Bistro Niko

I am usually a little wary of Buckhead Life restaurants. They are all good, but they often come across as pretentious, unauthentic, and trying too hard. Sort of like Vegas. Sort of like Buckhead generally. I have eaten at, and enjoyed, Bluepointe, Atlanta Fish Market, and Buckhead Diner, but I was never blown away. Bistro Niko raised the bar.

Bistro Niko, as the name should give away, is Buckhead Life Group's upscale French restaurant in Buckhead. The restaurant did have a cheesy mural of Paris with all of the typical landmarks one could possibly fit in. Otherwise the space was warm and welcoming, although a little loud. But to get to the heart of the matter, the food had its ups and downs but was all above par, and our service was excellent.

We started off with an order of gruyere cheese puffs. They were good, but not amazing. Imagine a small ball of lighter than air pastry with a warm, sharp gruyere center.

I then ordered the grand charcuterie platter as my appetizer.

I thought the platter was an appetizer for one, but it was intended for the whole table. Fortunately, there were three of us and I received some help. I think my arteries would have shut down had I consumed all of this delicious, fatty goodness by myself. At $14 for the massive platter, this is an excellent deal. The platter consisted of two types of salami, prosciutto, a "faux gras terrine", a rillette, and an almond country pate. All were excellent. Salami and prosciutto are Italian, not French, but I guess I will let that slide. The meats were served with toast points, a tasty whole grain mustard, and cornichons. The terrine was excellent. It was like rich, meaty, air and was deeply satisfying. Rillete is meat, usually and in this case pork, cooked in fat until it can be shredded. It is then cooled surrounded by fat to form a meaty paste. The rillette tasted like the richest, fattiest, most melt in your mouth barbecue you could ever imagine. The country pate with almonds, the salumi, and the prosciutto were also delicious.

I also ordered a salad course of frisee, bacon lardons, and a fried egg. I forgot to take a picture of this course. The egg yolk broke over the greens and bacon to make a delicious rich, salty, crunchy salad.

As an entree, my wife ordered beef tenderloin tips.

The beef was perfectly cooked and had an excellent flavor both from the meat and the peppercorn crust. The mushrooms and jus served with the meat were a great accompaniment.

My mother-in-law ordered a shrimp special. It essentially consisted of tempura shrimp with a funky coleslaw in the middle.

The shrimp had an Asian inspired taste. The coleslaw was unusual. It had a very earthy taste I couldn't quite figure out. After asking the waiter, we discovered that the main component of the coleslaw was celery root. Overall, this dish didn't wow me. However, my mother-in-law seemed to like it so it might just be me.

I ordered the skate wing which is served sauteed in brown butter with capers, spinach, and steamed potatoes.

I had skate wing once in a bistro in Paris. I remembered it as one of the lightest, most delicate, and most delicious fishes I have ever had. The skate here was cooked well but was saturated in brown butter. The richness from the butter was overwhelming. The dish was served with two tiny lemon wedges. I squeezed the lemon over the fish, and the bites with the lemon juice were much better. The acid from the lemon nicely cut through the richness of the butter. Overall, I was a little less than impressed with this dish. French cuisine is intimately tied to butter and richness, but the chef should know that this much butter kills all other flavors and renders the fish nearly unpalatable. The fish should be the star and the butter should only serve to accent its delicate flavors.

The highlight of the meal was the excellent service. I wish every waiter could be as good as our waiter that night. He was there when needed, answered every question, was a wealth of information, and yet managed to be there only when we needed him. Some waiters are never around and neglect the diner. Some waiters are overly zealous hovering over the table and making themselves an uninvited dinner guest. Our waiter struck a perfect balance.

Bistro Niko is expensive, although the prices are relatively appropriate for the ingredients and quality of the food. Bistro Niko also suffers from a bit of the make-believe gourmet. But overall it was a pleasant experience with decent to above par food. I would recommend it to anyone looking for French food in Atlanta served in a fine dining setting. But I wouldn't put it on a top places to eat in Atlanta list.

Bistro Niko
3344 Peachtree Rd NE
Atlanta, GA 30326
404-261-6456
www.buckheadrestaurants.com/bistro-niko/

Carver's Country Kitchen

Good food and a unique atmosphere. Carver's Country Kitchen is a unique place that serves up some tasty Southern cooking.

The atmosphere is unique because it is like eating lunch at a convenience store. You walk in, walk back to a small area open to the kitchen. They take your order and make your plate. You then carry your plate and drink to one of the tables in the middle of the room. It is very similar to a barbecue buffet but rather than being a buffet you choose a meat, two vegetables, and your choice of bread. The clientele ranges from college students, to construction workers, to well-dressed office workers. Don't be scared by the clientele or the odd location. It is all part of the experience.

The food is not the best example of Southern cooking I have ever had, but it is good. I ordered the fried chicken with collard greens, macaroni and cheese, and jalapeno cornbread.

The chicken was moist and flavorful on the interior with a crunch, greasy fried exterior. The chicken was a little greasier and heavier than the perfect fried chicken that I remember my granny making when I visited my grandparents as a child. But I can't really fault them for failing to meet the standard of my granny. The fried chicken is good and worth ordering. The macaroni and cheese was creamy and tasty. The collards were fairly good but lacking a little bit of flavor. The jalapeno cornbread was excellent, but by the time I got around to it I could barely do more than take a tiny nibble.

My friend ordered the same plate except he had the hashbrown casserole instead of the macaroni and cheese.

The jalapenos on top of his chicken are from the free offering of pickled peppers.

The plate of food is enormous. The amount of food you get for your money, plus the quality of the food, makes this a real value. I recommend going to Carver's for the experience alone, the fact that the food is rather good is a nice bonus. Be sure to bring a big appetite.

Carver's is only open for lunch from 11 to 3 on weekdays.

Carver's Country Kitchen
1118 W. Marietta Street NW
Atlanta, GA 30318
404-794-4410

Cafe Lily

Horrible. Utterly disappointing.

I went to Cafe Lily for brunch. I ordered the lamb with potatoes and eggs. I thought the $14 was a little high, but not ridiculous, for a lamb brunch item. I asked for my eggs over easy. No dice. The chef is busy and can only do the eggs scrambled. While refusing requests is no reason to hate a restaurant, a brunch place should be able to accommodate eggs however you like them. But that was only the beginning of the disaster.

I received my food. I was shocked.

Five tiny nuggets of lamb. Where does a lamb nugget come from? No cut of lamb I can think of yields lamb nuggets. Was I being served the trimmings from someone else's piece of lamb? The potatoes had way too much garlic. I put heaping spoonfulls of minced garlic in nearly everything I cook. I love garlic. The garlic on the potatoes made them unappetizing. The eggs were just "blah." They had no distinctive taste and no redeeming qualities. They reminded me of the eggs served at a cheap hotel's breakfast buffet: poured out of a container rather than made fresh. The tomato slices were from the tiniest, most unripe tomato. Not only that but one of the four slices was the end of the tomato with the hard stem portion intact.

I would not pay a penny for this food when I can go elsewhere and receive much better. Much less would I pay $14 for this plate. To top it all off, the service was lackluster at best.

My wife ordered the french toast.

It is hard to screw up french toast. She said it was decent but not amazing.

She also ordered a side of sausage.

I have never seen sausage served this way before. It is a large sausage link cut several times so that it would lay flat. It wasn't bad with some syrup over top. However, the additional charge of, I believe, $4 for this one piece of sausage was excessive.

Overall, avoid Cafe Lily. It is a waste of money and time.

Cafe Lily
308 W. Ponce De Leon Ave.
Decatur, GA 30030
404-371-9119

The Difficulties and Limitations of Being a Food Critic

While I am but a newbie, amateur in the world of food critics, in eating and writing about food over these past several months I have begun to realize the difficulties and limitations of being a food critic. I wanted to write about these limitations for several reasons. First, I think they are interesting. Second, in a sense I want to both get them off my chest and serve as a disclaimer to blog readers. I want blog readers to know that my thoughts about a restaurant are only that, my thoughts. I could be wrong and they could have a very different experience.

An initial limitation is that I experience food through the lens of my personal preferences. I like weird, exotic foods. I tend to like spicy food. I am not a meat and potatoes kind of guy. I gravitate towards the savory side of the food spectrum and shy away from the sweet side. I love seafood. I like chewy food. I enjoy the liver or gamey taste that many organ meats or game meats have. Not everyone shares these preferences. Whereas there is an open debate in the field of aesthetics as to whether some art is better than other art, I don't think there is any question that there can be no general objectivity in the world of food. Everyone is made differently. We taste differently and we therefore like different foods.

I am also constrained by my limited experiences. I like to write about "exotic" foods that are not part of my upbringing or cultural heritage. Whereas I can bring a wealth of experience to reviewing Southern food and barbecue, when I review a Vietnamese dish it is likely the first time I have had that dish. My review of a Vietnamese dish and a review of the same dish by a Vietnamese person are likely to be very different. I am limited by both my cultural background and my experiences. When you read my reviews, know that they come from a twenty-five year old, white, Southern male. But also know that this white male has gotten escargot in his stocking at Christmas since he was a little boy and has always ordered the oddest thing on the menu for as long as he can remember.

I am also constrained by another form of limited experiences. When I go to a restaurant I order only a few items off of the menu. I may order the restaurant's best items or I may order their weakest items. I of course try to order what look like the best, most unique items on the menu, but whether I am right is mostly a matter of chance.

Beyond these internal limitations, there are also a host of external constraints. To begin, restaurants have good and bad days. My reviews are the result of one meal at a restaurant. If the restaurant is having a bad day and is usually better, my review cannot reflect that fact. If the server is hungover or is the restaurant's worst server, my generalization about the restaurant's service will not be accurate.

Restaurants also change over time. Chefs come and go. Menus change. Management changes. My review is, again, a review of one meal at one point in time. My reviews cannot account for any changes that may have occurred since I ate there.

Finally, there are simply a multitude of variables that go into any review. A review must account for taste, service, atmosphere, etc. I may erroneously overvalue or undervalue one element. You may place a greater or lesser degree of value on that one element. If you really want pupusas you may be willing to sacrifice a level of service. (Although Rincon Latino had fine service. This is just an example.) If you want an nice date meal you may be willing to forgo a level of uniqueness or a particular cuisine in favor of a higher level of service or a more formal atmosphere.

In conclusion, take what I have to say with a grain of salt. Know that I do my best, but I am limited in many ways. Go out there and explore for yourself. Do not continue to eat the same old cuisine week in and week out. There is an amazingly exciting world of food out there. Don't be afraid of looking stupid or trying something you don't like. You are likely never going to see the people in the restaurant again, and if you don't like the food no one can make you go back. Failure and the challenge are all part of creating interesting new experiences. Get out there and explore.

Rincon Latino

I highly recommend Rincon Latino because the food is tasty and the prices are cheap. The restaurant was clean and well kept and the service was friendly and moderately prompt.

After we placed our drink order and while we were still perusing the menu, our waitress brought us chips and two types of salsa.

One was a red salsa and the other was a green salsa. Both were creamier than the typical red or green salsa. The green salsa also had a nice heat, whereas the red was very mild.

My wife had a tasty strawberry milkshake and I ordered an orange Jarritos. I am usually not a big fan of soft drinks, as in I never drink them, but I really love Jarritos. It is sweet but not sickeningly sweet like I find American soft drinks and it washes down Latin food very well.

We ordered way too much food. Take it easy when you eat here. You will think that the prices are so cheap that surely you need to order more to be satisfied. You don't. Probably the highlight of the meal was the sopes.

Closeup of the pig skin ("chicharrones").

Sopes are a traditional Mexican dish from the Sinaloa region. They consist of a flat disk with pinched sides made of thick fried masa. Masa is ground corn and is the same thing used to make tortillas. The masa in a sope is thick and it is fried only lightly so that the exterior is crispy and the interior is still soft and moist. The particular sopes I ordered were the chicharrones con salsa verde - pig skin sopes with green sauce. The sopes were topped with cooked pig skins covered in a green sauce. On top of that was lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and sour cream. The pig skin was fatty and almost creamy. The fattiness paired well with the creamy, rich, acidic green sauce with a slight heat. All of that meatiness and creaminess then was contrasted against the fresh tastes of the toppings. The sopes were fantastic and cost $5 for two sopes. Just writing about them makes me want more. We were nearly full after just splitting the sopes and the chips.

I also ordered one of the seafood cocktails - the shrimp and octopus cocktail.

It had shrimp, octopus, avocado slices, cilantro, and onions all mixed in a sauce. The sauce was a tomato sauce that was a little too sweet for me and tasted a little like a sweet cocktail sauce with less horseradish. The cocktail was good, but it did not blow me away like the sopes or the pupusas (below) did. The cocktail cost $11 which made it one of the more expensive items on the menu, but it was huge.

Next we had two different pupusas. Pupusas are a Salvadoran dish made out of a griddle fried masa outer layer stuffed with different items inside. Pupusas are sort of a like a greasy, stuffed corn pancake. Pupusas are traditionally served with curtido. Curtido consists of lightly fermented cabbage, carrots, and onions. It is similar to a vinegar colesalw or sauerkraut, but sauerkraut is fermented much more heavily than curtido. The first pupusa was essentially a combination pupusa with everything in it. It had pork, beans, cheese, and loroco. Loroco is the flower bud of a vine that grows in Central America. It is a popular ingredient in El Salvador and Guatemala. The second was a loroco and cheese pupusa. Loroco has a fairly unique taste. It tastes very plant like and is mildly reminiscent of a roasted pepper. Overall, it is a pleasing taste that I recommend trying.

stacked pupusas

the inside of the combination pupusa

The pupusas were fantastic. The hot, greasy, grainy shell with the rich, cheesy filling contrasting against the cold, acidic, crunchy relish is perfect. The vinegar in the relish cuts through the richness of the pupusa. In conclusion, an excellent combination. It would make great hangover food. The pupusas are also very cheap at $2 each.

Finally, although we could barely eat anything more at this point and took most of it home, we had a chicken gordita. A gordita also consists of a masa shell but it is stuffed to the brim with fillings. It is similar to a pupusa but filled to a greater degree, less greasy, and containing different fillings.

The gordita was also excellent. The chicken was shredded and sauced well. It was topped with lettuce and cheese. The earthy, grainy corn taste, as in the other masa based dishes, paired well against the meat and fresh toppings.

As stated before, I highly recommend Rincon Latino. I can't wait to go back.

Rincon Latino
5055 Buford Hwy. NE
Doraville, GA 30340
770-936-8181

Sawicki's

We had sandwhiches at Sawicki's for lunch last weekend. Scoutmob got me in the door, but the sandwiches may bring me back. While I was not blown away, the sandwiches were fairly good.

I had the Italian sandwich.

The Italian runs $7.25 and, per the menu, contains "Genoa salami, hot soppressata, finocchiona, fontina cheese, field greens, tomato, hot giardiniera (a vegetable relish) and salsa verde on ciabtta." Soppressata is a form of salami, a dried cured pork sausage. Finocchiona is another variety of salami. The soppressata was quite hot and gave the sandwich a nice spiceness. The sandwich was spicy, salty, sour, and sweet. The giardiniera gave it sourness and saltiness. Giardiniera consists of pickled vegetables. The meats were salty, and the soppressata was spicy as mentioned before. The tomatoes were juicy and slightly sweet. Overall, a very tasty sandwich. My only complaint was that the bread was a little too chewy.

My wife had the Mediterranean sandwich.

Again, per the menu, the Mediterannean consists of "chicken, hummus, tomato, field greens and salsa verde on ciabatta" and runs $8.00. Both my wife and I thought that the chicken was juicy and flavorful. I liked the mix of all the flavors and liked the sandwich. It tasted very fresh. My wife liked it but thought that it was a little dry and could use more hummus. Again, the bread was a little too chewy which made it hard to eat.

A funny sidenote, Sawicki's is a tight space. It is especially tight when filled to the brim with people. While we were there, two, not one but two, nimrod fathers thought it would be a good idea to wheel their baby stroller all the way through the restaurant. I am talking about a double wide running stroller. People had to move and tables were moved just so he could get in line. Fortunately, we had left before he finished ordering and had to conduct his exit manuvers. While I understand that you can't leave your children outside unattended, both fathers were accompanied by their wives. The father or mother should order while the other waits outside or at a table. If you are going to bring a stroller then sit near the window and watch it outside or buy a bike lock for the thing. Don't be that obnoxious guy trying to push it through the restaurant. You look stupid and you annoy everyone else. End of rant.

Sawicki's gets my usual, "good, but not amazing." The prices are a little high for a sandwich, but the ingredients are top quality and the taste is fresh and satisfying. If you are in the area, need lunch, and have been to Farmburger and Taqueria del Sol on numerous occasions, then stop in at Sawicki's and give it a try.

Sawicki's also has a wide selection of local, sustainable produce, meats, and cheeses. As you may know from previous posts, I am a strong supporter of local and sustainable. However, I am not quite sure when I will be able to afford tenderloin for $37 per pound.

Sawicki's Meat Seafood and More
250 West Ponce De Leon Ave.
Decatur, GA 30030
404-377-0992
http://www.sawickisfoods.com/

The Porter

Maybe the best way to sum up The Porter is a line I used to describe a dish later in this post: "I would never have expected to find something this good and this exciting in a bar in Little Five Points."

Food in America has changed. We have gone from a not so distant past where the majority of neighborhood bars served Budweiser, Coors, Miller, french fries, hamburgers, and nachos, to today where you can find a bar serving beef hearts, mussels, deconstructed caesar salads, and creme brulee. Are we in the midst of a food fad, a food bubble? I'm not really sure, but I sure hope not. I find this to be a happy or tasty state of affairs.

The Porter is the new breed of bars. It has a beer list that goes on for pages. You will not find any Bud, Miller, or Coors products on it. You will find Belgian Trappist beers, German weizens, barleywines, IPAs and every other variety of beer you can imagine. More heady adventures than any one man could possibly hope to sample. I had one of my absolute favorite beers, a Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA. I also had a Smuttynose IPA because it was the suggested beer pairing for my mussels and a Smuttynose Wheat Wine Ale for dessert. The wheat wine ale was a combination of a wheat beer and a barleywine. All were good, although I am still a little unsure about barleywines.

For food we sampled a number of items thanks to our friends, a couple who invited us out and suggested The Porter. A hat tip is owed to R and E. We started off with the goat cheese fritters.

There were five to start. This picture was taken after two were consumed.

We had a small debate at the table about these. They were decent and could have been a little warmer, but should they really be called fritters? We concurred that "logs" or "sticks" would have been more accurate. I understand that a fritter is any food coated in batter and fried, but it just didn't seem to accurately describe the dish. Maybe that is a trend at The Porter. See the description of my wife's salad below. The fritters were battered and fried logs of goat cheese covered with a honey sauce. Anything with goat cheese or fried will be good, and you can't fail with the combination of the two.

We also tried the salt and vinegar popcorn. This was a very interesting dish and a great idea for bar food.

I often find popcorn to be a little bland and boring. The vinegar gave it a welcome kick. It almost tasted like salt and vinegar chips. One bite had such a strong vinegar kick that I felt it in my nose, but other than that the popcorn was delicious, and I love the idea.

For my appetizer I ordered the beef hearts. Of course I ordered the beef hearts, it was the weirdest thing on the menu. The beef hearts were shaved with red wine blueberries, pickled scallions, and radishes.

The beef hearts were excellent. The meat was super tender and had a taste I can't describe. Everyone at the table agreed that it was good but also was unable to describe the taste. The taste is a little bit organy but not in a strong, overpowering way. The blueberries, pickled scallions, and radishes added some sweetness, tang, and crunch that paired well with the deep, rich taste of the meat. Overall, this was a tasty, bold, and inventive dish that worked well. I would never have expected to find something this good and this exciting in a bar in Little Five Points.

My wife had the macaroni and cheese as an appetizer.

It is hard to have bad macaroni and cheese, and this was good, but far from the best macaroni and cheese we have ever had. The dish consisted of shells with white cheddar cheese. It was super cheesy and very creamy, to the point of being a little soupy.

As an entree, I had the mussels appetizer.

The mussels were cooked in a broth with carrots, onions, some other vegetables, and sriracha. I am a huge fan of sriracha, and liked the idea, but I wish the sriracha was a little stronger in the broth. Overall, the mussels were good, but not amazing.

My wife ordered a caesar salad as her entree. The menu stated caesar salad and then something like "parmesan, anchovies, egg, . . . "  But nowhere did it give a clear indication that the salad was a deconstructed caesar salad.

The lack of clear description on the menu was more than a little annoying for several reasons. First, the dish brought to the table was not what was expected. Second, it required significant work to get the salad to be anything close to a caesar salad. My wife had to spend several minutes mashing up the egg and anchovies and slicing the romaine and cheese. This would not have been a problem if it was expected. It is not that we are lazy diners, but one would like to know that the diner will be doing all of the work. Finally, it was a little annoying because the dish didn't totally work. Caesar dressing requires a thorough mixing of the ingredients. The resulting salad was not gross and had some interesting taste, but it wasn't really a caesar salad. This one dish was a bit of a failure in my judgment. I would award and A+ for inventiveness and thinking outside the box but a B- for execution and taste.

Finally, I had one other complaint. We were seated at a table in a small passageway between the front bar and the back room. Our table was directly across from the bathroom. I could almost reach out and touch the bathroom door. While I would find this to be a problem in almost any establishment, in an establishment that is just as much a bar as a restaurant this is a real problem. There were frequently lines of people waiting to use the restroom. For a while there was a long piece of toilet paper on the floor outside one of the bathrooms, and at one point a waiting patron thought it would be perfectly acceptable to rest his drink on our table without asking. I understand that The Porter is a small place and tables have to be placed where there is available space. But no one should be seated across from the bathroom. Give up one table and take the small hit in your ability to turn a table. Don't try so hard in terms of beers and food and then squander it all away by seating someone next to a bar bathroom.

Other than the bar bathroom table and the deconstructed caesar salad, I was rather impressed with The Porter. I would definitely go back. However, I would make clear that I would gladly wait any additional time necessary to not be seated next to the bathroom.

The Porter
1156 Euclid Ave. NE
Atlanta, GA 30307
404-223-0393
http://www.theporterbeerbar.com/