Abattoir - Meat and three? NO! Meat and Thee!

As a confirmed carnivore I get excited about meat.  Steak, pork, lamb, venison, duck (ok that's fowl but whatever) ... all favorites.  I love to cook meat - I love to eat meat.  I REALLY love to eat meat.

There's nothing quite like the feeling of grinding, or as the fancy-folk say, "masticating" a tender, buttery, rare steak between my teeth ... the juice flowing down my throat and sometimes, my chin ... the heady cave-man rush of flesh-eating ... ooh ... I need a sweat rag just thinking about it.

SO any time I get the chance for a meat-centric meal I get all a-flitter.  Now, my favorite Atlanta chefs from some of my favorite Atlanta restos (Bacchanalia - Floataway) are opening Abattoir.

And honey, I couldn't be happier.  From the article (copied below from AJC dining critic Meridith Ford Goldman) I gather this is going to be a rooter-to-the-tooter kinda place, using as many parts of the animal as possible, and more importantly, the parts that are REALLY tasty.

I grew up watching my Grandpa eat various offal - and I never really dug it all that much but as I've matured - and my tastes as well - I've come to appreciate a good innerd when I get it.  

And I can't wait - anyone wanting to go just shoot me a message and we'll plan a first-look when it opens!

Abattoir restaurant to open in early 2009

Bacchanalia owners’ new eatery will focus on ‘whole animal cuisine’

By MERIDITH FORD GOLDMAN

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Bacchanalia chef-owners Ann Quatrano and Clifford Harrison have announced that Abattoir, their “meat-centric” concept inside the old meat packing plant in the White Provision development near Bacchanalia, will open in early 2009.

“Abattoir” means “slaughterhouse” in French.

Joshua Hopkins, who has worked as part of the Bacchanalia family since 2005, will helm the new restaurant’s kitchen. He will serve as business partner of the new concept as well.

Hopkins’ most recent post for the James Beard award-winning couple has been as chef de cuisine of Bacchanalia; he has deep roots in Charleston, S.C., where he worked at two of that city’s most popular and prominent restaurants, Slightly North of Broad and High Cotton.

The concept for the restaurant revolves around what Quatrano calls “whole animal cuisine,” using locally raised (when possible) and freshly butchered fowl, fish, beef, pork and game, with a focus on using the whole — so expect to see (and taste) every part, from tongue to foot.