As I mentioned previously, my first full day in Atlanta consisted of me wandering around the Georgia Aquarium and then the Coca-Cola museum. I also spent a good deal of time convincing Miss Jen to do the Whale Shark dive with me :)
Interesting fact about the whale sharks that are in the aquarium - they are ALL from Taiwan! AND they were UPS'd over to Atlanta. Yes, UPS. Seriously.
After meandering through the Aquarium and Coke Factory, Jen took me to Restaurant #1 - Bacchanalia, a Star Provisions restaurant that is hailed as one of Atlanta's top restaurants. Its seasonal menu is created through ingredients from the chefs/owners own farm. The four course prix fix menu consists of an appetizer, an entree course, a cheese course and dessert for $85/person.
Between Jen and I, it was very easy to decide on which plates we would order and share. Our amuse consisted of a brioche with taragon gelee and a vidalia onion soup with pomegranate. We both thought the brioche was a bit bland and the taragon was overpowering, but we both enjoyed the vidalia onion soup very much. It started off with a strong sage flavor, but ended nicely with the pomegranate seeds. For our appetizer course, we started with the Confit Foie Gras Torchon and the Kumamoto Oysters:
You really can't go wrong with Kumamoto Oysters, there was just enough acid to balance out the "sea." The foie gras came with a side of brioche that was perfectly buttery, and added an additional depth of richness to the foie gras. Off to a good start!
For our entrees, we ordered the Nantucket Bay Scallops and the Tennessee Moulard Duck:
The lightly cured duck came with cranberry beans, cippolini onions, black trumpet mushrooms and persimmon. It was probably one of the best cooked ducks I have ever had. It had just the right about of salt and seasoning, and together with the sweet persimmon puree, it created an amazing succulent dish. The scallops came with cauliflower, brioche, celery and black truffle vinaigrette. I had never been served scallops that were already pre-diced for me. I didn't enjoy this dish as much simply because it was too salty. With that said, the scallops were nicely done though and you can tell they were fresh.
For our cheese courses, we chose a shaved parmigiano-reggiano with medjool dates and a fresh goat cheese with roasted beets and beet sorbet:
In my opinion, the dates were a bit mooshy (probably not the "best" technical word to describe food... but hey, it's the truth) and made me not enjoy them as much. The goat cheese dish though was superb. The goat cheese had amazing flavor but not so strong that a non-cheese lover would not enjoy it. The beets also perfectly balanced out the flavor of the goat cheese.
For a mini palate cleanser, Bacchanalia gave us a mini hot chocolate with sweet cream and cinnamon. Cinnamon! I am definitely adding cinnamon to my hot chocolates from now on. It was such a surprising twist, but added such an amazing aroma. For our dessert courses, we chose a Georgia Persimmon Pudding and a Cranberry Souffle:
Every souffle I have now, I compare it to one I had in Bali - where the souffle was so perfect it literally melted in my mouth. Bacchanalia's was right on the money - it melted perfectly, almost like cotton candy. I also love it when restaurants add fruit at the BOTTOM of the souffle dish, rather than into the souffle itself. The cranberry was at the bottom, and it was perfect - not too sweet, not too tart. The persimmon pudding had a very nice "fall" flavor to it - hints of maple and walnut. There was not a heavy persimmon flavor, but there was a nice bourbon taste to it.
My only complaint about Bacchanalia? My my are the portions LARGE in the South... by dessert time, Jen and I were about to burst at the seams. Then, they decided to give us home made Madeleines and chocolates. We kindly asked them to bag them for us to take home.
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