A perfect Canoe

Sometimes things are perfect.

When you find something perfect you then realize the other experiences you might compare to, you thought were perfect, weren’t. They might have been really good or above expectation, but not perfect.

At 37 and a lover of food and restaurants I can count on one hand the number of perfect dining experiences. It takes a lot to pull it all together; location, atmosphere, food, drink, numerous employees that all have to be on target and in tune with you and your party.

So here is the place I now get to add to my perfect spots: Canoe.

Here are  the moments I want to capture (and I will not go through all of them as there many more highlights):

The grounds were beautiful. I know, grounds. I come from southern cal where grounds are the parking lot and the shrubs in front. Canoe is on the Chattahoochee river in Atlanta Georgia, nestled in a community of incredible estate homes. There is a walking path that winds through lawns with lovely flowers and plants all under the shade of mature trees.

They even had set some tables out on the lawn for a small party of 4 couples. They were right next to the water front a good 50 feet from the back porch of the building. While I was there they set up the tables and seated the 8. They seemed to really enjoy themselves and it was hard not to be impressed with this extra effort of having the wait staff travel the distance.

If I lived on the river I would insist the owner install a dock so I could come via the river as there is a bit of a hideaway feeling here. Here you can see the lawn from the path and the canvas porch covers

The architecture was also stunning. Well appointed, correctly lit, good acoustics (Monday night and the restaurant was full but it was easy to talk). The ceiling looked like the inside of a highly polished wood canoe.

The service was unforgettable. The funny thing is I am usually horrible with names but because of the experience I remember them all.

Kevin the bar tender that was on the spot bringing us drinks before we asked. Here is a picture of my first drink, an ice tea i ordered before  my party arrived. Note the paddle shaped stir stick and the pretty bottle of simple syrup.

June our waitress. Awesome. I realized very soon she understood the menu and how it paired like nothing I had ever heard a server explain. I ended up having her pick everything; the bread (baked in the restaurant earlier that day), the salad, the slow roasted Carolina rabbit with swiss chard stuffed pasta, the wine to go with the dinner, and the desert a 70% coca hard shell hiding a flour less chocolate cake with camel and just the right amount of salt to make it sweet and complex (also prepared in house that day but my picture down below did not do it justice).  There is no way I could have picked a better meal, everything was way beyond expectation.

Everyone else was great as well; the valet who, upon realizing I had some time to kill pointed me to the back porch that lead to the river, which drove me to come back moments later and ask for my keys so I could fetch my camera, which he did for me. The wait staff that always removed and set plates  by walking the  long way around and behind me as to not distract our conversation. And so on. Lots of attention to detail here.

After everything i experienced above I would have been able to leave and this still would have been in the top 5 restaurants ever. But here is the real kicker. When I realized half way though my diner that I never took any pictures I asked June if she could take my camera to the kitchen and take a couple shots if anyone else had ordered my same meal. I was willing to accept on a busy night this was too much to ask but hey, nothing ventured right? So while we are starting our desert the Manager Jennifer Krapp and the Executive Sous Chef Matt Basford came to the table bringing the same dishes I had eaten so I could take shots of them. I was floored (and a little embarrassed not realizing how far southern hospitality can go).

Oh but it does not end. After taking some shots and chatting with  Matt we learned they were just getting started on a new project of growing some of there own produce. In a partnership with a local grower, Dill Farms, they have built a garden on the grounds. After telling us about it he offered to take us on  a tour (again don’t forget the restaurant is full for diner). How could we say no?

It is just a start (only a couple weeks into the project) but you could sense the pride in being able to grow specialty produce they could use in the restaurant where they would control and participate in whole cycle. They estimated, based on their starting efforts, they  will produce around 100 lbs of produce to be used for seasonal meals.

Here you can see one of the planter boxes they built

They have also planted green beans that they will train to climb the fence

The only downsides to the night were my wife was not present (and she would have loved the desert) and it is in Atlanta which is a big stones throw from Southern California. But now I am trying to make sure to find reasons to travel there.

A couple of parting notes:

The night we were there they were starting a week long Yelp.com event where they had built a special  menu to allow new guests to try a number of appetizers, main course and deserts for a nice price. Here is the query string from Yelp (you can see I am not alone in my opinion)

I originally found the restaurant on Zagat (first time using it, i signed up for a 60 day free trial and Canoe had one of the highest ratings in the area). Users on the site had a lot of great things to say.

I booked the reservation with opentable.com