Saturday
"Country Day"
We drove to Palmetto, Georgia and visited the Cochran Mill Nature Center, where I volunteer. We also met up with some locals there and did a photo shoot with my obliging father playing a traditional southern character involving guns, overalls and grimaces...I can not divulge much more information than that for the moment as it would spoil a surprise. Following the photo shoot we drove to the Serenbe Community, which is a luxurious live/work/play neighborhood I had my eye on, but my pocketbook off. We explored the development, had a beer at the charming Blue Eyed Daisy cafe and shop, and then dinner at The Farmhouse at The Inn at Serenbe, a beautiful, quaint, mere 18 room, B & B located on acres of green pasture, gigantic cows, idyllic lakes for rowing and quiet white clapboard porches for afternoon teas. The setting was superb.
The Farmhouse
Hmmm. For all it's reviews and hullaboo (all over the AJC, online reviews and even a mention in Bon Appetit) I expected to be wowed. It was very beautiful, and a lovely departure from the norm for a unique dining experience, but several things put our experience off, just a bit mind you.
First was the slight inconvenience of being afraid of getting lost, so we left early and arrived earlier than our reservation, but there was nothing to do until our reservation...we had hoped to perchance have an ice tea on the porch or a mint julep (though they don't have a liquor license yet...), but we were not offered anything. So we we drove back into Serenbe and had our aforementioned beer.
The meals here are Prix Fixe, three course with your choice of main course. I admit I was happy to not have to make any decisions about what to eat. It set a relaxed tone to the meal. The best part of the dinner we had was the first course, a very delicate, almost nutty puree of a cauliflower soup. All of us decided it was quite good and anticipated our main courses with high hopes, but unfortunately they were only okay. Good and fresh, but not mind blowing. We had a nice fish, rabbit tenderloin/backstrap and rabbit forequarters. The backstrap was the most delicious of the three, being juicy and tender with crisp skin. The forequarters were just too difficult to get any meat off, or perhaps they were slightly over done and the majority of the meat was too hard/crisp, in any case, the father, a frequent "chewer of bones" was not impressed with it and eyed my backstrap jealously...he was rewarded with several sweet bites. The dessert, a banana cake with chocolate sauce and bananas something like foster was nice, but again, not mindblowing.
As we enjoyed our coffee in the serene setting, the child sitting behind me began to sing. She had a sweet voice, and we all beamed at each other across the table with childhood memories aflight. However, she didn't stop singing. And five songs later her mother joined her in chorus. Our smiles turned to serious frowns. No one said a word to them. Mind you, the dining room here is very "cozy" with probably around 20 tables max in a very small room Needless to say it did not help my meal end on a happy note. If I am paying a reasonable sum for my dinner experience, I assume it will not be accompanied by an eight year old singing in my ear. If I want that, I can stay in Atlanta and go to Chili's or Joes' Crab Shack. I love kids, don't get me wrong, but I expect good behavior from both children and parents if they choose to visit a nice restaurant. Use common sense. God knows how many times I took the baby outside to calm it while at New York restaurants, so I would not disturb any other's meals. One song was sweet; the whole operetta was souring.
In any case, I would say the setting here was lovely, the freshness of the ingredients was nice (a big thing they are touting is the organic fresh ingredients from the farm, thowever our waiter did not know if the meat was organic, though he did know it wasn't from the farm...), the service was workable, and the food nice. There was a very cool open kitchen area you could peek at the cute chefs working at. I wanted to love it really badly. Probably a three star, perhaps a two when you add in how far away it is. And probably not a great place for kids. For a Prix Fixe, the price was reasonable. I might come back to stay at the Inn as the whole area is quite charming, and then I may visit the Farmhouse again, but I am not sure I would make the trip just to indulge in a meal.
Just my first impression, and I usually give a place a second chance before I pass sentence. So I suppose I should go back again. It might have just been overhyped, and I did so want to LOVE it badly.
Sunday
"Downtown Day"
We visited the glorious Georgia Aquarium late in the afternoon in hopes of everyone having left, but not so. It was very crowded. It was also incredible and beautiful and eye opening, but I think the parents needed a little more elbow room to fully enjoy themselves. The best part was a little moving sidewalk you could stand on and just look at everything. No one could push you or try to get past, and you didn't have to worry about bumping in to someone or having someone spill their cheese fries on your pants as you tried to see what the "heck was that thing?" swimming along.
We went for a walk afterwards and sat on a bench and watched the children play in the Olympic Ring fountains. Weather was spectacular. Thus calmed, we proceeded to Atlantic Station for bowling and chic bar food at Ten Pin Alley. Only to find, contrary to the web site, that it was closed! While this was somewhat disconcerting, we soothed ourselves at The Grape with several delightful vintages and perfect small plates. We waited for two other to join us and then we headed over to Geisha for its "second review". I had checked it out last month with some girlfriends.
Ironically, or not, Geisha is owned by the Dolce Group which also owns Ten Pin. When we went in there was no hostess. We waited for about five minutes and then half the group went up to the dining room and hovered around the edge hoping to catch the staff's eye (hanging out at the bar), meanwhile the other half of our party hung at the hostess desk and several less patient couples came in, waited like 30 secs and promptly walked out. Finally a gal came to seat us. The place only had two other tables seated (at 8pm) so I am not sure why they were so inattentive. Sadly, our booth smelled of sour liquor and there was "stuff" on the table. My mother immediately began talking about it and I gently chastised her. "I am sure they will wipe it up" Well, they didn't. After several assurances from waitress and her staff, finally my mom wiped it up. Interestingly, they seemed to have the same strange music issues going on as my first meal here. Switching from one genre to another. Techno to southern rock to eighties back to techno. The place is so gorgeous, it really is a shame that the bizarre music selection should detract from it. The food however was just as good and as expensive as the first time I ate here. We had a similar menu and everyone, even the non-sushi-loving father was happy. The desserts wowed everyone, and the saki flights were eye-opening and fun.
I don't get this place. The food is good, but the staff is consistently quirky, and the music bizarre. For the prices here, these things should not even be an issue...no hostess at 8pm? When a party of six is waiting? As my mom ultimately put it "I think I like Ru Sans better; its cheaper and tastes just as good if not better." And she isn't even from Atlanta...Urg. I hate that I am having unsatisfying experiences at restaurants. I guess if you have worked in them as long as we have we find things more irritating than others because we know they don't have to be that way. Sigh. We still had a nice time though.
Monday
"Eccentric neighborhood Day"
We didn't get to do anything because we were too busy chatting and going to Home Depot and what not to wander the Highlands and Inman Park. However, I wasn't going to let our laziness miss our favorite restaurant in Atlanta. We originally wanted to take the family to Shaun's which I have found wonderful on several occasions, but they are closed on Monday's, so I had bit the pricing bullet and gotten reservations at Rathbun's which was busy even on a Monday night. We stopped and met a friend at her loft at the Inman Motor Works nearby and headed over to what would become, as usual, one of the best meals ever.
Rathbuns, tucked away inbetween Cabbagetown and Inman Park on Krog street, is what I call a perfect restaurant. We have eaten here at tables, at the bar, with friends, at 5:30, 8:00, and at 11:30 (when it first opened!), and it is consistently excellent. On several occasions the chef is there walking around meeting folks (though he is probably busy with the new steakhouse now), the drinks are always strong, the service impeccable, and the food out of this world. We must have ordered a million small plates and never was there a wince from the waiter at our lack of "second mortgage" purchases, as Rathbun cleverly calls them. Of course our wine and martini consumption probably made up for that. Rathbun's has a fine dining attitude that treats all its guests, no matter how they are dressed, what they order, or how silly they behave (I was worried for a moment about the general groaning and gastronomic moaning coming from our table.) like the most important people in the world. The place feels comfortable, and at the same time special. Dining at Rathbun's is always a special treat. What did we have? Let's see:
Mediterranean Mussels, Smoked Garlic Foccacia Garlic Chive Brodo
Pan Fried Kefalotiri Cheese, E.V.O.O. & Lemon
Chicken Livers A La Plancha, Grape Molasses
Roasted Bone Marrow, Fleur de sel, Buttered Brioche & Radicchio Marmalade
Thai Rare Beef & Red Onion Salad, Cilantro
Lamb Scaloppine with Pancetta, Goat Gouda
Brown Butter Cauliflower Mash
Cabbage Carbonara
Hand Cut French Fries with Blue Cheese Fondue
Sardinian Flatbread, Carmelized Vidalia Onions, Local Golden Beets, Gorgonzola
We had a great wine, great company and great food. After dinner we adjourned to my friend's loft for port and gingered chocolate. She was a perfect hostess. A PERFECT ending to a nice weekend with the family.
Yay Rathbun! Definitely ***************.
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