Subtlety is a superpower at new Virginia-Highland restaurant So. Fox

When I first stepped through the door at So. Fox, the wildly hyped new restaurant in Atlanta’s Virginia-Highland neighborhood, I expected to board a rocket ship; instead, the experience was more like a hot-air balloon ride.

That’s not a negative — dining at So. Fox is fun and relaxing, the menu is in tune with nature and the atmosphere is light and airy. The restaurant’s strength is in its subtlety, which is not typically a characteristic that fuels such fervor in the dining public.

I do my best to avoid being influenced by other people’s opinions about restaurants before I review them; it’s important for my dining experience to be as close to typical as possible. But I couldn’t dodge the buzz around So. Fox on social media or in real life; friends and colleagues who visited earlier heaped rapturous praise on the work of chef Myles Moody and Rachael Pack, the couple who also own the adjoining Kinship Butcher & Sundry.

So, I halfway expected my hair to be blown back on my first visit. When the meal was more of a slow burn, my idea of the restaurant required some recalibration.

When you first enter So. Fox, the most striking feature is the wide-open space by the front door. The interior is minimalist, even spare, with a large gap between the main bar and the standing bar against the windows at the front. The yawning area is a necessity for servers traveling between the kitchen and the main dining room just around the corner, and it keeps the bar space from feeling too cramped during the inevitable wait for a table (unless you’re one of the lucky few to secure a reservation).

White tile, pale wood and a concrete floor give the room an almost clinical feel, but the design’s austerity is softened by the people who fill the space and the warm cooking aromas wafting from the open kitchen.

Once in the dining room, my perception of the space shifted; rather than minimalist, it felt uncluttered. The comfortable seats and expansive tables made it a dream to share a meal; even with four adults placing a large order, the surface never seemed overloaded.

The setting enhances the visual impact of the food; many of Moody’s plates were stunning, bursting with late-summer color. Ribbons of green and yellow summer squash swirled on a plate, held vertical by a thick, white spackling of farmer’s cheese. In a dish simply called sweet corn, dumplings and sungold tomatoes glowed like citrines in a jewelry box, while morsels of blue crab added an undercurrent of richness. A slice of Thomasville tomme cheesecake was engulfed in a fluffy cloud of its namesake savory cheese, grated into long, delicate shreds.

Dishes that appeared simple at So. Fox were often the product of a thoughtful, intensive cooking process. Gorgeous heels of sourdough were served with a small butter dish studded with pickled garlic blossoms preserved more than a year prior. The blossoms added a lilting note of garlic to the butter just strong enough to make the bread service unforgettable.

The sublime whole chicken, the summer menu’s big plate meant to be shared by four diners, required three days to prepare, Moody said. In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he explained how the Joyce farms bird was brined for one day, rubbed in a garlic mixture the second day and roasted on the third. The garlic is wiped from the skin before the chicken goes in the oven, infusing the meat with a hint of its flavor without blackening and burning on the surface.

The jus with pickled mustard seeds that pooled around the meat took just as long; Moody starts with a blonde stock on day one, building into a double stock on day two and using day three to perfectly clarify and reduce it into a jus.

Moody’s cooking philosophy is built around nuance; he wants to make food that requires diners to pay attention, he said.

“Or, if you’re not paying attention, you have that one bite where you’re like, ‘Oh wait, this is really good,’” Moody said. “But I’m not trying to beat people over the head with acid or spice.”

There were times I wished for a little more forceful flavoring. The beef tartare might have benefited from a bit more of that heat or acid. And while the beautiful summer squash dish was tasty, I assumed the raw squash was unseasoned. It was a surprise when Moody said the ribbons had been dressed with a vinaigrette-like coating of sunflower oil and whey from the farmer’s cheese. With a little more oomph, a good dish might have become great.

A bowl of zipper peas was a bit lost on me, too. The undeniably beautiful dish featured a pile of chilled peas in a cool pool of broth poured at the table, topped with an enormous dollop of caviar. The dashi-like broth was made with leather britches, an old Appalachian technique for smoking and preserving long beans. Individually, I enjoyed the savory broth, firm beans and saline caviar, but I’m not sure the elements coalesced into a harmonious dish. Then again, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it, and I’d certainly try it again. I’m not sure I’ve seen a more generous use of caviar in town.

The food at So. Fox gives diners much to think about. Luckily, Pack’s beverage program is delightful, so it’s easy to lubricate the gears grinding in your head as you ponder your dinner.

There’s a short menu of well-made, approachable cocktails and a brilliant wine list, with plenty of interesting glasses and reasonable bottles. The bar staff is friendly and knowledgeable enough to tailor individual wine recommendations, and they’re happy to give diners a taste of this or that for reassurance. I enjoyed being introduced to the Crab, a sparkling orange blend of Albariño and pinot gris from Carboniste in California. Wines by the glass range in price from $16 to $28, and there’s a surprisingly wide selection of large-format bottles. On Mondays, So. Fox offers wine magnums at half-price.

The service was excellent in every respect, not just at the bar. The front-of-house team is professional, conversational, well-versed in the menu and clearly in sync. Though we had a primary server in the dining room, nearly everyone working seemed to touch our table at some point, whether it was refilling water glasses, delivering a dish or cleaning up the odd crumb.

I still can’t quite pinpoint why So. Fox developed such powerful hype. The food is not indulgent or extreme; it’s creative, thoughtful and restrained. You won’t find chocolate truffles coated in gold or martinis laced with diamonds here. In a fast-moving world, it’s hard to get people to pay attention as closely as Moody’s food requires.

By focusing on nuance rather than flash, Moody and Pack seem to be building something that will last. So. Fox is the type of restaurant you could return to again and again, never tiring of it and still discovering something new each time.

You won’t sit down at So. Fox and feel like you’ve been blasted into space; the liftoff is so gentle, you might not even notice it. But at some point, you’ll take a divine bite or sip and sense that you’re soaring at great height. So. Fox offers a calmer sort of adventure, but it still reaches rarified air.