One of our favorite contestants in this past season of Top Chef was Kevin Gillespie. Following the finale, we actually thought the only reason he lost, or at least didn't even come in second, was that it made for better television for two brothers to duke it out for the winner's spot. We're guessing the producers of Top Chef felt the same, hence Kevin coming in third place.
Ever since the end of the show, we planned a trip to Atlanta with the idea that Woodfire Grill would be on the agenda. Were it not for Trang, this would have been our primary reason to visit Atlanta.
The restaurant sits on a non-descript, stretch of road. It's in a relatively small building and easy to miss were it not for the sign above. The bar area felt like the space was previously the living room of a small Southern home. But once ushered into the main dining area, the ceiling rose nearly three stories high. Across the way was the woodfire grill, where we assumed a lot of the proteins were to be prepared. It seemed like a two man operation and we would guess that there was a larger kitchen in the back, but it wasn't visible from where we sat.
1. amuse bouche - compressed celery with beets, cardamon, honey orange gastrique - A band and four people playing instruments are two different thing. Bands typically have cohesion. Unison. This dish lacked that. All the flavors battled each other for prominence, none of which came together to make a cohesive spoonful of yummy.
2. shrimp toast - avocado creme, micro-arugala, pistachio - The best dish of the night. The shrimp was served cold. They had a nice texture and a natural sweetness. The shrimp toast was a nice compliment. It provided a contrasting texture and a good foundation for the cool crustaceans. Unfortunately, the dishes tapered off after this.
3. cornmeal-crusted pan fried trout - country ham roulade, assorted potatoes, pork cracklings (not pictured) - Got too excited after the first dish and forgot to take a picture here. But if you can imagine a rectangular cut of trout, pan seared, then flash fried. This was served on top of a ham roulade and assorted fingerling potatoes. The trout was excellent. Light and crispy and very mild in flavor. The impactful component was the ham roulade, which would have been tasty were it not for the overwhelming amount of salt within. Not sure if this was added during preparation or if it were a natural part of the country ham. Either way, its presence detracted for what could have been a very nice dish.
4. cold potato soup - creme fraiche - Light, creamy cold potato soup. Neither good nor bad.
5. honey-glazed quail - pork belly, lady pea salad, pickled cherries - There were mixed reviews about this dish. The quail was flavorful. Pork belly was decent. The lady pea salad was unnecessary. I don't remember anyone finishing their peas.
6. pork loin and sweetbread - squash succotash - Expectations were high for a pork loin dish. Afterall, it's Kevin's favorite protein. However, this was one of the worst dishes of the night. The pork came a little on the dry side and lacked any impactful flavor. Much the same with the sweetbread. However, the squash wasn't half bad.
7. carrot ice cream, brown butter walnut icing, oatmeal carrot cookie, raisin jous - Yuck. Just yuck. Think most of us ate it just because it was there. Don't think anyone finished this. The carrot ice cream tasted like frozen carrot juice. Unless you're this guy, I can't imagine this being on top of anyone's dessert list. The walnut icing was nearly frozen and way too sweet to be edible; at least in a tasty way.
More disappointing than anything. Wouldn't go as far as to say the food was "bad" but definitely not up to our expectations. Perhaps we got them on a bad night as Chef Gillespie was traveling on the Top Chef Food Tour. However, the company was great and we had a chance to celebrate a belated birthday. Were we to return to Atlanta, this place would not be at the top of the list. Unless, Chef Gillespie was personally preparing our dishes.