One Midtown Kitchen - Elevated Dining in Atlanta

ONE Midtown Kitchen

559 Dutch Valley Rd NE 

Atlanta, GA 30324

http://www.onemidtownkitchen.com/

One Midtown Kitchen is a perfect little slice of culinary joy in a fairly residential area in Atlanta. The friends I was visiting, Kelly and John, made reservations for us during our annual Easter visit. 

You can tell you're in for a treat when you pull up and are greeted by the blue backlit facade and the valet parking attendants.

I didn't get a shot of the entry portal as it was dimly lit, but it brings to mind something you'd see in a temple of some sort. You then enter to this view.

 Chef Matthew Weinstein and crew were very hospitable. Note the photo-bomb..well done sir.

Matthew hails from my neck of the woods and has done time at Volt and Range. It shows in the attention to detail. See below.

 There is a lot of fire happening in the restaurant which is always nice for ambiance...and pizza. Very Neapolitan-esque. Good char, crispy crusted.

 As I was saying about the ambiance..

This is the dish that caught my eye when I first looked at the menu: Fois Gras Mousse with strawberry, pineapple, black pepper, caramelized white chocolate and lavash. Right up my alley. Smooth mousse and some contrasting flavors. 

 And this was number 2 - Pork belly with fried green tomatoes, chimichurri aoli and cured egg yolk. We had two orders of this. Maybe three.

 This was a surprise dish in that the sum of it's parts came together and produced something unexpected. We got a second round of this one. Cauliflower Shawarma. Just enough heat to make it interesting.

 Shrimp hushpuppies with spicy remoulade and chowchow. Pretty presentation and always a good option for getting fried corn meal in ya.

 Grilled octopus with puffed rice, avocado yogurt and pickled jalapeño was pretty awesome. Great looking dish with tender octopus and enough heat to make it interesting.

 You can't go wrong with local cheeses. Very nice.

 Wood roasted asparagus with puffed sorghum, soft egg and watermelon radish. Very pretty dish and the asparagus was done just right.

Another dish we got two of: Hamachi Crudo. Mango, onion, shiso.

 Not only was it tasty, but it was very nice to look at too.

I chatted with the cooks for a bit while I was taking pictures. We discussed dining and video trends...I caught a little Salt Bae action.

 9/10 times I would have say...er ma gherd, the KitKat dessert was fav. Anyone who's spent time in DC in the 2000's and ate at a Michel Richard restaurant tried one of these. This version was pretty good....however, my favorite dessert of the evening was the carrot cake.

This was Off. The. Hook. Imagine the best carrot cake you've ever had-taste, texture, perfect cream cheese icing, constructed all soignee-like. That's what this was, with some peanut butter ice cream to boot. 

Bravo folks. Well done.

Overall - I totally give this place a thumbs-up. Service was on the money. They know what they're doing and they know what the kitchen is serving.

The ambiance is very cool. Great for date night or business.

Food quality is top notch.

If you go, tell them you read about it on Pleasures of the Table!

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.