Bacchanalia!

On Friday night we headed to Bacchanalia to celebrate Theresa's new job.  We had eaten there many years ago and both considered it the best meal we'd ever had.  With expectations high, we got dressed up and headed to the White Provisions building.  Theresa looked beautiful (as always) while I looked decent enough to not kicked out of the restaurant.

To keep things short, the meal was great.  I would rank it in the top 5 meals that I've eaten with the only course not amazing was at least partially due to a choice by me.

Our dinner:

To start, the chef sent out a very light pastry filled with melted cheese.  Simple, a perfect bite and a great way to kick off the meal.

Next up was the appetizer:  I had Bacchanalia's famous Blue Crab Fritter.  I'm not a crab cake guy but I'd heard so much about it that I had to try.  It's ridiculously good, more sweet blue crab fried to perfection than a crab cake.  Theresa had a Yellowfin Tuna Tartare that was acidic and very fresh tasting.  Not as good as the crab but very good.

The chef next sent out another treat, a chilled cream based soup with fresh tomatoes, fennel, and olive oil.  This dish really showcased the skill of the chef, as I don't like fennel.  Really, I hate it.  Black licorice is one of the few foods that I can't stand.  Theresa feels the same way, perhaps even more strongly so.  The soup was very good with many different flavors (including the fennel) shining through. 

Next were the entrees that were the least successful of the evening.  I had grouper from Florida served with roasted corn and a creamed corn puree with bacon and oyster mushrooms.  The corn and mushrooms were great with the bacon fantastic.  The grouper, while perfectly cooked, lacked a strong flavor.  Part of this was a mistake by me as I like strong, oily fish and grouper is very mild.  However, I expect more flavor out of even a mild fish than what this delivered.

Theresa had a wood grilled NY strip that was very good.  The wood grilling imparted a rich smoky flavor to the meat that was almost too strong, somewhat overpowering the taste of the meat itself.  The sides were potatoes and a grilled sweet onion, both were acceptable but not amazing.

For the Cheese and Contrast course we had a selection of cheeses from Star Provisions and a very interesting dish of local cheddar and julienned Ellijay apples.  It's nice to see more restaurants offering cheese plates as we really enjoy these.

Before dessert the chef sent out an apple smoothie with a sugar rimmed glass.  It's hard to describe how good this was, I happily could have ended the meal here with that as dessert.  But there was more eating to be done.

For dessert I had a fig soufflé with chocolate ice cream.  I'm a sucker for soufflés so this was an easy pick.  It was served with a little rich caramel sauce that accented the egg flavor of the soufflé.  This dish was close to perfect and has had me searching the internet for a fig soufflé recipe to try.

Theresa had the Valrhona Chocolate Cake with chocolate ice cream.  This arrived warm and had a molten center that oozed chocolaty goodness.  Five out of five stars!  This is one of the two dishes that are always on the menu (the other is the Crab Fritter) and it's easy to see why.

Service was perfect, I can't remember out waiter's name but he was friendly and very well informed.  His enthusiasm for fine food and wine was obvious and complemented the meal nicely.

Overall, the evening was another great dining experience at Bacchanalia.  Sure, it's quite expensive but for a rare treat it's the best thing going in Atlanta in my opinion.