Restaurant Review - Bacchanalia

1999-06-01
Best Overall Restaurants 2000: Bacchanalia

If Atlanta’s mascot is really the Phoenix, Bacchanalia (1198 Howell Mill Road, 404-365-0410) may be the city’s quintessential restaurant, both for its superb cooking, impeccable service and recently demonstrated flair for reinvention. Chef/owners Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison made the drastic step of relocating Bacchanalia from a cozy house on Piedmont to a renovated meat-packing facility near the water works on Atlanta’s west side.

The move has meant a significant change in neighborhood and ambiance, with Bacchanalia trading homey comfort for industrial chic with an exhibition kitchen (though no increase in seating), but the excellence of its “New American Cuisine” has scarcely flagged. The building boasts a roughly inviting courtyard and a gourmet boutique, Star Provisions — as if you could buy things and recreate Bacchanalia’s heavenly experience in your own home.