It is sure as shit a Guiteau Monday up ins, but meanwhile AJC restaurant critic has made a little splash with his "Open letter to Atlanta Chefs." There are ten bullet points, but the crux is that ATL chefs need to work harder and be smarter. I don't eat in ATL regularly enough to be comfortable debating the justice of these rebukes, but my general sense is that cities get the restaurants they deserve. If folks keep driving past the place serving local goat and mashed boniato (Kessler wants to see more of these) to get at the Ruth's Chris or Cheesecake Factory, guess who puts hanger steak and creamed spinach on the menu? Based on my limited experience, Atlanta seems like a Ruth's Chris kind of town, by and large. I welcome comments to the affirmative or contrary from chefs or non chefs in ATL or elsehwere. Most of all, I am sorry that Kessler did not make the effort to cast his advice as a reset of the Ten Crack Commandments:
I think you'll mostly get the chain-steakhouse food downtown and in midtown. The "real" food is in the West End, Decatur, sometimes Buckhead, and Kirkwood. The best restaurants I've eaten at in ATL (barring celeb-chef places like Woodfire) don't have websites.
Posted by: Margaret | Tuesday, 18 January 2011 at 04:25 PM
Atlanta is not a Ruth's Chris kind of town, in fact we only have 1 I know of. It may seem that way if you stayed in downtown. The Kessler AJC letter and the response from Ron Eyester in Creative Loafing has completely blown up. It's a mess out there. I'm impressed to see a mention of it here. And both have valid points. But if you do come back south, please try Cakes and Ale in Decatur, Nan in Midtown, Holeman & Finch in Buckhead and for lunch Holy Taco in East Atlanta (no, it's not your average taco place or even Mexican) or Antico by Tech for pizza or for that matter Fritti for a great patio. I could go on. But I hope you come back and dine well.
Posted by: Morgan Gabler | Wednesday, 19 January 2011 at 10:02 PM