Text 28881, 119 rader
Skriven 2015-07-08 07:46:00 av Michael Loo (1:18/200)
Ärende: Holeman & Finch 940
===========================
Holeman and Finch is one of those buzzy places that gets
plenty of publicity from the food critics and network shows.
I decided it might be worth the trip up to Buckhead on the
bus. Speaking of which, MARTA has tried to hipsterize the
110 up and down Peachtree and call it The Peach. Doesn't
seem to have worked - none of the buses we saw had any but
the ordinary working clientele, no yuppies in sight, even
though it goes right up the alley of the rich and ambitious.

We had been caught in a huge thunderstorm in the afternoon,
having to dodge from one see-sight to the next; lost an hour
in transit, half of it cowering by the MLK gravesite while
lightning struck all around. So our plan to beat the crowd
and get here at opening time was dashed; by the time we
arrived, there were no tables in the small noisy dining room,
but there were places at the small noisier bar area, so we
parked at the end of the bar and got our dinner there.

The rich and famous (or would-be both) have clearly collected
here. I figure we were the only people in the room who had
gotten here by bus. including the staff. We were also the
oldest people in the room, about twice the average age of the
clientele and rivalled only by what seemed to be a couple
bosses drinking with their employees (and perhaps interested
in a nonprofessional way in the ones with the more obvious
nonprofessional endowments).

We were served first by an apprentice (appeared to maybe be
his first day, certainly within the first week, on the job)
and then, when we proved to require slightly more professional
handling, by the head bartender.

Clos des Justices 10 had a little star by its listing on the
daily-generated menu; I inquired what that meant and was told
that it was the last bottle in the inventory and thus to be
snapped up as soon as possible. I did. It came not from the
cellar but from the fridge, and as I waited for it to come to
temperature I had an Aviation cocktail, which came pinkish,
not purplish, and was devoid of the modest floral aspect that
distinguishes the drink. It was not nasty and served to pass
the time. Poor Lilli had to endure this wait as I occasionally
poured her microservings to warm up in her glass. When it
became drinkable, it was a mature, smooth Merlot with the
standard mixed berries and currants aroma and a touch of mint,
definitely in the classic style but not distinctive in any way.

Lilli ordered a burger, rare, and the bartender gave her this
song and dance about how the quality of the meat allows it
to be juicy and flavorful done medium, which is the way the
chef likes it, and if she didn't like it he'd buy it. Okay,
whatever. It came, a perfectly ordinary burger, medium-rare,
juicy, quite good, nothing special and nothing like deserving
the fame that it has gotten from the local and national press. 
I forget what the accompaniments were, as I tasted just the
meat part, which was fine but had a slight smoky aspect to it.
Serious Eats, whose article's headline calls it "a Burger
Impossible to Overhype," claims "This was, hands down, the
best griddled burger I have ever eaten. ... There is no
weakness in this burger." Okay, no weakness, but I didn't
detect much distinctive about it either. Plus I think it's
quite possible to overhype (or hype, anyhow, the longer term
being a redundancy sort of like pizza pie or snickerdoodle
cookie).

I ordered three appetizers and no main course, asking for
them to come in whatever order the kitchen decided. They
came in this order:

Buffalo chicken skins are a cute idea but a silly dish -
as you know I love chicken skins, but these were coated in
wing sauce so heavily that the nice crunch was pretty much
extinguished. And the wing sauce was sour enough to take
the enamel off your teeth. I should have had the sauce on
the side.

Pimentos de padron are the most fashionable of a genre of
pepper that has gotten a ton of press lately (as I recall
the other famous ones of this type are shisitos and
piquillos) - they're fruity, very sweet little peppers that
contain the occasional bomb: by some accident, between 10 and
20 percent of them are hotter than hades, but the rest have
no heat, and you're taking your taste buds in your hands when
eating them. It's said to be the culinary equivalent of
Russian roulette. I got a little dish of maybe 1 1/2 dozen,
of which two were noticeably hotter but no more so than the
old jalapenos, which topped out at 3000 units (there has been
a crawl upward over the years, to 3500, 5000, and now they
say 10000). These, simply tossed in olive oil and salt and
stir-fried until tender and slightly blistered, were very
enjoyable, probably the best part of the meal.

Bone marrow "St. John" was not a big serving, not done right,
and in general not St. Johnish. For starters, for $14 one
might expect more than half of an 8" length of bone that until
recently would have been given away for free as a dog treat.
A normal serving should be both halves, crossed artfully, as
they do it at St. John, where the marrow is topped with a
tiny sprinkle of coarse breadcrumbs - here, the crumbs cover
the whole surface and as they are too fine soak up all the
fatty goodness, so are impossible to ignore. Plus, this bone
was done rare! Weird. I didn't mind this, but it was not as
it should be (the marrow should not still be sticking to its
bone) and certainly not the way I had it at St. John, where
it is borderline overcooked. At least the parsley and red
onion salad in vinaigrette was spot on.

The guy tried to hustle dessert, but instead I asked just for
an order of the bacon caramel popcorn, which is listed as an
appetizer. It was everything you'd expect, only better. The
other candidate for best part of the meal.

When the bill came, he said he hadn't charged for the popcorn,
because we didn't seem overwhelmed by the burger. Fair enough.
I'm figuring he just forgot to put it on. He got part of the
difference in his tip.

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