KR STEAKBAR
Ted’s No. 11 boasts shredded, slow-braised bison, horseradish cheddar and grilled mushrooms.
Atlanta chef Kevin Rathbun’s only Buckhead restaurant feels customtailored for the community. A contemporary nocturnal cubbyhole where small plates rule, wine flows and the air bristles with excitement, the fashionable “steakbar” concept finds Rathbun and chef de cuisine Jessica Gamble fusing two venerable concepts: meat and Italian. Here, nearly everything speaks with a perky Mediterranean lilt: amari-kissed cocktails, steak doused with espresso sauce, heavenly oliveoil cake with almond brittle and citrus cream. (Pastry chef Kylie Akiyama is terrific.) Hidden touches, like the speakeasy-style bar behind the kitchen and a patio that feels like a sunken garden, make us want to continue to explore this romantic spot. Antipasti: $6-$19 Pasta: $12-$16 Entrées: $18-$68 krsteakbar.com
OK CAFÉ Just as we send diners to Bone’s for the definitive steakhouse experience, we suggest OK Café as a classic diner with a strong Southern twang. The offerings here are anchored in time and tradition: Root beer floats and cherry lemonades are called Black Cows and Pink Ladies. Meat-and-twos and veggie plates laden with silken collards and exquisite mac and cheese are meant to be washed down with sweet ice tea and sopped up with a perfect corn muffin. Fat slices of meatloaf encrusted with tomato sauce, roast turkey with cornbread dressing and gravy, chicken pot pie with an adorable little “OK” stamped onto its puff-pastry blanket—this stuff draws a crowd. If you don’t want to play the waiting game, you’d better arrive
before 11 a.m. or between the lunch and dinner rush. After a quarter-century, OK Café never goes out of style. Appetizers: $4-$8 Burgers and sandwiches: $4-$13 Mains: $12-$16 okcafe.com
PIG-N-CHIK Co-owner Jim Graddy tells us he learned the art of the pit on his granddaddy’s pig farm in Manchester, Ga. Graddy remembers cooking whole hogs all night long over hot coals, and when A classic Pig-N-Chik meat and two: juicy pulled pork, rich mac and cheese and fresh coleslaw.
we tear into his pulled-pork sandwich— a delicious pile of pink, smoke-tinged meat between two thick slabs of white bread—we believe him. Graddy has proudly transported his family’s traditions to his casual Southern ’cue counter. Man, is the food good. The fresh-tasting coleslaw (with just a little mayo) and excellent new potato salad are just the things to cut the richness of the succulent pork. Some other tasty go-withs are fried okra, long-cooked collards, mac and cheese and Brunswick stew. We’re sated. We’re sauce-splashed. We need a moist towelette and a nap. Entrées: $8-$24 pignchik.net
STARFISH Starfish—which can look just a little lost on the block that houses Restaurant Eugene and Holeman and Finch— is exactly the kind of sushi joint we have been trolling for. In a city where Japanese cuisine can be hit-or-miss and sometimes not the freshest, chefowner Seung K. “Sam” Park’s reticent little pearl is a superior catch—cute and compact as a bento box but with just a hint of luxury. At dinner, we were delighted to see how the kitchen plays around with untraditional ingredients like truffle oil and balsamic vinegar, slicing fish as thin as carpaccio and arranging it in dazzling presentations. When our flounder sashimi arrived, the server told us to place a dab of the ponzu jelly spiked with cilantro,
jalapeño and lime on a strip of the fish and roll it up. Exquisite. Starfish isn’t the kind of place that announces itself with screaming klieg lights or red carpets. But in this culture of excess, sometimes being a little bit under-theradar can be very seductive. Lunch entrées: $7-$16 Dinner entrées: $12-$30 starfishatlanta.com
TED’S MONTANA GRILL We love everything about the housemade dill pickles; the fat onion rings with horseradish dipping sauce; the Arnold Palmers; and the all-American, stick-a-flag-in-it, “where the buffalo roam” burgers. Yep, we’re talking bison, baby. It’s leaner than beef, yet richer and moister, somehow. The Ted’s burger that really rocks our world is the Blue Creek: Inspired by owner Ted Turner’s Blue Creek Ranch in Nebraska, it comes with bacon crumbles and blue cheese. And that’s all it needs. Just ask for a side of rings and a little ramekin of that horsey sauce. Appetizers: $5-$14 Burgers: $12-$19 tedsmontanagrill.com
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September 2017 | Simply Buckhead
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