La Pietra Cucina - First Impressions

November 10, 8:27 AMAtlanta Lunch ExaminerJohn Critz

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The black spaghetti left me more confused than I am normally. Such promise, and yet...

John Critz

Do you remember that kid in school that was smarter than just about everyone without even trying?  The kid about whom you heard teachers whisper, "if he'd only try, just a little, he could really do great things?"  You know the one - fun, intelligent, and yet, there was still something missing.  The kind of kid that gets a full scholarship, but flakes out to go teach English in Prague?  Do you remember thinking, "what wasted potential?"  Well, that's kind of how I feel about La Pietra Cucina and Chef Bruce Logue after my first meal there.

I was taking my eldest daughter to see Cavalia down at Atlanta Station, and thought we'd try out something new in midtown.  I'd heard things about La Pietra Cucina - some good, anecdotally, and others, not so much (specifically John Kessler in the AJC). 

La Pietra Cucina is right across the street from the WSB radio and TV building in a new office building on Peachtree.  Walking in, you know you're not in the red-checkered table cloth set of Italian food.  The dining room is dim, inviting, and romantic.  No Mona Lisa reproductions on the wall; no "Volare" blaring from the sound system.  Just looking at the lovely art on the wall, you'd have no idea you were even in an Italian restaurant.  The service was great - attentive, courteous and professional.  And the food was, well, it was food.

We started with the house-cured salumi and the fried olives.  The salumi consisted of a few pieces of decent, but not exceptional, sausage served with a couple olives, pickled baby onions and salad.  Nothing head turning.  The fried olives were superbly prepared, and looked gorgeous on the plate.  Each olive is stuffed and perched on top of a wee bit of green tomato chutney that added some sweetness to the briny olives.  Unfortunately, they looked better than they tasted.  I don't mean they were bad - in fact, I'd probably order them again - they were just prettier than they were tasty.

We then moved on to pasta.  My daughter opted for the house-made pappardelle with bolognese.  The noodles were perfect - fresh, large, al dente ribbons adorned with an expertly-prepared bolognese.  I have a theory about Italian restaurants - I always get an order of bolognese the first time I hit a new Italian joint.  A properly prepared bolognese takes hours to prepare, and you can taste the difference right away.  If a chef can put together an authentic bolognese, I know he has chops.  And I have no doubts that Chef Bruce Logue has chops after eating his version.

Which is what made my pasta selection so perplexing.  On the menu the black spaghetti with rock shrimp and sounds like a sure fire winner.  Rock shrimp themselves are splendid - I find them sweeter and meatier than gulf shrimp.  And my love affair with things porcine has been well documented.  Well, the problem was not in the idea, the problem lay in the execution.  For some reason, the beautiful rock shrimp had been chopped up into little cubes.  And the sausage was completely ground up so that every bite of the excellent fresh spaghetti was completely overwhelmed with spicy sausage.  I'm normally not one to complain about putting spicy sausage in my mouth, but when you annihilate every other flavor, what's the point?  While I was eating my pasta I kept wondering whether Dexter Morgan was moonlighting as the sous-chef.

As my daughter and I were trying to make the show, we didn't stick around for any of the secondi or dessert, though some looked intriguing.  I'll have to go back to sample the whole roasted fish and the steak with frittata and porcini.  But I'm going to have to go with someone else with an expense account - a poorly-made Campari soda (watery and no lime - Mama mia, no!), a glass of wine, the two appetizers and the two pastas came to a shocking $82!

So, I'm giving La Pietra Cucina an incomplete for now.  I sincerely hope Chef Bruce Logue can live up to his potential, because Atlanta suffers from a lack of quality Italian restaurants.

For more information: Visit La Pietra Cucina online.  Reservations can be made on Open Table.  La Pietra Cucina is located at 1545 Peachtree St in Atlanta.  (404) 888-8709.  Valet parking is available.