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As the waiter slid dessert menus in front of us, the young couple at the next table came alive. The woman leaned deep into our space gushing, “You have GOT to get the cheesecake. It’s warm. It’s goat cheese. It’s warm. Ohmygosh. Get the cheesecake.”

After we issued a polite word of thanks and turned back to our serious dessert deliberations, our table neighbor commanded our attention once more with renewed vigor and another rush of cheesecake fervor. And, possibly because we had yet to acquiesce, her husband took up the cause, beseeching us to order the ode to chevre.

At Aria, which opened in 2000, cheesecake has long been a staple. If you’re an Aria loyalist, you may recall the popular warm chocolate cheesecake that occupied a spot on the menu for an extended period.

Herein you find Aria’s modus operandi. Chef-owner Gerry Klaskala has created a comfortable menu framework that shifts slightly with seasonal availability. Your waiter may present it with a …

Continue reading Atlanta revisited: Aria restaurant review, Buckhead »

Tuk Tuk Thai Food Loft (all photos by Becky Stein)

There is much to love about Thai food, and much to hate about Thai restaurants.

To love: Those jagged flavors like none other. Those enticing mounds of salad, fresh and bright, sharped to a near lethal edge with hot chilies, red onion and needles of ginger. And then those bowls of rich coconut curry — wellsprings of woodsy galangal and floral lemongrass jumping from a warming base of shallot and spice.

To hate: Those recipes that are prepared competently but without any heart. That glitzily elegant decor that soothes and stupefies like easy listening music. Those elaborate, carved carrot garnishes that you suspect will be washed off and reused. That nagging feeling that every Thai restaurant in the country serves the same recipes, follows the same manual and runs on autopilot.

I always suspect that Thai restaurants, as they exist in the United States, are a convenient fiction, much like the Japanese steakhouse or Mongolian …

Continue reading Tuk Tuk Thai Food Loft breaks the Thai restaurant mold »

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He approaches the table and quietly puts the fish knife to work filleting the whole bronzini with a practiced hand. Using a soft voice he details each step and leans in to reveal the choice strip above the head. In a careful and assured manner, he skillfully removes the spine.

My tableside fish filleter is Laurend Abraham, managing partner at the new SeaBass Kitchen. The restaurant occupies the former Rumi’s Kitchen space on Roswell Road.

SeaBass Kitchen, under the direction of chef Sam Brunola, serves a range of seafood with a few nonwater-dwelling alternatives. Brunola,whose experience includes stints at Van Gogh’s (now Bistro VG) and Horseradish Grill, says his cooking highlights the flavors of the ingredients without masking them with heavy sauces.

Brunola’s food at SeaBass Kitchen reflects his philosophy, with simple preparations featuring Middle Eastern and Mediterranean flavors. He uses a handful of key ingredients like extra virgin olive oil, lemon, red wine …

Continue reading SeaBass Kitchen review, Sandy Springs »

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A new generation of restaurateurs is coming of age. Atlanta chefs who have enjoyed success are beginning to open second locations and unveil new concepts. Yet, none has done so with quite the bravado of chef Ford Fry.

Fry opened the popular JCT Kitchen in 2007 and has since built an Atlanta restaurant empire. Capitalizing on the success of JCT, Fry opened No. 246, the Optimist and Oyster Bar at the Optimist. And he won’t stop there.

As the Buckhead Life Group downsizes, shedding both Bluepointe and Nava, Fry continues to expand, gobbling up both of those spaces for two new restaurant concepts. Fry also plans to enter the suburban market with yet another new eatery, this one slated to open in Alpharetta.

As Fry’s time becomes increasingly consumed with the concept development and project management of so many new restaurants, the question arises as to whether his first restaurants can maintain the level of service and consistent execution for which they are known.

As …

Continue reading Atlanta revisit: JCT Kitchen restaurant review, Atlanta »

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Philip Cooper is either lucky, shrewd or a little of both, because it seems he found the perfect location to open his wine bar, Vin25.

Cooper worked his way up from valet to management at Ray’s on the River, and during his time in the restaurant world his interest in and love for wine continued to grow. When he mentioned to owner Ray Schoenbaum that he was interested in becoming a sommelier, Schoenbaum agreed to fund his training and certification. By the time he was 26, Cooper had become a level one sommelier, and he since has moved on to level two. He’d always had the dream of owning his own restaurant and knew wine would be a big part of that.

Just off Roswell’s Canton Street restaurant row, Cooper’s little wine bistro is poised to thrive. No neighborhood in the

AJC Dining Team member Jon Watson writes about popular eats.

 metro area, inside or outside the Perimeter, can match Roswell for a night out on foot. If they drive at all, many locals carpool to the …

Continue reading Vin25 restaurant review, Roswell »

All photos by Becky Stein

I first met Ali Mesghali some 15 years ago when he and his family ran a Persian restaurant called Shamshiri in a decrepit shopping strip set hard against I-285.

AJC Chief Dining Critic John Kessler writes about all cuisines.

As I recall the evening, we wandered into an empty dining room and waited for a few moments for someone to appear. I eventually walked into the kitchen calling, “Helloooo, helloooo,” like a nosy neighbor. Mesghali, who appeared to be running a one-man show that evening, apologetically seated us at a table set with a few crumbs from the previous occupant’s bread.

But when our bread arrived — a blistering-hot naan fresh from the tandoor, served with green herbs, cheese and walnuts — all was forgiven. This restaurant didn’t seem ready for a full review, but it was a good tip for folks who like to explore promising international restaurants and don’t mind a poorly graded parking lot and the spare breadcrumb.

Mesghali …

Continue reading Rumi’s Kitchen Redux: Beloved Persian restaurant joins the big leagues »

Bartender Arianne Fielder in her boozy lair (photos by Becky Stein)

“Expletive! If that stupid expletiver can’t expletiving bother to pick up that expletiving order then, well, expletive him!”

AJC Chief Dining Critic John Kessler writes about all cuisines.

So says a red-faced man to his friend as they sit across a narrow table from me — a piece of furniture on which he sometimes bangs his fist for emphasis.

Next to me, a woman receives a dish covered with melted, bubbly, robustly funky cheese — the kind of cheese that smells like a dark and dirty place. It’s something I might appreciate later in the meal but, good Lord, I need a drink first.

I’m at the “bar” at Seven Lamps, except it’s not really a bar in the common sense of a counter behind which shakers shake and in front of which tipplers tipple. It is, rather, this long, high table that fronts a showcase cocktail staging area where mixologist Arianne Fielder assembles her potent concoctions. It’s a …

Continue reading Seven Lamps: A guy walks into a bar…or does he? »

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Restaurants occasionally shift their focus radically to reflect food trends or the cooking style of a new chef. They shake things up to see what sticks.

Over the years, Parish in Inman Park moved from Creole to pork-centric to American regional cuisine while keeping its decor and name intact. Other restaurants tinker with more than the menu, revamping the decor and rebranding with a new name or concept, as was the case with Relish Restaurant in Roswell, which became the now-closed Pico Auténtico.

Sometimes it sticks, sometimes not.

West & Mill on Atlanta’s westside pulled the old switcheroo last fall, transitioning from bakery-cafe to bistro-bar. It originally opened last March as Swit Bakery & Cafe, serving breads, cakes and pastries inspired by those owner Diana Stawnyczy made as a child helping with her Eastern European mom’s catering business.

But with its Marietta Street address, Swit was located in an area with a number of heavy hitters serving both lunch and …

Continue reading West & Mill Bistro Bar restaurant review, Atlanta »

Gio's Chicken Amalfitano (photos by Becky Stein unless otherwise noted)

My own roast chicken is precisely like the celebrated dish served at The NoMad restaurant in Manhattan in one way. It isn’t the ingenious stuffing (theirs, not mine) of brioche crumbs, black truffle and foie gras that separates the crisp and burnished skin from the supple and juicy breast. It isn’t the appearance of the chicken (theirs, not mine), which comes to the table with its clawed feet sticking in the air and a massive tuft of green thyme sticking from its cavity as if it were a confused Chia pet.

The similarity in the two chickens lies in the cooking method. Like me, chef Daniel Humm likes to roast his bird just to the point where the breast is at its peak but the legs are still pink at the bone and tough. He cuts the meat away and finishes it in a sauté pan to serve as a side dish to the breast. My technique is a bit more inadvertent. I carve into the chicken, realize the legs might send my …

Continue reading Roast Chicken hits Atlanta: The bird is the word »

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Since opening in the fall of 2008, La Pietra Cucina in Midtown had its fair share of growing pains.

For nearly nine months, diners walked through the vast, unfinished space that once was MidCity cuisine to sit in the temporary dining room in the small back bar. But, despite the unorthodox layout, Chef Bruce Logue turned out his progressive Italian cuisine to nearly unanimous critical fanfare. Even after the full remodeled dining room opened in May of 2009, the restaurant faced an obvious cohesiveness problem, but remained buoyed by the strength of Logue’s dishes. But when Logue left in March of 2012, it was time for La Pietra Cucina to adapt.

AJC Dining Team member Jon Watson writes about popular eats.

Enter Concentrics Restaurants. Under managerial control of their consulting arm, Concentrics oversaw La Pietra Cucina’s total overhaul. Rebranded as LPC, it reopened last fall with remodeled interior, a new chef, and a revamped, more approachable and affordable …

Continue reading LPC restaurant review, Midtown »