Daniel B.
Yelp
We had a great dinner last night at Avize Modern Alpine in West Midtown. I've been to a lot of restaurants and can't say I'd ever been to an "Alpine" restaurant until now. Avize describes Alpine as "a mashup of French, Italian, Swiss, German, and Austrian cultures." To me, it felt like a New American restaurant with European flair.
The food, drink, service, and ambiance were solid. I think this is a fine choice for a nice night out in Atlanta. It's certainly unique. For details, keep reading.
Avize opened on October 3, 2024 in West Midtown's Stockyards mixed-use development; same place as The Painted Duck (bowling). During our visit, parking options were $5-plus-tip valet and self-parking in the garage. Avize validates self-parking for 3 hours (after that, it's $5 and up). If you self-park, exit the garage on Level P3 for Avize.
This is a beautiful, swanky restaurant, highlighted by a white mountain goat in the center of the dining room. In the back, there's the more casual and loungey "Bar Avize" and outdoor patio. Reservations are recommended (Resy).
The two co-founders have a lot of industry experience, including in Atlanta at now-Michelin-starred Atlas (both worked at Atlas), Bacchanalia, and Mujo. Co-founder/sommelier Taurean Philpott was the one who checked us in and validated my parking.
I liked that the food menu was fairly simple and straightforward. We tried most of it. Here's what we had:
Drinks (no alcohol)
* Le Tropic ($16) - Lyre's Italian orange, acid-adjusted pineapple, oleo saccharum, Fever-Tree ginger beer
* Diet Coke x2 ($3 each)
Wine
* Domaine Cazes Macabeo Macabeu Amber Wine Organic 2022 ($16 glass)
Cocktail
* Alpine Swizzle ($20) - Planteray Mr. Fogg, Ten to One White Rum, allspice, acid-adjusted pineapple, chartreuse vegetal
Amuse-Bouche
* Japanese-style custard
Begin
* Pastrami Spiced Beet Carpaccio ($16) - horseradish yogurt, green strawberry pickle, spruce tips, dill, Brazil nut
* Dandelion Salad ($16) - Georgia satsuma, pumpkin seed, truffle vinaigrette, pecorino
* Frog Legs ($20) - "lemon pepper wet"
* Venison Tartare ($26) - buckwheat, blueberry, walnut "ketchup," oxalis, smoke
* Foie Gras Parfait ($24) - black pepper, caraway short crust, ice wine, dandelion, peach
Bread Service
* Pretzel rolls with house-cultured butter, sprinkled with seaweed
Main Course
* Fermented Carrot Bolognese ($26) - sheep's milk, horseradish, mint, pecorino
* Fallow Deer ($55) - burnt eggplant, serviceberry jus, maitake, green garlic
* Norwegian Halibut ($49) - summer squash, lady peas, lardo, gem veloute
* Botanical Hay Smoked Duck ($65) - fermented carrot, citrus, miso
-- Duck comes with its own amuse-bouche made of duck heart and beet
Vegetables & Sides
* Charred Cabbage ($17) - harissa, cashew cream, caraway, apple
* Tartiflette ($14) - fromage blanc, yellow wine, bacon, reblochon
* Pommes Rosti ($18) - smoked trout roe, elderflower cream, chive
After-Dinner Cocktail
* Young Grass Hoppa dessert cocktail. $16. Tempus Fugit Creme de Cacao a la Vanille, Creme de Menthe Glaciale, matcha, cream
After (desserts)
* Creme Brulee ($15) - pineapple, vanilla, banana
* Tiramisu ($16) - black sesame, chicory, truffle
* White Pepper Ice Cream ($11) - fig leaf oil, oolong milk tea
Gift
* Bite-sized chocolates
My Alpine Swizzle cocktail was served in a fun, colorfully-decorated German beer stein. We were told some of the restaurant's investors have their favorite steins here. This and the Young Grass Hoppa were fantastic.
The one thing that struck me about the food is how original and creative the dishes were. All around, they were well executed and consistently delicious; there wasn't a single bad dish. Also, they were all excellent in terms of plating and presentation.
My favorites were the Beet Carpaccio, Frog Legs, Foie Gras Parfait, Deer, Halibut, Tartiflette, Pommes Rosti, and Tiramisu (finished off at the table with shaved truffle). The Deer was tender and appetizing. The Duck was a bit tough, but still had terrific flavor. There were some unexpected Asian influences, like the matcha in the dessert cocktail and the milk tea in the ice cream.
Why four stars instead of five? It's close and I'm being picky here, but none of the dishes blew me away. Also, the attention to detail could've been better. For example, one of the plates served to me was wet; not a big deal, but that wouldn't happen at a place like, say, Mujo. Another example is our leftovers were boxed up and hung by the exit. No one told us they'd be left there. When we left, we had to open the boxes to figure out whose leftovers were whose (there was another unmarked bag of leftovers hanging by the exit too). Finally, there were a couple fruit flies/gnats flying around our table, one of which got into my wife's wine. I realize these are nitpicky things, but my standards are higher for a fine-dining restaurant.
I recommend Avize and I hope it succeeds. A high-end Alpine restaurant in Atlanta is an ambitious and risky concept.