ONE.midtown Kitchen Review

[babern38]

Last Tuesday my fiancee and I arrived in Atlanta after a 9+ hour drive from St. Louis. We only had about 1 1/2 hours after checking in before we left for our 8:30 reservation at ONE.midtown Kitchen. I was a slightly nervous for two reasons. First, my fiancee is a vegetarian and usually quite restrained on the styles and variety of food she eats. Second, OMK's website did not offer much of a feel for their menu and I was worried whether my fiancee would find it enjoyable, since I decided on the restaurant after reading some recs on eGullet, and whether I would enjoy the experience as well.

Anyway, we proceeded from our hotel towards OMK with our MAPQuest directions in hand. Somehow, in the 4 miles between the holiday inn on N Druid Hills and OMK, we passed by every strip club in Atlanta. Our first time in Atlanta, we were on a Journey into forbidden territory, an adventure...........the tension was mounting.

We arrived outside and I was pleased to see the complimentary valets, since the streets were packed with cars. We stepped out, relinquished the keys, and upon looking at the buildings exterior with the restaurant''s name glowing with the neon backlights and the big door, my fiancee, sensing my excitement, turned to me and said with a smile, "you love this place."

"so far so good".

Stepping inside we were greeted with the wonderful smells of the (wood burning?) oven and the very open restaurant, alive and loud with activity before us. Skipping ahead, we gave our name, waited ten minutes and were then seated at a nice table near the back of the restaurant and were greeted by our waitress, Beth.

Now, stepping back a moment, I had received a private message on eGullet from Chef Blais, who after reading my posts about where I should go and about my fiancee's "particularities", said he would be able to accomodate her and even do a tasting for us.

Beth had placed two copies of the menu and wine list before us and left quickly, without mention of the availability of the tasting menu. I was a bit confused and worried, but not for long. She popped by a minute or two later and exclaimed, "we were thinking of starting you both off with some champagne."

my fiancee and I looked questioningly at each other, then at Beth......"okay, why not".

A few minutes later she came back with the champagne and I was about to enquire about the possible tasting menu right after my first sip of the wonderful champagne she had brought us, but was beaten to it. Before I opened my mouth, Beth began "Okay, so if its all right with you, we'll just start bringing out courses." She also quickly clarified my fiancee's requirements.

My fiancee and I were both stunned. Apparently, Chef Blais had taken my name from our previous communication and readied the restaurant to alert him upon our arrival! Awesome! In this incredibly packed and busy restaurant, we felt like the supreme guests, with special attention of the kitchen. Even with such consideration, that indescribable feeling of excitement and nerves still remained as we were in the chef's hands, at the ktichen's mercy, to eat, nay, to devour and enjoy whatever we were given.

I have already written far more than I had previously intended and have not even begun discussing the food. I apologize if this is long winded, but, without spoiling anything, this was one of the most vivid and well remembered meals and times my fiancee and I have had in a while. And that is saying something.

[Gifted Gourmet]

I have already written far more than I had previously intended and have not even begun discussing the food. 

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Two things, if I might:

#1 We Atlantans would love to hear what your impressions of the food were ... what you ate ...

and #2 Richard Blais is one exceptional chef who will go above and beyond expectations to offer you his best and most creative food.

Very pleased to hear that you were (more than) satisfied and we look forward to more details! Lots more!

website for ONE midtown kitchen

[M.X.Hassett]

Well I will toss this up since Blais appears to be following along. I was curious as to if your policy is the same as others regarding tasting menus being served to the entire table. I am a big fan of Moleculer Gastronomy yet one of the guests is a little more conservitive when it comes to food. Is there anyway to rectify this situation? Thanks in advance Matthew X. Hassett

[babern38]

Now for a report of out tasting.......

1st course: delivered on a long rectangular piece of "sheet metal?" that was placed between my fiancee and myself.

For me, a single kumamoto oyset in the shell atop a bed of sea salt. There was more to the oyster, but I don't quite remember. I think there was a soy gelee, smoked salmon pearls, and green foam. very good.

for my fiancee: a slice of artichoke with a fried mayonnaise sphere atop it.

There was a red pepper mayonnaise sauce dividing the plate making the dish resemble a percentage sign "%". very cool

2nd course: Brought out on smaller versions of the stainless steel plates, O-Toro for me, which I loved how the server Jeremy described it as "stupid good!!" It was that good. It was accompanied by soy gellies, some greens and some rice krispies.

for my fiancee, it was really cool, as her dish was made to look exactly like mine, although she had persimmon shaped like my rectangle of O-Toro. Very creative and very cool.

3rd course: Chef Blais' take on bread service.

We were each brough two giant, extremely heavy, green slate kitchen tiles. To the top of the plate were 3 or 4 Touilles? I'm not sure if that is what they are called, but they were ultra thin rectangles of porous, crispy, salty, buttery, wonderful bread. Across the plate was drizzled lavender honey giving off an amazing scent.

For me, was a wonderful disc of foie gras that had been cooked and cured in the fridge for a couple days. My fiancee, a vegetarian, had a similar disc, but consisting of butter. It was not ordinary butter though, it was enchanted

Pre-4th course entertainment. One of the green slate tiles was placed in front of me with one of the stainless steel plates on top of it. Chef Blais brought us a small copper pot of which he had melted some brown butter. He instructed us that we should spoon the butter onto the steel, which he had just dipped in liquid nitrogen. This would infact allow us to make a butter pancake. Very fun, but we were a bit confused as to whether we were to eat brown butter pancakes as a course by itself, But then...........

4th course: Soup. We were each presented with a large white bowl that had a clear glass cylinder inside it. Outside the glass was a green apple sorbet and inside was an orange liquid. Mine contained Butternut Squash and sausage soup. I don't remember, but I think my fiancee's was sweet potato.

Anyway, the glass cylinders were lifted, letting the warm orange soup mix with the cool green apple sorbet. We were then told that we may add our brown butter pancakes as we liked. This was some seriously good stuff. Like, liquid crack with a crispness of apple.

5th course: Pasta or as it was described pasta that is not pasta. Rather than traditional noodles, were made from scallops, I remember chef Blais mentioning transglutaminase. All the glasses of wine have begun making things a bit hard to remember, but I remember they were good. My fiancee had dark brown noodles that I believe were made from seaweed. They looked a lot like the onions in french onion soup, but they tasted soooo much better.

Anyway, these noodles were layed on top of this ultra thick mushroom soup. It was like the consistency of wet concrete, but tasted like mushrooms. Awesome.

I would like to mention that while Chef Blais was describing this dish to us, I noticed there was something on my plate that shouldn't be there. I was not going to say anything, but luckily Chef Blais noticed, grabbed both dishes and politely told us he would bring them back. Needless to say, we were brought two entirely new dishes that had been completely been replated. That is dedication to quality and service and shows the pride taken in the creations. Thanks for that chef.

6th course: Main courses

Beef brisket for me and a roasted apple for my fiancee. While I remember this being the best brisket I had ever had and remember my fiancee raving about the apple, I was getting so stuffed both with food and emotions from the previous courses as well as wine, i can't remember more details. They didn't take away full plates though.

Chef Blais then came out for the final time and left us in the capable hands of his dessert chef.

7th course: a small sphere of cream cheese on a spoon with a candied, dried apple chip was a nice start to the last course.

8th course: The homemade Kit Kat Bar. Awesome, so stuffed. But finished it all.

We entered at 8:30 and were the last to leave around 11:30 extremely happy. I will give some final thoughts later. But until then, to those of you lucky enough to be in Atlanta, got to ONE.midtown tonight and as many other nights as possible.

Edited December 26, 2005 by babern38 (log)

[M.X.Hassett]

But until then, to those of you lucky enough to be in Atlanta, got to ONE.midtown tonight and as many other nights as possible.

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About to do just that and maybe tue. also. Thanks for the report babern38.

Edited December 26, 2005 by M.X.Hassett (log)

[greensNbeans]

It is one my list of to do's, but my time is spoken for! Chef Blais has really lit Atlanta up! Always eager to see whats up next from him!

[M.X.Hassett]

I would move it up on your "to do" list, from the few dishes I had this evening I would say this is a very good restaurant, maybe even great. But I am going to reserve any comentary due to the fact that I was with people who chose not to order the tasting menu. Although I did tell the staff to just bring me what the chef recomends. Blais' cooking impressed me to the point that I opted out of eating at Joel tmrw. and am going to return solo to ONE.midtown to sample a menu I am in the process of arranging.

Kudos Chef Blais.

[mcattaneo23]

Im actually located in the SF Bay Area and had not heard of OMK till now, is there any more info my fellow gullteers can provide me with. How long has it been open, etc. The food souds great and coupled with a chef who is so willing to go the extra mile, makes this restaurant sound great!!!

[therese]

Im actually located in the SF Bay Area and had not heard of OMK till now, is there any more info my fellow gullteers can provide me with.  How long has it been open, etc.  The food souds great and coupled with a chef who is so willing to go the extra mile, makes this restaurant sound great!!!

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One Midtown Kitchen has actually been around for several years, perhaps as long as four or five. It was Bob Amick's first venture back into the restaurant scene---he and Steve Nygren (now founder of Serenbe, a combination organic farm/housing/B&B a few miles south of Atlanta) had been big on the Atlanta restaurant scene back in the '80s, launching a local group of restaurants that started with The Pleasant Peasant (which is still open, I believe, but under different ownership).

Anyway, Amick's since opened a number of restaurants here in town, including Two Urban Licks, Piebar, a place in Orlando, and a couple of places that just about to open, Trois and Lobby (hmm, maybe Lobby already open).

All of Amick's restaurants are at least as much about the vibe (generally sexy and/or stylish in some way) as about the food, and there are lots of people in Atlanta who love to hate his perspective.

Blais has been with Amick et al. for perhaps a year now. He'd previously been at several places, including one named for him (financed by a deep pockets restaurant group here in town) that pretty much went under in flames. So far this seems to be a good fit for him.

Note that you have to ask for the tasting menu, and in fact need to ask when you make your reservation. Otherwise you order off the regular menu, which is good (and will feature some of the same dishes), but is not the same experience.

[mcattaneo23]

Thanks so much for the info, I like what chef blais is doing there fo sho!!

[gwilson]

I finally made it to ONE a couple of nights ago for the first time. I had seen a movie at Tara and decided to get something to eat afterwards. I obviously didn't have a reservation, but didn't need one. Being right after the holidays, I expect most restaurants are a bit slow.

First off, I really liked the restaurant. The 'vibe', even though there weren't many people there, was nice. I can definately see how this would be a good place to be on a crowded night. The service was good also. And the food was good - although not exactly great.

My first dish was the Kobe beef tartar. It was awesome. A raw egg yolk on top of the round of tartar. There were cubes of asian pear (if I remember correctly) and cubes of Worchestershire 'jelly'. The Wor. jelly was awesome - you could barely taste it at first, but as it melted, you got this explosion of aroma in the back of your nose. I'm totally stealing that idea. And there was some type of herbed-ketchup type sauce on the side that was very good also.

My main course was the Irish salmon. Each bite just melted away after a couple of seconds in my mouth. And the skin was soooo crispy. I love crispy skin. It had a sweet foam and bacon on top, which was delicious. And the whole thing was served on a bed of lentils. That were cold. I'm really not sure what to make of that. The lentils were not even luke warm. It would seem odd for them to be served at that temperature on purpose. But I really wouldn't expect a mistake like forgetting to warm up an ingredient from this restaurant. Although I enjoyed it, the dish left me a bit perplexed.

For dessert, I had the 'signature' Kit Kat bar. It was quite good, and at $6, worth the price. It was served with two ice creams. One tasted just like chocolate milk - I liked it quite a bit. There was also chocolate ganache smeared on the plate in an 'X' shape - the second ice cream had the exact same color. So I'm assuming that it was a chocolate ganache ice cream. But it tasted, well, cold. That was about it - just cold. I was surprised about this too, so I paid close attention to the second and third bites of it. And the same result. It really tasted of nothing at first. When it was almost completely melted in my mouth, I got the faintest hint of chocolate. But the taste was still 95% nothing. Odd.

And, no, I didn't say anything to the waitress about any of this. It's my first visit - it's late - and I wasn't really upset about any of it. I'm sure I could have gotten some explanations, but the thought of bringing up my issues with the staff actually didn't occur to me at that moment. It was nothing glaringly wrong - like a steak ordered medium rare, but cooked well done - so it didn't really bother me. Although I am really curious now. I guess I should have spoken up, just to satisfy my curiosity if nothing else. But I'll be back (at some point) regardless.

-Greg

[chefATL]

I had the pleasure of working with Chef Blais for a night while he was at Bazaar. He definitely has an interesting take on food.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Chef Richard Blais will indeed be competing on Iron Chef America! He will be shooting the episode next week in fact ... when it will air is yet to be announced ...

I am truly thrilled by this auspicious news! This is one chef who will be both innovative and exciting to watch .. I know because I have done just that ...

[mcattaneo23]

Any updates in this restaurant, and perhaps piebar as well, just want to hear how they are doing, still keeping a high level of quality?? Are they hiring for line cooks??

[kretch]

Hi everyone. I moved to Atlanta back in August for graduate school and, due to time and budgetary constraints, I'm only now starting to feel out the dining scene here. Specifically, I'm looking for a restaurant producing food in the same pioneering spirit as my favorite spot back home in Philadelphia, the brilliant and sadly short-lived Salt. (Vernon Morales, exec chef.) After poking around on google and egullet, it sounds like Richard Blais, armed with with that El Bulli pedigree, is exactly the man I'm looking for.

So, I need to know: is getting his tasting menu as easy as making the request at the time of reservation? Ie, is it generally available? If so, price?

I really look forward to experiencing Chef Blais' creativity. It sounds like it's exactly what I'm looking for, and very much in line with what I loved so much at Salt.

Thanks for any information.

Tom

tkretchmar@gmail.com

Edited January 23, 2006 by kretch (log)

[Dave the Cook]

Make your reservation for a Monday or Tuesday, and request the tasting menu at that time. That's it.

If you're dining alone, or with someone as crazy about food as you are (and I mean that in a good way), I recommend sitting at the dining room bar so you can have a close-up view of the preparation of your meal.

As for cost, I have to admit that even though I've been there twice, I can't remember what we paid -- I only recall feeling like we got the better of the deal.

I'm terribly remiss in not posting my notes. I promise to get them up soon.

[mcattaneo23]

Does anyone know where i might be able to find pictures of the food at OMK...I am interested in what Chef Blais is doing and want to get a better feel of the food. I am in Ca and unfortunately cannot go there for myself. Any information u can give me to give me a better understanding of what is going on here would be great!! So far the only info I have is from here on eG and from the OMK website. Thanks again!!

[Gifted Gourmet]

I am interested in what Chef Blais is doing and want to get a better feel of the food. 

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There will be much more on Chef Blais shortly .. trust me! and stay tuned ... News@11 ...

[Dave the Cook]

It's hard to parse the restaurant-within-a-restaurant that is One.midtown Kitchen. On the surface, it's a lively, well-designed bistro that employs a slightly twisted, upscale interpretation of the traditional fare: hanger steak comes with parmesan frites; halibut gets a bed of artichoke puree and tomato marmalade; lamb sirloin, cooked sous-vide with lots of pepper and honey (the best lamb I've had outside of ADNY) is accompanied by a complex falafel refashioned as chick-pea fries (Chef de Cuisine Chris Bischoff volunteers a debt to Daniel Boulud's recipe). Even the list of (sometimes not so) small dishes includes perennials like sourdough stuffed with goat cheese and lamb riblets in a nice sticky sauce.

But poke around, and you find something else lurking underneath: the avant garde restaurant that Chef Richard Blais tried to make a success of two years ago. Finding it is a pleasure and a challenge; you rarely know where the tweaks will pop up. Tiny cubes of Worcestershire and soy jellies speckle the tartare and tuna, respectively. New-wave rice crispies show up in the tuna as well -- the dish itself is a reimagining of Korean picnic food. Order fried green tomatoes and what comes to the table isn't the familiar corn-meal-coated slices. Prepared in chunks, the tomato gets a buttermilk bath and a tempura treatment; the pieces are plated surrounding a scoop of ranch ice cream. Little tricks hold it together: a sliver of parmesan keeps the ice cream from floating out of position, and a drizzle of basil oil shimmers on the plate. It's not quite a triumph -- the tomatoes were underseasoned and the ice cream fell just a bit short on assertiveness -- but it's a good study in tart-sweet/hot-cold/crispy-soft, the sort of round-the-world in a dish adventure that Blais has made something of a signature.

The same -- and more -- goes for a dish labeled "Impasta." A broad noodle made of sweet potato hides a melange of duck confit and crumbly ricotta. A dotted garnish of balsamic vinaigrette that lends its high notes to a dish that might otherwise collapse under the weight of its earthy components (smart diners quickly learn to check out the garnishes at O.mk. They're rarely provided just for visual balance). Mushroom bubbles and brown-butter foam shrouds the noodle. According to Bischoff, there's a difference between bubbles and foam; I will have to pay closer attention. What matters is that the aerated combination is so robust in flavor and ephemeral in texture that I almost destroyed the integrity of the dish by continuing to fork dollops if it to my tongue. If you're one of those tempted to dismiss foams, airs -- and even bubbles -- as empty prestidigitation (I am often among your number), you owe it to yourself to try one in context, prepared by a kitchen that understands how to make and use them.

Setting aside the Guinness reduction that accompanies the flounder, and the vaporized beer -- yet another aerated preparation? -- that accents the mussels (I've had both of these in dishes on other nights, and they're great), not everything is beer and skittles. Sous vide does nothing for the strip sirloin that wouldn't be better accomplished with careful use of O.mk's wood-fired oven -- though the potato "tots" are great. The aforementioned lamb riblets are crowd pleasers, I'm sure. According to everyone I talked to, they're at the top of the charts, and with good reason. But I would have appreciated more of a kick from the smoked jalapeno (I'm reluctant to assert that these are really chipotles -- after all, I don't know the difference between bubbles and foam), and its listing on the small plates side of the menu is misleading.

But when O.mk clicks, it's hard to beat. The best dish of the evening was labeled simply "Organic Salmon," a humble name for a respectful and superior preparation. It starts with a filet on a sizzle plate in the wood-fired oven, passes through a plating stage that adds asparagus risotto (blanched asparagus, asparagus butter, water) and a vivid asparagus coulis, and ends with a tempura scallion and a sprinkling of pepperoni spices. Again: an expert balance of elements, and respect for the essential elements of a composition.

We shared just one dessert: a truffle cake with mint chocolate chip ice cream. The two main elements sit separated on an oval plate, the cake on a pillow of cremieux (untorched creme brulee, I'm told), in a puddle of chocolate ganache. The ice cream crouched on a croquant -- chocolate, I think, but it was mica-thin, and though wonderfully crispy and admirably resilient, couldn't stand up under the melting onslaught, so I couldn't quite figure it out. Sprinkled over the ice cream were tiny chocolate beads (admittedly not a product of the kitchen), the name of which I could only obtain as "Vahlrona Crunch Balls." I'm not much for desserts. This one started off with me resigned to "This will be a bunch of really good chocolate" -- not that that's a bad thing -- and ended with me wondering how much trial-and-error it took to get it right.

This respect carries through other sections of the menu. Raw oysters (Beausoleil-PEI the night we went) were impeccable. I should have ordered six, the better to discriminate between the half-dozen condiments that come with an order: yuzu mustard (they should reconsider this one and send the yuzu juice over to the very competent but noisy bar, and have them formulate it into a Asian margarita); cocktail sorbet (a holdover from Blais's old place, I think); salsa verde (concentrated through freeze-drying); Vidalia (onion, I presume) mignonette; Guiness jelly; and oyster pearls (oyster meat, pureed, then dropped, bead by bead, into liquid nitrogen).

The restaurant-within-a-restaurant usually knows when details are better withheld from general view, though the servers are eager to provide details. The menu, printed daily, is no longer so transparent as to reveal most of the jellies, beads, foams and formulae that populate the carte -- all the better to lure bistro diners into the most delectable of O.mk's standard offer. Of course, the truth is that you're not going to get the very best of what Blais and his team can do unless you partake of the Sunday-Monday tasting menu -- on those nights, the subversive side restaurant prevails, at your request and at the chef's whim. Even so, on any other night, you could do a lot worse than One.midtown Kitchen. Just keep an eye out for the wild side, and follow the call.

A final note: I'm happy to report, in case anyone had doubts, that Richard Blais is a real executive chef. There's not been much apprehension about his cooking, his imagination or his interpretive abilities, but an essential test of leadership is how a team performs when the leader is absent. Top marks all around here: the service staff is attentive and knowledgeable, ingredients remain first-rate and continue to be treated with respect, and the dishes are executed professionally and consistently.

Disclosure: I'm on the radar at One.midtown Kitchen. They acknowleged eG Forums when we were seated and at the end of service. We were comped the dessert, but only after my brother's girlfriend told them that it was my birthday. Upon this notice, the waiter (Jeremy, highly recommended) brought out a nice strawberry, impaled by a single discreet candle.

[robyn]

Dave - When is the tasting menu served? One recent message of yours says Monday/Tuesday - the other says Sunday/Monday. Robyn

[Voodoo]

I think it's Sunday/Monday.

I did it a while back. Here's what we had:

1) Oyster dippin dots with cocktail sauce over a thin cucumber slice

2) Hamachi sashimi with marinade served with freeze dried salsa verde

3) "Impasta"

4) Calamari with tartar sauce pipette served over malt vinegar "shot"

5) "Doughnut" made of onion and gruyere cheese with green gelatin goo in chicken broth

6) Shellfish noodles in bonita fish broth

7) Smoked salmon with apples, butter foam, and pistachio/concentrated arugula juice

8) Pork with picked cabbage and succotash

9) Passion fruit sauce with coconut sorbet

10) Chocolate truffle with pistachio ice cream

Many of the first few were small servings of items on the regular menu. I think the latter half were all special creations. I didn't really care for the first dish, but it was an interesting concept. Perhaps it was my general distaste for oysters. The main dish, the pork with pickled cabbage, was delicious, as were the two desserts. I would say 3 of the dishes were excellent or superb, 4 were very good, 2 were good and 1 I didn't care for (oysters).

All in all, I thought it was a great buy at just $49 without wine. Some have suggested that it is not only one of the best buys in the city, but one of the best overall meals. I wouldn't go that far as I would put it a a tier or two below Soto and Bacchanalia, but isn't just about every restaurant? It's clearly an upper echelon place, and it's equally clear that Blais is an incredibly innovative and dedicated chef. I wouldn't be surprised if, in the near future, Blais is rivaling the very best restaurants not only in Atlanta, but anywhere in the Southeast. I just think he's not quite there yet, but his talent is readily apparent in every dish on the tasting menu, whether you loved it or not.

[robyn]

Answered my own question by calling the restaurant. It's Monday and Tuesday.

We won't be in Atlanta on those days - so I just made a regular reservation for Sunday - my husband's birthday. Should be fun. Robyn

[kretch]

I'm headed to OMK Monday night to celebrate the end of my first year of law school. We're getting the tasting menu; I'll be sure to report back in full...

Tom

Edited May 5, 2006 by kretch (log)

[babern38]

Does anyone have any news on when Chef Blais' battle on Iron Chef America might finally air? I can't find any mention of the battle on the official website or anywhere else. I know its been filmed, but when will it be shown. Thanks.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Does anyone have any news on when Chef Blais' battle on Iron Chef America might finally air? 

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In the fall, apparently.