8 Overall Rating - Local Three 4/26/11

3290 Northside Pkwy NW
Atlanta, GA 30327
(404) 968-2700
http://www.localthree.com/

A much needed girls' night with part of our Lady Smack crew, Amy and Michelle! Local Three was recommended by Kristin.

Ambiance: 8
Local Three was nestled in a nice cluster of mid-rise buildings and parking deck off of Northside Parkway just south of Paces Ferry. The dining room was surprisingly small. With its high ceilings, stained concrete floors with nothing in the décor to help absorb the chatter in the dining room (like so many of the newer restaurants), it was very loud and difficult to hear each other at the table.
For a 5'3" frame, I found the high chairs quite uncomfortable...I think I lost blood circulation to my toes.

Food Quality:
For starters, we had the oven roasted mushroom and asparagus goat cheese risotto. The mushroom dish was unbelievably delicious! Full of rich cheese, creamy polenta and truffles. When Michelle asked if we would mind her licking the plate, what does that tell you?!




For entrees we split the Grilled Flatiron Steak - Patatas Bravas, Vidalia Onion, Charred Tomato

braised beef short rib,

and monkfish

And no dining experience with Lady Smack (or me, for a matter of fact) would be complete without a sweet finishing touch! Here's to their snickers dessert...







Service: 9
Great service from X. Timing was perfect, never needed refills, and never had to ask for anything else.

Value: 8
An enjoyable dining experience.

6 Overall Rating - La Fourchette 4/24/11

3133 Piedmont Road Northeast
Atlanta, GA 30305-2516
(404) 748-1229
http://www.lafourchetteatlanta.com/

After Easter service at Buckhead church, we headed to La Fourchette with Tema, Brian, Janice, Rich & Terrie (a.k.a. T-Jo)

Ambiance: 8
The interior was clean, elegant and nicely appointed; unfortunately, La Fourchette lacks curb appeal. It would be easy to overlook this understated restaurant from Piedmont. The signage didn't help either.

Food Quality: 6
We were welcomed with deliciously warm bread...perfect with butter.
Their roasted eggplant appetizer was delicious!

The entree portion sizes were great, but the food wasn't very good. I had the Grilled Loup de Mer was okay. The fish was overcooked, but the mussels were good. The sauce was average, the lemon flavor overpowered what could have been a nice complementary sauce for this dish.

Greg's Duck Leg Confit was bland. The duck seemed to have been simply basted in oil without seasonings, it needed more sauce or for the duck to have been prepared in the sauce.







Janice and Tema's mushroom pasta was very good, but unfortunately, they had 86'd the the potato gnocchi and in place of it they served the dish with tagliatelle. I could only imagine how wonderful the dish would've been with the potato gnocchi!

Service: 5
Our service was efficient, but they weren't very friendly.

Value: 4
Overall, I found the menu to be overpriced for its food quality. We were generally underwhelmed with the food.

7 Overall Rating - Noche Brookhaven 4/22/11 (and 6/20/11)

Noche Brookhaven
705 Town Boulevard
Atlanta, GA 30319

http://www.h2sr.com/noche-brookhaven/

Wow - how wonderful to be back with some of the original supper club members! Todd, Wade, Thom, Anne, Karen, Greg and me









Ambiance: 2
This tapas bar's noise levels were absolutely awful. While an aesthetically appealing environment with the concrete floors, exposed brick and high ceiling, the acoustics are horrible. The cold floors and open arrangement lacked sufficient material to absorb the noise. If you're meeting friends to eat and catch up, forget it. If you want good food, good service and want to people watch, then this is the place for you. The patio seating would be fine.

Food Quality: 9
Everything was delicious. We had the hummus & pita bread, spinach & arugula salad, crispy fish taco, carne asada, souhwestern spice seared scallops and ancho chile bbq salmon. An excellent menu with

Additional notes from our visit on 6/20/11: Potato crusted salmon was bland, although it was our server's favorite dish. Seared tuna was mediocre - spicy. Vegetable tostadas were a little bland too, except for the goat cheese.

Service: 10
Our server, Erin, was fantastic. She was very accommodating, checked in frequently and gladly split the check for us issue. Our plates were delivered in perfect order with appropriately measured pace and I'm certain our server had a lot to do with that. The delivery and clearing of plates were extremely efficient. The manager noticed Greg watching one of the tv's and stopped to ask if he wanted to change channel for him. I was amazed that she offered to do this with a packed restaurant on a Friday night!

Value: 7

6 Overall Rating - The Brickery 4/8/11

6125 Roswell Road Northeast
Sandy Springs, GA 30328-3905
(404) 843-8002
http://www.thebrickery.com/

Friday night dinner with Chris, Julie, Aubrey & Greg

Ambiance: 5
Opened in 1992, this family-operated eclectic restaurant is one of our regular neighborhood spots. It has a loyal following, as evidenced by its clientele. We've found that there's something familiar that keeps us coming back as well!

Food Quality: 7
We had the steak kabob, chicken fried steak, luchen kugel & banana pudding. Chris & Julie loved it!!!

The food isn't the healthiest, especially since many dishes are typical southern meals, but it's pretty darn good.

Service: 7
We usually have good service here. We enjoyed the owner, Bruce, stopping by our table and sharing some of the family & restaurant history. It's surprising how steady their business is. They draw an older early crowd or empty-nesters between 5-6:30p. By 7:30 - 8p, you'll find more families.

Value: 5
Prices are a little more than I would expect for a "regular local spot", but I do like their weekly customer specials which makes it more affordable. If you sign up with them, you'll receive an email each week which will include a discount on their weekly special.

7 Overall Rating - Restaurant Eugene 4/1/11

Restaurant Eugene
2277 Peachtree Road Northeast
Atlanta, GA 30309
(404) 355-0321
http://www.restauranteugene.com/

Ambiance: 10
Our 5 year anniversary dinner! Restaurant Eugene offers the perfect setting for out celebration. We were seated in a cozy round booth and greeted with a personalized dinner menu, congratulating us on our 5 year anniversary. Very clean, comfortable dining room.

Food Quality: 6
A creative pastry, but it didn't seem fresh.
We ordered the 5 course wine pairing. It's always a treat when you don't know what the chef will be sending out next!

Our 1st plate was peter's point oyster (clabber cream, caviar) which tasted like cottage cheese placed on top of raw oyster

For our 2nd dish, the citrus cured trout tartare (green onion minced fennel relish, grapefruit, buttermilk, benne wafer). Initially, the flavors reminded me of french onion dip, but by the 3rd bite, the combination of all ingredients came together in a beautiful and refreshing way.

The 3rd dish was their english pea agnolotti (crisp shallots, lobster, preserved satsuma, micro broccoli, lobster nage) Initially, I found this to be an average dish. My last two bites were pungent, however. I didn't feel that the flavors worked well together at all. Greg enjoyed it though, describing it as a local, affordable island dish.

Our 4th dish was the herb crusted atlantic halibut (creamed red peas, toasted farro, lacinato kale, coffee smoked onion glaze). Unfortunately, the halibut was overcooked and dry. The salted toasted kale was good, similar to dried seaweed. The puree itself added nothing to the plate other than texture and decor. The flavors did blend well, but because the fish was overcooked, the dish needed a sauce or more puree.

Next, we had the iron skillet painted hills beef ribeye (king trumpet mushrooms, bone marrow, swiss chard, beet greens, fingerling potato & cippolini onions) Absolutely delicious! This dish was worth the mediocrity leading up to it!! Wow...mouth watering!

The next plate, quite honestly, we would have been better off without it. It was interesting to receive this cheese plate in this seq

uence. Oh my, I could hardly swallow the cheese. Strong is an understatement. Everything but the strawberries which were served on the platter was unpleasant. Overpowering.










The 7th plate, a pre-dessert, was some sort of vidalia onion creme brulee with vanilla bean ice cream. Umm, really? I think the kitchen's trying too hard. The sugar coating on the dessert and ice cream were fine, but it was hard to separate from the onion dumpling that was enveloped by the sugar coating. Again, not the best choice of ingredients.

The 8th plate served the hibiscus tea gelee (lemon pound cake, cocoa nibs, buttermilk sorbet). The combination of all ingredients mixed together creates a wonderfully cool and guiltless, yet satiating dessert experience.




And finally, our last dish (the 9th one). Shall we call it the post-dessert?

The pecan cookie was satisfyingly airy, sweet, light but yet rich. The almond marshmallow - dark chocolate flour light almond marshmallow, cakemix w/olive oil - tasted like baked sweetened flour

Service: 10
Impeccable service, but was stuffier than Woodfire Grill. Very accommodating, knowledgeable server. We were impressed that they created a special spiced rum drink just for Greg.

Value: 6
The experience itself was a great value, but we were generally disappointed with the food. Of all the dishes served, we enjoyed only the citrus cured trout tartare and iron skillet beef ribeye.

3 Overall Rating - Platinum Blue Sushi 3/31/11

Lindsay and I stopped down here for an impromptu dinner. There was an unpleasant odor at the bar, so we chose to sit at a table. The restaurant was empty, which was surprising for a Thursday night, especially considering how packed the parking lot was that night.

Overall, I found the food to be disappointing. It was average at best. The eggplant appetizer tasted like watered-down hummus. We didn't stay for dinner after the poor start. I can see this being a decent place for a quick happy hour, but wouldn't recommend eating here.

10 Overall Rating - Woodfire Grill 3/24/11 (see bottom for add'l comments)

1782 Cheshire Bridge Road
Atlanta, GA 30324
(404) 347-9055
www.woodfiregrill.com

Dinner with Amy
This was Amy's suggestion, having heard about it from Michelle & Sheila.

Ambiance: 9
Surprisingly spacious. They make great use of the long dining space. Some artsy influence with a pleasing noise level providing a comfortable, yet energetic experience at the table.










Food Quality: 10
Unfortunately, there was not much on the menu that appealed to me. Woodfire Grill is another one of those farm, organic-themed eateries. As evidenced in earlier blogs, I'm not a big fan of these restaurants as they tend to be overpriced and are not that satisfying. I opted for the Chef's 5 course meal, and boy, I wasn't the least bit disappointed with my choice! The experience was truly fantastic! If I had to criticize one thing, it's that the entire table has to participate in the 5-course or 7-course meal. Luckily for me, Amy was all game! This can be a pricey option, but if you're a foodie, then it's well worth it. Everything was deliciously prepared. I loved the artful presentation and creative use of ingredients. Their pastry chef did a wonderful job with her homemade breads, offering a variety of breads in their bread basket, all of which were fantastically moist.

Amuse: compressed celery root with lemon marinated raisins, pecan aioli and micro celery.

First course: olive-oil poached florida rock shrimp, first of the season snap beans, roasted golden beets, lemon emulsion, spring onions, sweet pea tendrils

Second course: pan roasted diver scallop, crispy red potatoes, local argula, spicy tomate frito






Service: 10
Our server was phenomenal. She was incredibly polished, eloquent and really connected with the food. They used a team approach to serve our table. Each plate was delivered by a different server who could describe every ingredient on the plate and could explain the preparation method used. The menu changes daily; they may use the same ingredients, but the culinary team will prepare the ingredients differently each night. I was impressed by how well the staff knew their dishes.

Value: 8
This was an expensive experience, but the food quality and service were worth the price.

Taste: chilled potato soup, crispy country ham, chives

Third course: wood grilled local quail and smoked pork belly, wood oven roasted farro, rutabaga, roasted beets with romanesco and cumin

Fourth course: wood grilled grass-fed colorado bison, roasted red potatoes, turnips, sunchokes, maple sweet potato puree, smoky greens, sage butter

Dessert: chocolate bread pudding, frangelico bavarian, coffee ice cream, hazelnut-cocoa nib crumble

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Follow-up visits:
I've been back to Woodfire Grill twice since March 2011, once with Becky and another time with Don. In both cases, I was fortunate enough to have the same server (and had even put in a special request for her on my 3rd visit) and ordered the 5-course meal on all occasions. The service remains impeccable! However, my overall satisfaction with the food diminished with each experience. Perhaps it's because the first experience was such a pleasant surprise that it naturally received a very high rating; or perhaps the expecations were set so high that it's inevitably going to be disappointing from that point forward. Either way, the food quality would be as follows for the subsequent experiences:
2nd visit(Becky): 8
3rd visit(Don): 6

I would definitely still recommend the 5-course meal if you've never done this before. However, I did find that some of the dishes were very similar, if not the same, with each visit such as the quail and rock shrmip. Once you've experienced it at Woodfire Grill, I would suggest ordering off the menu the next time.