For those of you watching Top Chef Season 5, you know chef Jeff was confronted on the reunion show that he was quoted in an interview as saying Tom Colicchio's food was boring....he denied it, but I think the original supposition is true.
Tom deserves extra scrutiny if he s going to hold himself up as a mentor to young chefs. His attempted mantra with his Craft chain of restaurants seems to be great product prepared well. But our experience in New York and most recently at Craft Atlanta says otherwise. If his food was judged on Top Chef, he'd be gone early. Toby and Bourdain wouldn't have let this go.
The Atlanta space is one of my favorite anywhere. Its drop dead gorgeous, kind of a modern craftsman style. The exterior of the building is a little wrong for the interior...looks like a high end Florida jewelry store....appropriate, I guess, for the Buckhead neighborhood its located in.
Foie gras was the best prepared dish but needed a bit more sweet to cut the fat. Shrimp sent back arrived overcooked a second time. The Hamachi and tuna appetizers are better done at your local sushi place. A very dry canned tuna on a cracker was the Amuse Bouche (are you kidding Tom?) . The monkfish was wrapped in a too salty proscuito, the risotto over cooked, the quail left to dry out a few minutes too long. It just never clicked and reinforces Atlanta as a restaurant destination with style over substance. Gunter Seeger is long gone, and other than Quinones and a great collection of ethnic places especially along Buford Hwy there is just not much happening, even at the places that garner high ratings.
BTW, Craft does have a notable wine list with many solid well chosen value wines (15 to 18 dollar retail marked up to 40 dollars) and surprises like Kosta Browne pinot at the moderate to high end. A number of Atlanta restaurants we've been to recently really have stand out wine programs.
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