Atlanta dining and wine stores

[Doug Padgett]

Thanks, Erwin. Some really interesting stuff here. Atlanta does seem like it's become a very lively food town. I'm thinking hard about trying a couple of the foodie-ish places for the anniversary and getting out to some of the others while we're there.

 

[Bill Bounds]

Nam website: http://www.namrestaurant.com/ As good as it gets. Mom Kinjo is from Hue and is in the kitchen. The recipes come from her life in Vietnam; her sons own the restaurant along with MF Sushibar and MF Buckhead. With their suppliers, you can imagine the quality of the ingredients. There are no mistakes on the menu, but I would suggest - just because you might not order it - the cruchy lemongrass tofu. It's a great accompaniment to whatever you might order. For lunch they have pho and banh mi sandwiches. You won't find better pho in Atlanta.

I highly recommend Ecco in Midtown. If you go, I suggest that you limit you order to just the small dishes. You will eat very well and rarely more than $20 to 25 per person before wine. They are wine friendly and have a corkage policy. I don't know what the charge is. I assume that it is reasonable.

The restaurant group that owns Two Urban Licks (not a place that I would go to) also owns several other restaurants, all of which are wine friendly with no corkage fee. Of that group, I have had great, reasonably priced lunches @ Room. I'm not sure who is still the chef but the opening chef was excellent.

John Kessler was previously the restaurant critic for the AJC; he is second only to Ruth Reichel in my book. On his blog he has reviewed 30 restaurants in 30 days. You can find it here:

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blogs.ajc.com

If John likes it, you can take it to the bank.

Haven't lived in Atlanta in over 2 years, but I have two children there and get back 5 or 6 times a year. I always have at least one meal @ Ecco; they have never disappointed.

Trust in Kessler,
bill

 

[Steve Edmunds]

originally posted by Erwin Dink:

originally posted by Doug Padgett:

originally posted by lars makie:
Ok, I've never been to Atlanta, so take this for what it is. I was clicking through a link on Eater which was about the top 40 chefs under 40. Two were in Atlanta and both sounded pretty good. Maybe the locals there can yay or nay them. One was Bookhouse Pub the other was Woodfire Grill. Both are doing the farm-to-table thing and the second one is the guy on Top Chef's restaurant. If I were going to Atlanta, they seem to be restaurants I'd want to check out.

These look like they have great potential, especially the woodfire grill. Thanks Lars.

I can vouch for Woodfire but haven't tried Bookhouse yet.

Nam is fabulous but I'm not sure how traditional it is -- a friend who spent some years in Hanoi wasn't impressed but his was a minority opinion amongst our group.

We *are* fortunate to have some good restaurants and some of them even have decent wine lists. Eating out is one of Atlanta's most common social activity. Still, having lived in the Bay Area and having dined in several countries I am largely unimpressed with almost everyone's limited wine lists here. The higher end restaurants will have good choices but many restaurants disappoint - as do most wine stores. To make matters worse, we are one of the most restrictive states for getting wine shipped in (that's changing but s l o w l y).

Speaking of food... I'm opening a bottle of Bone-Jolly Rose and and getting ready to throw a piece of salmon in skillet. I'll put up some specific restaurant suggestions later or tomorrow.

Get Jolly, Miss Molly!!!!