the advent of the widespread farm-to-table movement, we’ve also experienced the unintended consequence of duplication. With restaurants all receiving the same seasonal produce at the same time, menus can begin to feel strikingly similar.

Remember the butternut squash soup phase? The kale salad craze? Caramelized Brussels sprouts? Roasted cauliflower soup? Chefs are having to flex their creative muscles to find ways to craft unique, ingredient-driven menus.

Woodfire Grill, which opened in 2002, quickly became one of Atlanta’s foremost farm-to-table restaurants, known for use of locally harvested produce and humanely raised meats. It also was known for distinguished service and a value-friendly, approachable wine program. Overall, one of Atlanta’s premier fine-dining restaurants.

Having a “Top Chef” finalist didn’t hurt. When Chef Kevin Gillespie took the helm, he raised the bar and elevated the cuisine at Woodfire. After he departed, chef Tyler Williams put his own stamp on the menu.

Williams was sous chef at Bacchanalia for two years before working a stint as executive chef at Abattoir. But it was his experience working at Chicago’s Graham Elliot, he said, that most influenced his technique-focused, contemporary style.

“Playful” and “personality” are the two words Williams used to describe his cooking. I’d have to agree. I’d also add analytical and edgy as descriptors for his approach, a play in temperature, flavor and textural contrasts.

Williams said he tries to avoid farm-to-table monotony by applying unusual flavor profiles to ingredients. Yet, he insisted he is “not trying to shock people” and that his dishes “are not weird for the sake of being weird.” On this point, I’m not completely convinced. Williams dances this line, occasionally planting feet on both sides.

The best way to get a sense of a chef’s cuisine is through a tasting menu. At Woodfire Grill, you can choose a five-course ($70) or seven-course ($90) menu, with options for both vegetarians and pescetarians. Because the daily tasting here is blind, you put your fate in Williams’ hands. If you have major food aversions, alert your server, who can steer you away from the tasting menu if it features the offending items.

Off we go. We started with an amusing miniature wooden crate with two plastic egg-shaped cups nestled into a bed of floral moss. Major points for presentation here. As we dug out the custard with tiny wooden spoons, we found a layered deviled egg salad of sorts. On another visit, the egg cups contained a smooth herb and truffle-infused custard to be savored.

It was with the fruit de mar, a dish plated in yin-yang style, that we began to see Williams’ touch. The generous swipe of a squid ink emulsion painted around one edge of the bowl provided an umami boost to the stacked circle of braised and marinated Portuguese octopus slices, shelled PEI mussels and tender poached Maine lobster chunks. A small dab of hon dashi aioli echoed the flavors, but the sprinkle of phytoplankton powder serving as yang’s dark dot ironically nudged the gentle flavors slightly off balance. One too many components?

Deconstructed dishes offered many surprises. A puddle of acorn squash soup studded with salt crystals occupying half the bowl was contained by a line of whole hazelnuts (not to be confused with the hazelnut powder on the side). The nuts separated it from the slick malabar spinach leaves and a flavor-popping purply blob of sherry vinegar gel.

I would have been satisfied with just the soup and the delicate goat’s milk ricotta gnudi jiggling next to the tender confit porcini mushroom. My dining partner asked our waiter if this seven-component dish came with instructions.

Similarly, the wood-grilled branzino course had me at the borscht puree, so creamy, smooth and smoky. Were the kale, Beausoleil oyster cream, white asparagus, finger lime and radish necessary? Perhaps not, but they made for a bit of fun exploration.

My two favorite courses were the salty croque monsieur made with gruyere foam and Benton’s aged country ham, and the melty-moist quail. The beautiful cage-roasted Broken Arrow Ranch bird in all its juices — paired with pommes purée, melted leeks and shaved truffle — hit that meat-and-potato mark for me. In the end, it was the simpler, well-executed dishes I favored, but it’s the others that I’ll most remember. Who says you can’t have your gel and eat it, too?

For dessert, Williams, who is stand-in pastry chef until the new hire arrives, prepared super-goaty goat cheese cheesecake logs with blackberry compote and a fun Nilla wafer ice cream. Although, in truth, I really just wanted to get started on the port flight for dessert ($15).

The drawback to the tasting menu? You miss the dishes that aren’t included, like the wild boar sugo ($27). What a shame if you don’t get to sample the superb pappardelle woven through the meaty espresso-laced ragu with ricotta salata and chanterelles.

Welcome to Woodfire Grill version 3.0, combining the best of earlier editions with a new, more modern and playful approach. As owner Nicolas Quiñones said, Williams’ cooking “is not intimidating even though it is thorough and precise. It is pleasing to look at, ingest and recall.”