Saturday, April 11, 2015

Gunshow - It's not just show

Gunshow
924 Garrett St., Suite C
Atlanta, GA 30316
404-380-1886
www.GunshowATL.com

Gunshow is chef Kevin Gillespie's 2nd restaurant in Atlanta. I went to his first place, Woodfire, a couple of years ago and was impressed. True, he was a Top Chef finalist, so I should have been impressed, but I had to try it out. This restaurant is a whole different animal.
It's on a fairly non-descript corner in a trendy neighborhood. 
There are cute touches all around the wide-open, airy interior. Gunshow sweatshirts hang by the bathrooms. The napkins are bandana-print. Hick-chic. 
Two of my dining companions. Cheryl and Kelly.
I liked the pig-flag print. 'Merca.
Don't be fooled by the furnishings though. You're in for a dining experience that rivals any top-notch restaurant.  We knew we were getting into something good. Easter Bunny. This happened to be the day before Easter, so we gave it a shot. We actually had at least one of everything they offered. The dish was irreverent and tasty.
 There was a lot going on on this plate. Crispy oyster mushrooms with roasted collard tops and fiddlehead ferns.
Fiddleheads

Nice stuffed poblano with some heat and flavor. Note the droplets of oil in the sauce. Very neat looking. It was billed as Darryl's Mexican Breakfast.  Darryl actually served it to us, as all of the other chefs who created the dishes served theres. It was neat to have them come up and explain what it was and where their inspiration for the dish came from.
The beverage cart girl was working double-time. She had some serious chops. Good, creative drinks.
The Veal Oscar was tasty, but the presentation on this one was top notch. Very cool looking.
The toasted old-fashioned. The bruleed cinnamon stick was a nice garnish, though not very functional.
The West Indies Daquiri made with rum, Pimms & elderflower was nice.
The Thai Pork Belly Larb. Very reminiscent of the lychee and sausage salad that is so popular at Rose's Luxury in DC.
Straight-up farmstand salad with arugula, strawberries and Asher Bleu cheese with strawberry-balsamic dressing.

Chicken fried quail with Kimchi grits and pickles. I really liked this one. Perfectly fried with actual meat on the bones!
Shakshouka with tomato braised egg and pita. The egg would have been better soft-cooked, but the flavors were awesome.
Another fab cocktail.
Gulf snapper sancocho with yucca and plantains. This dish reminded me of some great meals on the beach in towns far south of the US.
I think this was my favorite. Roasted Cheshire pork loin with confit of ham hock, creamy peas and corn bread. I'm not sure what was done with the corn bread here, but it was like a salty, crispy, corn bread toasted marshmallow. 
Short ribs with beef fat potatoes and braised cabbage.

The duck confit bulgogi was the runner up. Heavily caramelized flavor from the hoison.

Strangest, most wonderful dessert ever. It was a clear, gelatin-like cube with a crazy citrus/mint flavor topped with crispy bits of salty/sweet crunchies. I have no idea how they did this.
The dim-sum style menu at the end of the night. We tried everything.
White chocolate mousse with dolce ganache and banana cake.
This dessert was runner up. Warm banana pudding with a meringue topping. Perfect.
This was something similar to key lime pie.
They have a neat selection of t-shirts and Kevin's latest cookbook, which I picked up, of course. I'm looking forward to trying out some of the receipts when I have time.
If you happen to be going to downtown Atlanta make sure you check it out. You'll need reservations, and they open up three weeks prior to the day. They're hot, so don't sleep on it.
Thanks for reading.

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