Tom Colicchio Applies His Craft in Buckhead

Despite the incredibly busy holiday season, I was able to make my first visit to Craft last week with much anticipation. Craft and Craftbar are located in a stand-alone structure in the Mansion on Peachtree complex on Peachtree Rd. near Lenox. Craft and its various incarnations (Craftbar, Craftsteak and Wichcraft) are the babies of Chef Tom Colicchio and has locations in NYC, LA, Vegas, Foxwoods, Dallas and now Atlanta. Its location in the super high-end Mansion hotel and condominiums, where condo prices start at $2.5 million and go up from there. The prices at Craft aren't quite as outrageous, but this is no cheap night out either. In fact, Steakhead was even priced out of the two steaks on the menu.

As I mentioned, Craft is housed in its own building, where Craftbar (which has its own menu) occupies the ground floor and Craft lays claim to the 2nd floor. One step inside and you know you are at one of the more formal restaurants in town. The decor is elegant, the dress was predominantly coat and tie, and the service was top notch.

The menu changes nightly, but on this night I found it to be somewhat limited. For the first course there were a handful of raw oysters and one dish of hamachi sashimi. There were also a couple of non-Steakhead like starters like Country Terrine and Roasted Sweetbreads with Boiled Peanuts. My Dad went with the Sweetbreads and said they were excellent. And since this is the man who would bring home things like calf's brain when I was a kid, I'll just take his word for it.

For the main courses, there were 6 fish/shellfish entrees and 6 meats. However, two of the meats were $50+ steaks (including a Waygu skirt steak). But I just can't see paying $50+ for a steak, at least not in Atlanta, so I went with a braised Sea Bass with Horseradish. This was very good, and at $27, was easier to stomach. Dad had the braised short rib, which he liked but thought the size of the portion could have been a little larger. I told him that's what happens when you order the cheapest meat dish on the menu ($28).

I mentioned the great service here and it is worth calling out that they were absolutely fantastic about not rushing the meal. The appetizers came out without much of a long wait, but they really let us enjoy that and gave us some time before bringing out the main course. I hate it when the main courses come immediately upon clearing the soup bowls. By the time our meal was over, it was 11:30 and we were the last folks to leave, and even with that, I never felt rushed.

Craft is definitely a fine dining experience, and in Atlanta, it may well rate amongst the best of them. The menu tends to be a grade-level higher than this Steakhead can appreciate. I may well be back, though it may have to be an expense account meal the next time.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has a fun and safe Thanksgiving today. There are many things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving including a wonderful family, great friends, and the opportunity to write this blog and enjoy the many meals that I do. And I am also thankful to learn that the Craft Atlanta Grand Opening is set for December 8th. If Steakhead gets a pre-opening invitation, he will be even more thankful!

New Orleans Is Not Pharr at Harry Bissett's in Buckhead

Considering how close Atlanta is to the Crescent City, I am amazed at how few decent creole restaurants there are in this town. But now, with Harry Bissett's on the scene, that has changed. Even though Harry Bissett's is a descendant of the Athens scene, the menu screams New Orleans. Words like 'Lafayette', 'Bienville', and 'Thibodaux'. There are oysters done 5 ways, alligator and crawfish. There is even something described as a 'Carpetbagger', although I took offense to that.

I went with Lady Steakhead and a few friends last Saturday night, and business appeared to be brisk. The bar was crowded, all watching whatever SEC game happened to be on at the time, and the dinner crowd steadily escalated throughout the night. The service was attentive and friendly, although there were a couple of hiccups that can be expected from a new establishment.

The menu offers many of the cajun/creole favorites and we endulged in many of them. For appetizers, we ordered the barbecue shrimp, the grilled andouille sausage and the louisiana crab cake. Of these, the andouille, which had a decent kick to it, was my favorite. The barbecue shrimp was not swimming in butter and black pepper and not served with the heads on, so it was not quite what I was expecting.

For main courses, Lady Steakhead and I each ordered the Shrimp Creole which was served with a generous portion of shrimp. The order of the day came from STJ, however, who ordered the delicious Uptown Stuffed Filet- a medium-sized filet stuffed with blue cheese. We capped the night off with a traditional New Orleans bread pudding.

Harry Bissett's will earn a spot in the Steakhead rotation. The food is good, and for Buckhead, the prices are reasonable. Most entrees, except for the steaks, are under $20. Even the steaks are priced under $30. Speaking of which, next time Steakhead will stay true to his name and get the Uptown Stuffed Filet. Man was that good.

Coming Soon- Harry Bissett's Buckhead

John Durrett, a fellow classmate of mine from the Fuqua School of Business, is opening Harry Bissett's Buckhead- an offshoot of the well-known Cajun restaurant in Athens. I stopped in at his Pharrr Rd. location last night to check out the progress, and they are just days away from opening. Durrett is aiming to recreate the exact feel of the original Athens location, from the menu to the decor. While I haven't been to the orginal, the menu does look tantalizing- blackened ribeye, filet au poivre, shrimp creole, crawfish ettouffe and of course, my all time fave- New Orleans-style barbecue shrimp. Now Lady Steakhead, she is both a UGA grad AND a cajun from Baton Rouge, and she loves Harry Bissett's. So when we make our first official visit in the next week or two, she will every bit of the food critic as yours truly. Best of luck John and we look forward to your Grand Opening!

Chima- A Fogo de Chao Alternative?

For those that have read my blog over the past 3 years, you know what a big fan of Fogo de Chao I am. When a new Brazilian Churrascaria called Chima opened in Buckhead my first thought was "Why bother?" After all, Fogo is right around the corner, and can you really improve on that concept? But armed with curiosity, an appetite and a 2 for 1 coupon, I went last week to find out.

My first impression was that the place must be popular. The dining room and adjacent bar was packed, and our 8pm reservation didn't yield a table until 8:50. This may be one of the few kinds of restaurants where I don't mind a wait that much since my goal is always to extend the meal (I have been known to have a full Fogo meal in 45 minutes because I can't contain myself). However, a 50 minute wait when you have a reservation is excessive.

If you are familiar with Fogo, the premise of Chima will be familiar. A salad bar with smoked salmon, various cheeses and salads etc. If there is one area where Chima may have outscored Fogo it may be the salad bar. There seems to be a few more choices including beef carpaccio (if the 'all you can eat beef" in the main course is not enough red meat).

Speaking of the main course, you know the drill. Gauchos serve endless selections of beef, lamb and some chicken, mostly on a skewer. A two sided card on your table alerts them when you are hungry and when you are taking a break. At Fogo, turning the card to green unleashes an assault of gauchos from all sides. Not quite the case at Chima. We had several lulls where there wasn't a gaucho to be seen. And that brings me to another point. Yes, the Chima gauchos wear some traditional garb. But it doesn't look that much different from the white shirts of the waiters and other staff. Therefore, it doesn't have that same unique appearance as Fogo where the gauchos really standout. As far as meat selections, I would give the nod to Fogo here as well. Some pieces were overcooked. Some pieces were cut too big, therefore cutting down on the sampling fun. The house special cut lacked the flavor that Fogo offers. And some of my favorite pieces were just plain missing- like the bacon-wrapped filet.

So for me, Fogo will still be my Churrascaria of choice in Atlanta. Chima was good, and the coupon helps (register at chimasteakhouse.com to get one). But its not like I am going to these places that often. So for the 2 or 3 times per year I do, there just isnt a good enough reason to go someplace else.

Decadence, Style and Great Food at MF Buckhead

With the wife and kid out of town for a few days, I am taking advantage of the open schedule by hitting some mighty fine restaurants. Last night, I left a bar crawl to hit up the new MF Sushi in Buckhead. I fugured it would be a good choice since 1) the wifey can't eat sushi at the moment, and 2) I figured it would be half the cost since I was going solo (by the time I was done, it wasn't).

First impression when I walked in- Wow!. The place is huge- 8000 sf ft. The sushi bar alone can comfortably seat at least 20. The feel is completely different than the MF in Midtown. Where as that place feels soothing and sedated, this place screams at you. I felt I had walked into the trendiest place in LA or Vegas. I started with a couple of appetizers, a seaweed salad and a dish with yellowtail, lemon, cilantro and wasabi. Outstanding. And it got me in a creative frame of mind, so when the sushi chef suggested Omakase, I immediately jumped on it.

The chef put together a great blend of old favorites of mine as well as some more creative elements. On the traditional side, they offered a great spicy tuna roll, melt in your mouth salmon nigiri, and golden eye snapper sashimi (I had never had this before). One interesting dish they presented was a miso marinated duck. All of this left me clamoring for more, so I ordered more nigiri including Toro and yellowtail. By this time, I have been soaking up this experience for 90 minutes and had gotten on the good side of the sushi chefs. He then showed me the kobe. I remember a scene from Sixteen Candles when Anthony Michael Hall shows a bunch of high school freshmen a pair of girls panties. Their reaction was probably similar to mine in this case: "Ooooooooooo." He cut off two thin medallions and then sears them with a blow torch (the beef, not the panties). I was in heaven.

The experience at MF Sushi Buckhead rivals the experiences I have had at Nobu and at Morimoto. The Omakase is a little more planned at those locations - you know the # of courses and the price ahead of time. But the MF selections spanned the perfect blend of traditional and creative. And the feeling that you get when sitting in MF is as big and bold as the food you are eating. You know you are at someplace special. And for sushi, whether its Atlanta, NYC or wherever stateside, you are.

Lo Lo Lo Lo Lola

I had mentioned a few weeks back that I had popped into Lola in the Terminus complex in Buckhead and was anxious to check out the fare. I thought the prices looked reasonable, and it would be a place that baby Steakhead would do well in. Right on the first count…wrong on the second. More on that later.

Lola is a Tom Catherall Italian concept and I would say he is focusing on the lighter side when you look at the menu. The featured item appears to be the Antipasto Bar, where you can get a combo of three meats and cheeses for $15 or five for $22. We split a plate of the Caponata (a relish of eggplant, tomatoes and olives), the Copa (a spicy salami of pork shoulder) and the Latur cheese (a soft cheese that’s a combination of cow/sheep/goat’s milk). This was very good, especially the caponata…and usually I am not an eggplant fan.

The great thing about Lola is they have done a great job of making a night out easy on the wallet. The menu features several wood-fired pizzas, several pasta dishes which can come in a half order if you so choose, and a couple of features in the “light” category (under 600 calories). All of these dishes are under $20.

I had the linguine with clam sauce, which seemed to get better as I ate it. At first, I thought the broth didn’t have a lot of flavor. By the end, I was eating the remaining sauce with a soup spoon! For some inexplicable reason, they took our bread away when they cleared the appetizer plates, and it would have been nice to have with the pasta and mopping up the sauce. The linguine was not your typical linguine, having the width (over a ¼”) and the curved texture of an egg noodle. I was told this is “real” linguine and all the other linguines I have ever had “are really just spaghetti”. I sort of want to call BS on this, but can any Italians out there confirm what real linguine is? Lady Steakhead had the Primavera pizza and her Dad had the pappardelle with sausage Bolognese, both of which I sampled and were quite good.

This is not a romantic spot, as the scene can be quite loud. The bar area is particularly lively and takes up a good chunk of the overall restaurant space. The service at Lola was very good, and they were quite patient when it came to Little Steakhead and her occasional screams. We spent half our meals taking turns walking her outside to ensure we weren’t bothering anyone else. Obviously, we have entered a phase where we just can’t take her and expect to have a relaxing meal anymore. This is partly why the posts have been a little sparse on the blog lately, and unfortunately, I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

Steakhead Recommends: Yes
Price: $$

BrickTops Isn't Tops in My Book

A constant dilemma that I have is finding decent places to eat where we can take Baby Steakhead. ElAzteca and Meehan’s get old, but getting a sitter could add 50% to the cost of the meal, which isn’t sustainable every weekend. So in my never ending search to find good places, new places, where we can take the kid, I wound up at BrickTops at the Terminus building in Buckhead last night. BrickTops had assured me that kids are welcome at the restaurant, and to their credit, they have a special kid’s menu and even an “etch-a-sketch” type device for kids to draw on. Actually, this was a nice touch. Baby Steakhead had a grand ole time. I wish I could say the adults did.

BrickTops is a new chain started by the founders of Houston’s. There are currently 4 locations, all in the Southeast. You can definitely tell the Houston’s influence on the menu, which is to say relatively simple meat and fish offerings. We wound up sharing a couple of appetizers- the chips and guacamole and the smoked salmon flatbread. The flatbread, with warm cream cheese, capers and dill, was cut into individual squares, and only a small dap of salmon adorned each square. For $15, they could have been more generous.

For her entrée, Lady Steakhead went with a cup of the soup of the day, which on a Friday is Lobster Bisque. This had a much stronger tomato taste than a lobster taste. Given I just came back from three days in Boston where I had chowder (or chow-duh as the locals would say) every night, I found this to be disappointing. Same thing can be said for my crab cake entrée, just not a lot of seafood taste. There was plenty of crabmeat in it, so I wonder about the quality of the crab they are using.

The clientele at BrickTops was noticeably older. The interior is pretty bland, and as my wife accurately pointed out, it sort of looked like a diner inside. The bar seemed to do decent business, so maybe this will be more of a lunch/happy hour place. For dinner, they seemed to be caught in restaurant “no man’s land”. We had three appetizers, one entrée and 2 glasses of wine, and the total tab was almost $120. For that kind of change, I would have rather spent a little more, gotten the sitter and gone to Chops or Rathbun’s and had a nice leisurely evening. Or conversely, I could have gone to Outback and spent half this much, with just about the same quality. And had a Bloomin’ Onion to boot!

But all is not lost for the Terminus complex in Buckhead. Lola, a Here to Serve Restaurant, is now open. I stopped in after dinner last night, and the place was hopping (and it looks like it may be possible to take kids there-it’s certainly noisy enough that you would never hear them). MF Sushi is also opening a Buckhead location at this complex, and Aquaknox, a concept from Las Vegas, looks to open soon. If you can navigate the parking situation, which at the moment is a complete disaster with all the construction, this may become a popular destination for Buckhead dining.

Steakhead Recommends: No
Prices: $$$