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Vol.8 The Era of Casual Chic
November 2006
Five years ago when the passionate American boycott
of all things French began as response to the French attitude towards
9-11, it seemed the American dining scene would be forever altered.
Although we began searching for the American culinary identity long
before the self-imposed embargo on Freedom Fries, the very idea
of stuffy French restaurants had never felt so foreign. In the aftermath
of 9-11 and in the search for true American dining, we experimented
with what felt comfortable and seem to have finally firmly established
our own version of fine dining: the casual chic restaurant.
The comfort food craze of the past few years may
have finally settled down, but it seems that during the reclamation
of American food culture, many chefs have embraced rustic cooking
and managed to successfully bring about the casual chic restaurant:
high-end food with high-end prices in stylish but comfortable settings.
During our recent editorial trip down South to explore Atlanta’s
dining scene, we discovered a repeat of the theme we’ve been
witnessing around the country these past few years. Fine dining
in America, as we traditionally think about it, has completely evolved
to suit our taste. The white tablecloths and trolleys, the old-fashioned
décor, and the intimidating front-of-house staff dressed
in three piece suits have, for the most part, vanished.
In Atlanta the diners packing these new restaurants
every night are 25-35 year olds who don’t cook at home and
have disposable income to burn. This new wave of American fine diners
seeks out good food in modern restaurants that are as trendy as
they are. The dishes themselves might still be rustically prepared—think
hearty braised meats and charcuterie—but the plating is always
high concept and the portions are trimmed down to suit the atmosphere.
At Table1280,
the ultra-modern, almost futuristic cafeteria, Chef Todd Immel serves
cured meats and game with subtle nuances and beautifully updated
presentations. There’s no sommelier but a wine savvy wait-staff
helps guide the young crowd while making them feel at home.
With comfort being as important as good food, these
young diners also like to crowd more casual places with upscale
food like Ecco,
a hip small-plates restaurant with a lounge atmosphere where Chef
Micah Willix served 450 covers on a recent Friday night. The food
is both elegant and rustic with an old and new world wine list to
match. Sommelier Vajra Stratigos shares his passionate quest for
wine knowledge with every guest that orders wine, handing them paper-thin
cedar cards printed with the full name and some notes regarding
every glass or bottle they order. The latest big opening in Atlanta
is Trois, an elegant, stylish setting with approachable
food from StarChefs’ Rising Star of Le Cirque Jeremy
Lieb. In their very first week open Trois was packed and
doing at least 350 covers a night. With crowds flocking to these
new young restaurants, Atlanta’s old fine dining is getting
left behind.
Rumours are flying that Guenter Seeger’s
well-established fine dining restaurant Seeger’s
is closing but that’s not to say that in Atlanta there isn’t
still a place for the expensive, super service-oriented restaurant,
and Restaurant
Eugene is just that. The restaurant succeeds because its
atmosphere is sophisticated rather than stuffy and its mood is retro:
a bartender in a pinstripe vest and black horn-rimmed glasses serves
a return to classic cocktails. Southern classics are on Chef Linton
Hopkins’ menu but they’re updated and playful, and gone
are the huge portions and heavy sauces of stereotypical Southern
food.
At Repast,
which isn’t fine dining in the traditional sense but still
pushes the envelope, husband and wife Joe Truex and Mihoko Obunai
compose delicate, Japanese-inspired cuisine in a hip loft-like setting.
The food is truly forward thinking, with restructured and reinvented
Japanese classics in unexpected forms like a Macrobiotic Composition
in 3 Stages. Chef Drew Belline of Floataway
Café serves modern American food in an industrial
chic space, making it clear with complex but balanced dishes like
his Black Grouper Crudo with Cranberries that trendy restaurants
don’t have to compromise the quality and taste of their food.
It seems like Atlanta has finally found a culinary
identity with restaurants that feel very much like a true product
of their place. And in a city not generally associated with the
vanguard of culinary trend chefs and diners have definitely entered
the new era of casual chic. While these restaurants are decidedly
not haute cuisine, they present their elegant, re-invented culinary
variety in a wide range of relaxed modern restaurants with fine
dining dishes that you want to finish every bite of—in style!
Cheers!
Antoinette Bruno
Editor-in-Chief
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