Graduation in Atlanta: good and bad restaurants and wines.

WINE TALK
#1

Short trip for my son’s graduation.

Night one: Cooks and Soldiers. Really liked this tapas+ restaurant. Brilliant dishes included veal cheeks on pillowy potatoes, scallops an odd but superb toasted cheese sandwich. The 1978 Jordan Cabernet was over the hill, my first bad bottle from the case. Thankfully the 1996 Jadot Bonnes Mares was fine, rich with a bright core of fruit and just turning into some sous bois and a long easy finish. Jadot seems to have been particularly strong in 1996, with none of the problems of excess acidity of the vintage. $15 BYO and interestingly they did not charge for the flawed bottle.

Night 2
Miller Union apparently one of Atlanta’s top restaurants, and for me, very mediocre. One great dish, egg in celery cream otherwise very disappointing. My chicken liver mousse was weird, the $42 lamb chops were tough and fatty and slightly over cooked (medium+ rather than medium rare). The accompanying vegetables and potatoes just seemed a mess of flavors, lacking the precision of a top farm to table restaurant like Blue Hill.

The wines: Clerc Milton 1986 was spicy with plenty of fruit and nicely resolved tannins. Medium finish. The 1999 Dugat Gevrey village wine had a slightly odd nose. When I was young, I used to help look after a horse, and smelling the wine instantly brought me back to the feed room and measuring out the oats. The wine was so reminiscent of those feed room smells that I started laughing. A little bit of that oat character was on the palate but mingled with fruit. Pleasant wine but far preferred the Clerc Milton.

#2

Congratulations to P.
Did you do this on a phone (Clerc Milton)? :slight_smile:
Usually when people remember a stable while tasting a wine it’s not the feed…

#3

Congratulations on your son’s graduation.

#4

I loved Cooks and Soldiers when I went last year.

#5

Congrats Mark!!! Sorry for your bad meal at Miller Union. I think their press is finally causing a little bit of an issue there. They are usually BYO extremely unfriendly. i’m surprised that they let you bring some wine in.

#6

Thanks all! He really enjoyed his time at Emory, and it seems to have been very rigorous academically, so he is very prepared for the next step, a year working as a paralegal before going to law school.

Re Miller Union: Corkage was $35/bottle, and the service was friendly, but not very relaxed. I gave our server a taste of both wines, which he appreciated. He preferred the Dugat, but it didn’t make him any more relaxed. He told me they had four sommeliers, so I can understand their reluctance to allow BYO.

I didn’t mention, I had brunch at one of my favorite places, General Muir. A Matzoh ball soup and an open faced bagel with smoked trout salad. Both delicious.

#7

Mark, congratulations on your son’s graduation.
Our daughter graduated from Georgia Tech on Saturday so we had a similar weekend in Atlanta.

Friday night - The Federal
Relatively new bistro in Midtown. Our food was good and the restaurant was full and lively. We all chose steak and it went well with my 2006 Scarecrow. Corkage was $18. The Scarecrow got great reviews from my wife and daughter, who says that she does not like red wine. I thought the wine was hitting its peak.Fruit was up front but not overpowering.

Saturday brunch - South City Kitchen Midtown

Saturday night - Cooks & Soldiers
I agree, great food and atmosphere. My SQN Dark Blossom Grenache got lost in the food, celebration and Cava. We were more focused on our daughter but the wine was very enjoyable and intense in a good way. It probably needs a few more years yet to show its best.

Sunday lunch - The Varsity - BYO discouraged but probably ignored on a daily basis. [basic-smile.gif]

We live near Atlanta but had never been to The Federal or Cooks & Soldiers. Would recommend both.

#8

Congratulations, Ted.

You may want to try General Muir on a Friday night (alas we arrived on Saturday) their special is a Matzoh meal coated chicken made in limited quantities, so first there first served. It is a delicious, if slightly weird take on fried chicken.

We looked at Varsity, but you are right, BYO was discouraged, so we looked elsewhere.

#9

Thanks Mark. We will put General Muir on our Friday night list to try.