Weekend Roundup

Here's a roundup of what ended up being a pretty good food weekend.

Abattoir

I had not been to Abattoir in a couple years, and I was interested in revisiting it now that Hector Santiago (formerly of Pura Vida, Super Pan, and El Burro Loco) has taken over the kitchen. I get the sense that the restaurant is struggling. I was able to make a Friday night reservation on very short notice, and the restaurant wasn't full at 8:00. Until we walked in, I had forgotten how beautiful the Abattoir space is: a cross between a French bistro, a butcher shop and a Restoration Hardware catalog. We sat at the bar, which is always more fun with two people. 

The bar program is a weak spot. The menu had only four cocktails, all of which were uninteresting. Two were variations on the Buck family of cocktails (base spirit + ginger beer + lime): the Dark & Stormy with dark rum and the Acapulco Sun with tequila. There was also an obligatory Maple Manhattan and a vodka cocktail. The bartenders are willing to make other drinks, though they didn't seem to know, or have the ingredients to make, much beyond the basics. I wanted a scotch cocktail and got a Blood and Sand, which is a classic but would have been better served straight up. The whiskey selection is also quite limited, though I was able to have a High West Rendezvous after dinner, a personal favorite. I can't speak to the quality of the wine list, but it did feature a number of affordable bottles.

The food menu is much less offal oriented than it was last time I ate here. The wife and I shared several small plates, so I wasn't able to try any of the entrees. Among the highlights were the ox heart paté from an otherwise ordinary charcuterie plate, the chicharrones with two great house made hot sauces, and a braised beef rib special. While the small plates were good, the desserts were legitimately great. We ordered the fried strawberry pies, which were light and fresh, and an insane coconut tres leches cake.

Our meal was good but unmemorable. All in all, there are several better places within a square mile of Abattoir that are better for the same or less money. This is lone weak spot in the Anne Quatrano/Clifford Harrison family of restaurants.

Ramps

Saturday was opening day at the Peachtree Road Farmers Market. To maintain my foodie cred, I picked up a couple bunches of baby ramps (wild leeks with a flavor that is a cross between onions and garlic). I think the hype around ramps is a tad overblown based on their limited availability during the first few weeks of Spring. They are essentially the Pappy Van Winkle of onions. Limited availability aside, ramps are quite good, and I was able to preserve mine by making a ramp compound butter, which keeps well and goes great on top of a steak. Recipe here.

Bell's Black Note Porter

I don't really keep up with all of the special release beers, but I happened to luck into two bottles of this year's Bell's Black Note Porter on Friday while shopping at Green's for something else. What an accidental score. This stuff is very, very good. Creamy with really nice notes of dark chocolate, espresso, vanilla, and oak. A lot of bourbon barrel aged beers end up picking up way too much bourbon, but the bourbon notes compliment this beer rather than overwhelm it. Although it has been a while, I think like the Black Note better than the Founders KBS.

Bone Lick BBQ

The first two times I went to Bone Lick BBQ, I was fairly unimpressed. Saturday, though, was the first time I ordered their ribs, which just might be the best in the city. The dry rub is spicier than most places, which creates a perfect bark, and the ribs are pleasantly (and not overly) smoky. The meat is extremely tender but retains appropriate bite integrity (i.e., each bite pulls of the bone cleanly but does not completely fall off the bone). The sides are just fair and the service still sucks, but I will be back to Bone Lick whenever I am craving ribs.