Atlanta

The last week of March we took a driving trip to Atlanta and Charleston. This and the following posting will cover food spots of interest on that trip. We spent two days in Atlanta and had two most interesting dinners with our hosts.

The first evening the 4 of us went to "Sotto Sotto Restaurant" 313 North Highland Ave. (404)523-6678. That section of the city is called "Inman Park" and they were in the midst of their own food promotion. Therefore this restaurant, and the one the next night, had specials.
At "Sotto Sotto" they offered 3 course meals( 1st course, main and desert) for either $25 or $35, depending on the items chosen. I went with the $35 and thus enjoyed: "tonno bresaola"( sushi mi Tuna, sliced paper thin), I found this attractive but with no distinctive taste; my main was spaghetti vongole( al dente pasta with fresh clams, in the shells, and chopped fresh tomato's and herbs); for desert I finished with a white chocolate bread pudding laced with sour cherries and served with a small amount of light(vanilla) sauce. Being spoiled by the same desert at "La Poste", here in Cincinnati, I found this less than inspired.
The crowd was noisy and tended to be "thirty-something". The food- Northern Italian, was good but not outstanding. If I had gone to drink heavily that evening it would have been more of a treat as the drinks are good sized and reasonable. I could be over judgemental as it was at the end of our first travel day.

The following evening we enjoyed "Babette's Cafe" 573 North Highland (404) 523-9121. The restaurant is in a house in the "Inman Park" area and thus was included in the promotion, although none of the four of us took advantage, that evening. The main floor area contains a small bar and a medium sized dining room. Because it was a lovely evening the surrounding porch was filled and the inside dining area was sparsely populated, good for conversation and service. Overall "Babette's" has an interesting menu and very good to excellent food. It reminded me of several Chef run operation here in the Queen City.
There are both small plates and full entrees and our group enjoyed both. My dinner was 3 small plates plus desert. Others shared several dishes or devoured there own main courses, duck, veal, etc.
An order of house made, very thin, crisp waffle fries was covered with Gorgonzola and went beautifully with our drinks. I was told to try the "Piroshki's ( ground veal and beef stuffed light pastry with a Russia meat and wine sauce), it was a good suggestion. On my own I selected Lobster Ravioli served in a very light white wine and cream sauce with English sweet peas and asparagus tips . I am pleased to report that there was a good amount of lobster meat in the pasta which made this a special treat. My biggest mistake, that evening, was ordering only one portion of the Dried Cherry Tart. This came in a crushed almond pastry shell and was topped with more of the pastry and powdered sugar. It was outstanding as all who shared it ( the whole table) can attest.
I found "Babette's" a real treat and possibly the best and most interesting spot of the whole trip.