ONE Midtown Kitchen
559 Dutch Valley Rd NE
Atlanta, GA 30324
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!
