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TASTING INTOWN:
Bella’s Best
Organic Gourmet
By Art Huckabee
In this Top Chef crazy restaurant
town, can Aunt Bella make it? “Aunt
who?” you ask. That would be former
University of Georgia professor and
now restaurateur, Dr. Kim Grady’s aunt,
the woman who helped raise her and
gave her the inspiration for Bellas Best
Organic Gourmet, a newly opened
bakery restaurant tucked among the
boutiques, art galleries and antique shops
on Bennett Street in south Buckhead.
As Kim tells the story, while working
on her doctoral dissertation, she would
bake nightly to relax. The next day she
would bring her baked goods to class.
Kim’s students were the first to urge
her to consider going into the baking
business.
Kim reconnected with her childhood
friend, now husband, Ray Grady, several
years ago. Ray, a big, soft-spoken man,
and Kim’s number one fan, likes to tell
of the first time he sampled Kim’s baked
goods. He says, “The first time I tasted
(it), I cussed... It was that good.” You can
tell that Ray doesn’t cuss very often.
Kim and Ray began selling their
all-organic vegetarian baked goods and
other goodies at local farmer’s markets
in Sandy Springs, Emory and Tucker.
Even now, with the demands of their new
restaurant, they still have a stall at each
market.
It was a reader, who suggested that
I visit Bella’s Best. They had been open
just a month and a day when I stopped
in with two friends for lunch. It’s a space
with lots of potential and is clearly a work
in progress. Ray was behind the baked
goods counter. Save for him and Kim in
the kitchen, we were the only others in
the place.
In addition to the sweet baked
goods, the savory offerings consisted of
a spinach quiche, a stuffed red pepper,
a vegetable pie and a pastry Kim calls
“strucla” which on this day was filled
with portabella mushrooms. All are
individually sized so we chose to share
one of each.
Strucla is Kim’s piece de resistance.
Originally made by her Aunt Bella as a
treat at Christmas time, this pastry has
its roots in Polish baking. The dough
has cream cheese in it but remains light
with a firm, chewy texture. Kim fills
each pastry with a variety of homemade
organic fruit preserves and vegetables.
The portabella strucla was excellent and
with a side salad, would make the perfect
lunch for those well-heeled shoppers
who frequent Bennett Street. On other
days a tomato basil strucla and a spinach
artichoke strucla are in the offerings.
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The stuffed red pepper was filled with
cooked grains, red onion, corn and peas.
It was the perfect doneness with all of
the veggies still having a brightness and
toothsome crunch.
The spinach quiche and the vegetable
pie were also quite good. Kim uses the
same dough for these as she does her
strucla. The lack of a side or garnish
makes it feel like you’re dining in a
bakery more than a restaurant. Kim later
explained that when their traffic picks up
she will have the ability to include more
garnishes and sides but for now, she tries
to limit her perishables. All of her baked
products are made fresh each day.
For dessert, we tried Kim’s signature
strucla, a “classic” apricot. As Ray
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explains, “It has apricots, walnuts, golden
raisins, coconut and some hmmm,
hmmm, hmmm.” It was gooey and not
too sweet. We also tried a fig strucla, a
ginger cookie and the pecan shortbread.
All were very good with the ginger cookie
packing a spicy punch.
Kim emerged from the kitchen to
inquire how we liked our lunch. It’s clear
that she and Ray have big plans for this
restaurant even talking of eventually
opening a kid’s baking school and a
meals-to-go section. It’s also clear that
those plans are firmly rooted in values
that honor family and community.
Making it in the restaurant business is
tough. Kim and Ray have already fielded
offers to sell their products through
grocery chains and other restaurants, but
have resisted, fearful that they would not
be able to maintain the quality and high
standards that are the bedrocks of their
business.
As to the original question, will Aunt
Bella make it? It’s clear that she already
has.
Bella’s Best Organic Gourmet is
located at 25-D Bennett St. For more
information, call (404) 603-4733 or visit
bellasbestcookies.com. OS
Art Huckabee is one of Yelp’s Elite
Reviewers, as well as a pilot, gourmet
cook and food lover. Send feedback to
tastingintown@atlantaintownpaper.com.
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