The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Metro area’s best restaurants, plus trends and what’s on the horizon,
Make a point to check out these 9 new dining options. They don’t disappoint.
Dozens of restaurants opened in the past year. With 12 months under their belt, which ones are still churning on all gears? In short, what are the best new restaurants in Atlanta?
My fellow dining critics Wyatt Williams and Elizabeth Lenhard and I set out on this project with just one thing in mind: to determine the top new dining options in metro Atlanta. To us, that means a clear concept and strong, consistent execution. There was no requisite number of establishments, despite how convenient it may have been to come up with some nice, round number. Any restaurant — from highbrow to food stall — that opened in the metro area since Feb. 1, 2016, was up for consideration.
The names making the cut are the ones we believe are living up to the bill. There happen to be nine of them. We stand by each and every one.
If you haven’t eaten at these spots, make a point to check them out. Each is unique in its own way. If you have eaten there already, check back in. Every visit continues to be a new treat for us. We hope it is that way for you, too.
8Arm
“I find it hard to think of two restaurateurs who have broken more of Atlanta’s rules than Angus Brown and Nhan Le.”
That’s probably my favorite line from Wyatt Williams’ December 2016 review of 8Arm. 8Arm is a place unto itself. It’s laughably appropriate that the morning-noon-night spot sits in the shadows of the beheeled Ponce City Market. This restaurant is so comfortable in its skin that it doesn’t seem to worry that the fancy food hall might do it in.
The place had character from the moment doors opened late summer last year. I brought my visiting in-laws to lunch there. Among other things, we ate a funky grain bowl topped with a poached egg as well as avocado and crab toast. The septuagenarians called it “interesting.” They also cleaned their plates.
8Arm has been adding character and pushing boundaries ever since. Until a recent menu change to more springtime fare, it had been serving cold mussels on warm, toasty house-made pain au levain with nori butter, which works, even if that cold-on-hot surprises your mouth.
The dinner menu — all of eight items — ranges from a few salads priced at $9 to a shareable plate of the creamiest burrata with cranberry beans, Vidalia onions and spicy spreadable Italian salami ‘nduja at $14 to a whole branzino at $26 then dares to jump to the $70 Porterhouse.
Surprising to the eyes is a wonky-looking steel cargo container welded into an outdoor bar that puts out a handful of minimalist cocktails, and pours craft beer, wines and their fortified brethren.
The Atlanta dining scene misses 8Arm chef and cofounder Angus Brown, who passed away in January. Yet it is evident that his business partner, Nhan Le, and the 8Arm staff is pushing on. That includes chef Keith Remes, who handles the dinner load, chef Wilson Gourley, who tackles the morning and lunch rush, and baker Sarah Dodge, whose pastries and breads (the biscuits!) are getting gobbled up by the breakfast and coffee sect.
I dare to call the cuisine coming out of 8Arm “New American,” because the second that we try to label this restaurant, it’s going to change. And right now, I’m pretty content with 8Arm the way it is. Then again, we need places like 8Arm to keep us on our toes.
8Arm, 710 Ponce de Leon Ave., Atlanta. 470-875-5856, www.8armatl.com. Ligaya Figueras
Brush Sushi Izakaya
This casual sushi destination in downtown Decatur, an open, airy room of brick and glass facing Church Street, stands out because of exactly one presence: At the end of the restaurant’s sushi bar, you’ll find Jason Liang serving omakase to a handful of diners most nights. He’s easy to spot. Liang wears a black chef ’s coat while the other men working behind the counter wear white. You’ll probably notice a kind of transfixed focus from his customers, whose eyes follow the confident strokes of his knife and the practiced movements of his hands. It is a mesmerizing show.
These long, multicourse omakase meals are, it should be said, rather expensive and available only by reservation. Sure, you can eat at the restaurant’s other tables and seats and order from the regular menu. The wide selection of options available are uneven, though they tend toward pretty good. On the other hand, Liang delivers a consistently impressive demonstration of sushi expertise for diners willing to commit and put themselves in his capable hands.
Invariably, the meal will begin with a handful of otsumami, the Japanese equivalent of amuse-bouche, arranged in a precious menagerie of artful ceramic dishes. This may include the delicately warmed monkfish liver or a taste of torigai, the highly seasonal Japanese clam, in a cucumber salad. What follows is an elaborate meal, each single bite of fish as carefully crafted as the last.
Brush Sushi Izakaya, 316 Church St., Decatur. 678-9499412, brushatl.com. Wyatt Williams
Chicken + Beer
Just as the name implies, the concept here is pretty much chicken and beer. They do both very well. What’s more, they serve up Southern-style comfort in the world’s busiest airport, which means the staff at Chicken + Beer contends with a time-pressed, oft weary, clientele. They manage that nicely, too.
Musical artist Ludacris had this concept in the works for some time. It finally launched late last fall. With the kitchen under the helm of Andrew Tabb in his first executive chef position, Chicken + Beer is turning out phenom poultry dishes. The kitchen goes through 1,400 pounds of chicken a week to dish out wings with hot sauce, a plane-portable C+B Fried Chicken Sandwich (choose the spicy Hotlanta sauce), a chicken “patty melt” flavored with collard greens pesto, and hefty plates like Luda’s Chicken + Pecan Waffles or the signature two-piece Southern Fried Chicken Plate that comes with a biscuit swiped with molasses butter and a couple of sides. (Do yourself a favor and make one of those the flavorful, colorful succotash that swaps edamame for the usual lima beans.)
The beverage menu is thoughtful, too. There is a long list of beers — mainly from here, and even a flight that brings four Georgia brews for $8 — plus a cocktail menu crafted by Atlanta cocktail king Jerry Slater. You need a Manhattan? They’ve got you with this number, served up in a fancy coupe no less, that starts with High West Double Rye whiskey.
Yet none of it would work in the casual, 90-seat haunt without a staff that can set air travelers at ease, feed gullets and get ‘em to the gate on time. That’s old hat for Tabb; he clocked in for years at Hartsfield-Jackson fine dining venue One Flew South. And his line cooks are filling food tickets in six to eight minutes. This, in a scratch kitchen.
Get thee to Concourse D. Chicken + Beer, HartsfieldJackson International Airport (near Gate D5), 6000 N. Terminal Parkway, Atlanta. 404-2093905, ChickenandBeer.com. Ligaya Figueras
The Consulate
A trip to the Consulate is just that — a trip. I’m not just talking about the often dazzling, small-plate menu that globetrots from Thailand to Ireland; from Denmark to Brazil.
It’s the Consulate’s whole, impossibly chic package that’s so wonderfully dizzying. You take your tasty “reconstructed” cocktail into a fabulously appointed midcentury lounge. You excuse yourself and find the powder room filled with (faux) machine guns. You dine in a violet, velvet clamshell of a booth. And finally, your suave server might, as ours did, know just when to bring your check and coats because he knows you have another “engagement” to get to.
Before you know it, you’re glowing like Don Draper’s newest girlfriend.
Don’t get me wrong. Like all international travel, the ride at the Consulate can have some bumps. The last time I went, the kitchen was between executive chefs. (Tara Mayfield has since been replaced by coowner Mei Lin.)
Some dishes that night were first-class, like the poppy, savory Dry Sautéed Thai Okra. Others, particularly a clunky parfait of brownie chunks, Nutella globs and chocolate mousse, were pure puddle jumper, albeit the sort that Harrison Ford would rock in a fedora and whip.
A once-sawdusty trio of chicken coxinhas had been vastly improved by the addition of curry. But a Korean Pulled Duck Confit, a dish that’s usually a textural delight with its pillowy butternut squash, crunchy scallions and chewy crostini, was destroyed by funky duck.
The moral here is this: With adventure comes risk. A grilled octopus tentacle, for instance, is deliciously smoky and tender while its mango chili sauce is overpoweringly jammy. The dish is flawed but it’s still a lot of fun, especially when paired with the Consulate’s swingy music, its cinematic design, its swank bar and passionately impeccable service.
In other words, a little culinary turbulence doesn’t take the dazzle out of this restaurant’s journey.
The Consulate, 10 10th St. N.E., Atlanta. 404-835-2009, http://theconsulateatlanta-com. godaddysites.com. Elizabeth Lenhard