Food Artistry

On the first Thursday of the past five or six months, some friends and I have been having dinner at a restaurant that none of us have been to before. Choice rotates, as do the results.

We’ve had good and bad food (not much of the latter); good and OK service (more of the latter than I’d like); and, last night, some of the best food and service I’ve ever had.

My friend the cop chose Abattoir, which has been open for a few months. It’s owned by the people that operate Bacchanalia, Star Provisions and Floataway Café here in Atlanta. (Bacchanalia consistently is rated as the best or near best restaurant in town, Floataway is highly rated and Star Provisions is a retail market selling the food used by the restaurants.)

But, this isn’t meant to be a restaurant review.

What I want to talk about is having a dinner that was perfect in all of its parts. There were no “wow” dishes. All of the appetizers and entrees were very subtle. Little flavors and textures combined to be something that was the ultimate expression of each dish. Each dish and course was served unobtrusively – service that you don’t realize was present until after the fact.

All this didn’t come cheap (though we could have cut the bill significantly by not drinking wine or drinking less of it). But, hours later (and even now as I type this) I was remembering and enjoying the meal. That is art, every bit as much as a painting, a film, a novel or a play.