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HecTsnapper!
Cocktails
Rose + Rye
For Valentine’s Day, I am
taking my wife to a castle for
dinner, where she will order off a
menu dreamed up by women in
a restaurant managed by women.
It’s possible to do this right in
the middle of Midtown thanks
to the gorgeously designed and
totally yummy Rose + Rye. The
restaurant is owned by 1 Kept’s
Thaddeus Keefe, and it has a
similarly warm vibe of low lights,
dark wood, fresh ingredients and
accessible plates.
Like all the oddball
mansions around Ansley Park,
the restaurant’s architecture is
a twisted yet spacious delight.
FFand your keys to the valet and
walk in through the hulking
wooden doors to be greeted by
a staircase to the dining room,
which is hugged by a modern
set of low-slung cocktail tables in a setting
of exposed bricks and pipes. There’s a small
bar in the back, hidden by the staircase,
and a slightly larger bar upstairs that offers
a sweeping view of city sparkle at night, the
cozy heat of original wood playing smartly
against cool furnishings. The cocktails are
astutely mixed but not too pretentious or
fussy—unless you count that many of them
are named for Ernest FFemingway novels.
The dining room is also a study in
understated contrasts. White ostrich leather
booths and small chandeliers produce an
austerity balanced by the activity of an open
kitchen and artsy, animated guests. The
space feels at once historic and modern,
Tasting
Intown
By Megan Volpert
Megan Volpert lives
in Decatur, teaches
in Roswell and writes
books about popular
culture.
and the total effect is one of
blessed seclusion, a retreat amidst
the skyscrapers and a perfect
environment for date nights or
celebrations. The menu itself,
which offers more small plates
than entrees, is conducive to
sharing. With an emphasis
on fresh, local ingredients in
American dishes that are creative
yet utterly comprehensible, Rose
+ Rye offers food that is more
interested in delight than surprise.
Amongst the starters, there is
plenty to love for meat and potato
people—a soup that includes
leeks, duck with grit cakes, pork
belly with gnocci, the default
go-to of a Caesar salad palatably
amped up by smoke and kale.
The two standout starters are
each $14. Their burratta salad
lets the cheese hang
back as part of a crisp green
ensemble of julienne snap peas
and a fluffy pesto foam. Both
creamy and crispy, it’s a textural
and flavorful masterclass in how
to balance ingredients. Foam
also starred in perhaps the most
offbeat small plate, the french
toast, which features both roasted and pickled
mushrooms under a glorious pile of fondue
bubbles. The presentation is striking, and
as the foam melts into the french toast, this
decadent dish becomes ever more gooey and
saturated. Foams are often useless garnishes
and flavorless presentation gimmicks, but
their use on this menu is properly integrated
and valuable to the dishes.
The six entree options, ranging from
$22 to $45, offer something relatively
standard for everyone—chicken, tuna,
snapper, duck, pork chop, ribeye. Of
the four proteins we tried, every one was
properly moist. Many of the wintry sides
naturally focused on available greens, but
some of the sauce accompaniments were
quite special. The pork chop included
a pickle plum chutney and the snapper
included a wild cherry reduction, both
of which jazzed up classic sides like root
vegetable purees or sweet potatoes.
That chutney visited us again for dessert
with fantastic results that may be overlooked
by many diners. Although the panna cotta
with fig jam and rosemary shortbread was
on point and the dark chocolate tart with
bacon fat popcorn will go over big with most
everybody, the silent star is a delicate olive
oil cake with vanilla whipped mascarpone
and pickled plums. After
a meal so confident in its
freshness and artful simplicity,
this is the perfect light finish.
If you want coffee, there’s a
weird challenge there—they
serve it in tiny glassware
that holds maybe five sips. A
server will watch your table
like a hawk and refill it a thousand times if
you want, which will annoy those who take
cream or sugar or those who like coffee to
stay hot. The whimsy and presentation of it
first amuses and then quickly disappoints.
Other than that small thing, the magic of
Rose + Rye feels perfectly sustainable for
repeat visits. 03
Mexican Restaurant
2895 North Decatur Rd
Decatur, GA 30033
Hours: 11am to 10:30pm
¥ \
Buy any two i
fajita dinners, get
$7 OFF j
Buy any i
two combination 1
dinners with two
drinks, get
1 Free j
Dinner ,
Not valid with any other ‘
combination offer. I
Expires 2/28/18 |
38 February 2018 | IT1
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