Abattoir Restaurant Review, West Midtown
18.05.12
He really gets umami — that primary taste of savoriness. Umami-rich appetizers include a don’t-miss dish of spicy veal sweetbreads with cabbage, pear and beef bacon ($14). The nuggets of meat are exemplary, with a crisp surface and creamy center. But the dark wash of sauce distinguishes this dish. It fills your mouth with an expansive flavor, spicy like a bee sting until the sweet, salty and umami flavors take your tongue for a spin, inviting everything on the plate to the dance. This elixir includes soy sauce, fish sauce and a hot sauce made from ghost peppers grown by sous chef Brett Ashcroft. I want to drink it.
Also memorable: a beet-red tartare of local beef ($12) prepared in the style of the Korean dish yukke, with bits of jalapeño, pine nuts and Asian pear. A perfectly pitched base line of sweet soy tunes every high note of flavor into harmony.
It isn’t all a tribute to Buford Highway here. Witness the gorgeous puff pastry cup (a classic French vol-au-vent) overflowing with tender little snails in a wild-mushroom cream sauce ($14). Williams can rock it old school.
Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog)