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PiebarNot my piece of pie
9/29/05 |
Opening a new
restaurant is one the riskiest, if not the riskiest,
of all business ventures. I painfully watch them come and
go. Some torturously hang around with such little business
they might as well be closed.
With that being said, can somebody please tell me how Bob Amick
makes it look so easy? Apparently, all he has to do is build
it and they will come, and they come in droves. His latest endeavor,
Piebar, located on Monroe overlooking I-85, is no exception.
Piebar is an instant smash with the sassy, skin-tight jeans and
cocktail quaffing crowd.
The building itself is a sexy, space-aged circular vessel mainly
constructed of concrete. The three-tier patio looks like a built-by-NASA
alien welcome mat covered by a dramatic purple-ish lit
overhang, which is brilliantly designed to allow the heat to
escape rather than trap and build.
Inside, long windows stretch from floor to ceiling. Tables line
the outer walls encircling the bar, which is uncomfortably close
(call it attached) to the restaurant’s kitchen. Patrons
are close enough to the cooks to mingle and flirt – and
as one might expect – they do.
The fare is simple Mediterranean – a variety of pizzas and
small plates. Unfortunately, this is where the wheels come flying
off. But think about it for a moment, Bob Amick has never opened
a restaurant that actually served good food. ONE.Midtown Kitchen’s
menu, despite raving reviews from the mainstream media, was apathetic
at best when it opened, as was the food at Two Urban Licks.
Now comes Piebar, whose menu was largely developed by Richard
Blais. However, Blais is currently busy receiving high praise
for his edgy work at ONE.Midtown Kitchen (just two miles down
the road) and is not on site at Piebar to execute his dishes.
Instead, that grueling task has been placed in the hands of Melissa
Fedorko, an aspiring young chef who is making her debut as executive
chef, and doing so without one single menu item she can call
her own.
Fedorko faces many challenges, but perhaps none bigger than the
fact that Piebar is extremely limited in the way of space. Remember,
this was originally a bazaar bank built in the 1960’s. |
Outdoor patio dining at Piebar
Price Range:
Micro Plates: $4 - $12
Pizza: $8 (half) $14 (full)
Desserts: $4 - $5
Hours:
Mon -Thurs: 5pm -12am
Fri: 5pm-1am
Sat: 12pm - 1am
Sun: 12pm - 10pm
Address/Tel: 2160 Monroe Dr, Atlanta Tel: 404-815-1605
Notes:
*Service is mostly exceptional
* Stick to desserts and cocktails until the kitchen
can get things worked out.
*Super cool outdoor drinking patio
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These are some of the issues discussed as we are seated for our
sixth meal at Piebar, which is much like being blindfolded
and handed a cigarette. Piebar insinuates pizza to me and
that’s what they sell plenty of. Pizza options range
from an ordinary tomato with mozzarella and basil to an exotic
rabbit with mole and queso fresco.
Get as kinky as you want, but if you can’t execute the basics
there really is no reason. And execution appears to be a major
issue at Piebar. As a result, pizzas arrive soggy and cloying
then, oddly, slowly congeals on our pizza stand over the course
of our meal. Unabashedly priced at $14, it’s easily the
most overpriced pizza in town. If it was edible (which it is
not) – it couldn’t feed a family of one.
Unfortunately, it can (and does) get worse before it gets better.
Stuffed clams are served as rubbery nubs and the accompanying
gray-ish in complexion chorizo tastes like hamburger helper.
Squid “scampi”, a dish known to Blais fanatics as “impasta”,
isn’t basking in that delicate buttery sauce we all know
and love, but is instead killed with a thick insipid blanket.
Leading me to believe this kitchen is heavily armed with cornstarch
and not afraid to pull the trigger.
Where to go next? Beats me. Truffled egg toast is like biting
into weathered cardboard and deviled eggs only faintly offer
the flavor of vinegar, and weirdly, nothing else. Didn’t
realize smoked salmon could be rendered flavorless. Is this the
latest Ferran Adria trick?
You’d think meats provided by Franco Boeri, formerly of
Salumeria Taggiasca, would provide shelter. Wrong. Despite being
the highest quality product in the house, Bresaola and porchetta
are served as dry lethargic sheets on a funky stone tile – obviously
sliced hours, if not days before being passed off on us.
So how do you make it stop? Order dessert. Really, it’s
your only way out. Gelato, though more like ice cream in texture,
is refreshing and flawlessly prepared. But the best dessert served
in this Jetsons-like home is the key lime cannoli – with
its slightly pucker-y tart filling wrapped with a delicate
almond brittle. Kudos to the pastry team!
Is it possible for Piebar to turn this thing around? Well, that's
entirely up to Piebar.
Better yet, will they turn Piebar around? Only time will tell,
I guess.
Hey, look what they've done with ONE.Midtown Kitchen . . .
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| Contact Tom: tom@altantacuisine.com |
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