This "celebrity chef" hotel restaurant never really gave me a blood flow when it first opened. Come to think of it, no celebrity chef rarely, if ever, gives me a stiffy. To me, this was just another over the top big budget pet project from Oprah's personal ex-chef and Chicago restaurateur, Art Smith. I'm sure he's a wonderful personal chef but anyone who has more than 2 restaurants can not be a proper chef, they're a restaurateur. It is not possible to be at more than 2 restos to keep the quality and execution up, especially, when your name is on it. A chef cooks, a restaurateur opens restaurants. So, after 6 months, I decided to check it out. I guess that's about enough time to work out the "kinks" with the daily kitchen crew and get the execution perfect on every dish on the menu. Art was at the restaurant (more in front of the house than back) so I expected nothing but the best on this visit.
Let's take a look and see how they're doing these days... It was pretty empty on a Saturday night given his celebrity status. But whatever, that means more attention to details on every dish that comes outta the kitchen. First off, the ham bar out front is impressive and contains some really nice regional piggy legs. Oink oink... I just wished they had some black footed Iberico ham.
Buttermilk Biscuits. Light and fluffy mini biscuits with pickled veggies (carrots, cauliflower and pickles) and a honey sweetened butter (just watch out for bugs in the butter). Pretty tasty and addictive. Do not overload on these, you will regret it later.
Beef Tartare. Gorgeous color on the tartare but needed a little seasoning to bring out the natural flavor of the beef. But not too shabby overall.
Shrimp & Grits. All around a nice dish, good flavors and nicely executed.
Duck Liver Mousse, Caw Caw Creek Ham, Olli Salumeria Berkshire Ham. Duck liver mousse was way too dense to be considered a mousse, Caw Caw was a bit salty and hand carved a bit too thick and Olli was just right.
Roasted Salmon. Cooked well and a pretty much standard issued dish. Salmon is one of those dishes that bores me in restaurants because they all taste so monotonous. Not saying it's bad but it's just tiresome.
3 Cheese Mac & Cheese. Wonderful Gemelli pasta but the 3 cheeses were a bit liquidy, lacked that savory cheesiness and needed more seasoning. At least the cast iron skillet was hot.
Roasted Half Maple Leaf Duckling. Confit of duck leg was nice but the medium rare breast was way overcooked and rubbery. Kitchen refired another one and it came out spot on but it was sliced a tad too thick.
Buttermilk Fried Chicken. The Chef's signature dish as so proudly stated by the server more than once, so it better not disappoint the pouch. Well, it didn't disappoint but it didn't wow either. Just a very ordinary fried chicken. The potato puree was so thick you can use it as motar to put up a brick wall. Have they never heard of cream and butter? Gordon Ramsay would have a shit fit.
Niman Ranch Pork Shank. Look at this fuckin giant Fred Flintsone size bone-in shank... Impressive. That's what she said. Too bad it wasn't braised long enough, it was a little tough, chewy, dried out on the inside and charred on the outside a bit too much which became a little bitter and made it difficult to cut into. A big waste of a beautiful piece of pork.
One of their strong suits is probably the dessert stand with a good amount of tasty offerings...
Buttermilk Chocolate Cake.
12 Layer Red Velvet Cake.
Fat fuck's wet dream.
Fat fuck's mouthgasm.
Banana Coconut Cake.
Ginormous 12 Layer Red Velvet fuck me silly Cinder Block.
We tried a majority of the menu so it was a good gauge on what this kitchen can do... Overall, it was a fairly decent meal but it was not nearly in the same league as with the other celebrity chefs across the country. Compared to other Atlanta celeb chefs, he was pretty much on par. Just because you were on some TV game show, it doesn't mean you can cook. And I have never been impressed with the celeb restos in this town, some rather disappointing. This celeb hotel resto is decent for what it is (it still needs attention to proper cooking techniques and execution) and it was a bit overpriced but not obscenely given the generous portion size of each dish. It won't win any awards but it is good enough for a Buckhead hotel resto.
PS- the bourbon selection was nice and so was the Sazerac but the Moscow Mule was crap.
1.5 Stars.
3315 Peachtree Road NE
Atlanta, GA 30326
(404) 946-9070
http://www.southernart.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment