Table Talk: Will the Beltline Boost Westside Restaurants?

Sept. 30 — Happy Tuesday, and welcome to the table! 

In today’s “Family Meal,” I tell you why scotch and mezcal aficionados should seek out the smoky Vietnamese amaro made by Sông Cái Distillery. 

I also included an excerpt from Rough Draft Dining Reporter Sarra Sedghi’s feature story on the emerging Northwest Beltline and whether the trail will eventually boost the restaurant scene on Atlanta’s west side. While some area restaurant owners feel certain the Beltline will bring much-needed foot traffic and repeat customers, other area restaurateurs aren’t so sure. 

➕ Plus, Sandy Springs Italian restaurant Baraonda offers a recipe for its butternut squash ravioli. 

Cheers!

🍸 Beth

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The Move: Song Cai May Amaro Bitters

Photo by Beth McKibben

🇹🇭Last weekend, I headed to Roswell for my first visit to its newest restaurant: Tipsy Thaiger. The Thai pop-up opened last month as a restaurant in the old public house just off the historic town square on Atlanta Street.

After a dinner of chili jam clams, jackfruit dip, she-fried crab fried rice, and daily market fish, then Thai tea toast for dessert, two tiny glasses of amaro arrived with the check. Boy, did we need a digestif.

As someone who enjoys the earthy campfire notes of a good sipping scotch and the vegetal smokiness of mezcal, I was pleasantly surprised by the Song Cai May Amaro Bitters ($40 per bottle) presented to us at the end of the meal. With the first whiff, I knew I was in for something special. 

🇻🇳 This Hanoi-based distillery knocked it out of the park for me with an amaro leaning smoky and lightly herbaceous with a tinge of bittersweetness and hints of root beer.

I tend to be more middle-of-the road with my choice of amaro, shying away from cloyingly sweet and bracingly bitter (and heavy on the menthol aftertaste). I want a smooth, harmonious balance between the two: bittersweet and botanical with a trace of piney afterburn. In the Song Cai May Amaro Bitters, that balance is struck with a subtle smoky surprise. I’m adding this amaro to my home bar. 

Tipsy Thaiger should be on your radar for a number of reasons, including for its bar program. Put the top-notch Green Curry Sour on your list of cocktails to try.

🥃 Read more about the Song Cai amaroand its ties to the Red Dao people here. Word is, you can also find Song Cai May Amaro Bitters at Fawn in Decatur. 

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Will the Beltline Help Boost
Bottom Lines for Westside Restaurants?

Photo by Monday Night Brewing

Earlier this year, Rough Draft reported on the growing pains of small businesses on the west side of Atlanta. Now, we’re talking to residents and business owners about how they interact with the neighborhood through shopping, restaurants, personal services, and getting around by car, foot, and bike.

🍺 On Aug. 19, Mayor Andre Dickens smashed a magnum bottle of 404 Atlanta Lager against Monday Night Brewing’s newest taproom called “The Grove.” The revamped brewery space is more than eager to accept guests, with a two-story taproom, multiple patios, an in-house pizzeria, and an adjacent, forested area that will eventually host a recreational space dubbed “Camp Monday Night.”

The Grove signifies the degree of progress the Northwest Beltline can bring to Atlanta’s northwest neighborhoods. The Trabert Avenue building, once the “bonus property” of Myers Carpet, sits directly behind the newest segment of the Northwest Beltline near Howell Mill Road and the Atlanta Waterworks. While new bike lanes, upgraded sidewalks, and the Westside Beltline Connector have helped improve the area’s cycling and pedestrian infrastructure in recent years, there’s still more work to be done. 

🚶 When Monday Night Brewing first opened in 2013 on the edge of Berkeley Park on Atlanta’s west side, the potential Beltline traffic was the last thing on the minds of Jonathan Baker, Jeff Heck, and Joel Iverson. The brewery owners chose the Trabert Avenue location because they could walk there from their homes.

At a time when Georgia’s brewery laws restricted on-site beer sales and limited Monday Night to production only, the industrial makeup of the surrounding neighborhoods worked. South of Monday Night Brewing, however, developers had begun enacting the initial vision for the area that would become known as “West Midtown.” 

🚂 For developers, the industrial landscape rooted in the railroad had the space to usher in new developments. Chef Anne Quatrano’s Bacchanalia relocated to Westside Provisions District from Buckhead in 1999, and restaurateurs like Chef Ford Fry and Chef Steven Satterfield followed suit in the latter aughts. This portion of Howell Mill Road, along with Huff Road, Marietta Street Artery, and Brady Avenue, felt latent with possibility. 

“It seems like West Midtown was a beacon for galleries, retail, [and] nightlife,” Satterfield said of choosing to open Miller Union in 2009. “As things continued to open, it was a really exciting time. From 2010 to 2015 … it felt edgy and cool.” 

As Georgia’s beer laws changed and Monday Night Brewing grew into a more customer-facing business, the Westside blossomed. Beltline officials took notice, approaching Baker, Heck, and Iverson about their brewery becoming an anchor tenant for the northwest quadrant of the trail.

🤞 Monday Night Brewing isn’t the only business banking on more foot traffic with the Northwest Beltline’s completion. The owners of neighboring cafe The Daily intentionally opened on Trabert Avenue in 2022 because of the building’s proximity to the future Northwest Beltline trail.

But Westside restaurateurs farther from the Northwest Beltline, like Satterfield and Urban Grind owner Cassandra Ingram, aren’t so sure they’ll see a boost in business or foot traffic from a completed trail.

➡️ Read the rest of Sarra’s feature story on Westside restaurants here.

Butternut Squash Ravioli Recipe from Baraonda

Photo by Baraonda

🍁 This week, we’re bringing you a recipe for the butternut squash ravioli from Baraonda Ristorante and Bar in Sandy Springs.

This recipe calls for Grana Padano cheese, a northern Italian hard cheese akin to Parmesan, and Mostarda Mantovana, an Italian condiment you can purchase at a specialty food shop like Tuscany at Your Table in Virginia-Highland or online. (Buon’Italia has a particularly good selection.) You can also make mostarda at home, using apples or quince.

🍝 Baraonda’s ravioli recipe involves, but does not require, a pasta maker.

Chef Costanzo Astarita said you can roll out the dough until it’s 1/8-inch thick with a rolling pin. However, using a pasta machine, such as the KitchenAid pasta roller attachment, or a hand crank, like an Isiler pasta roller, provides a more consistent thickness and requires less physical exertion.

📋 Ingredients

For the dough:

  • 4 cups pasta flour
  • 1 cup semolina flour
  • 3 whole eggs at room temperature
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3/4 tsp kosher salt

For the filling:

  • 2 lbs butternut squash
  • 5 ounces amaretti cookies
  • 5 ounces Mostarda Mantovana (Italian condiment available at specialty stores)
  • 5 ounces Grana Padano, grated finely
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated
  • Salt and white pepper, to taste

For the ravioli:

  • 6 Tbsp butter
  • Fresh sage leaves

🥟 Directions

Prepare the squash

  1. Cut squash in half and place cut side down in a baking tray. Roast at 400 Fahrenheit for about 50 minutes, or until soft enough to mash with a fork.
  2. Remove seeds and stringy interior, then remove pulp and place in a food processor. Process pulp to a creamy consistency, then transfer to a mixing bowl.

Start the filling

  1. Crumble amaretti cookies into a fine breadcrumb consistency and add to pulp.
  2. Add Grana Padano and mix.
  3. Chop mostarda finely and add to the mixture.
  4. Season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper and mix well. (If the mixture feels too wet, add some fine, unseasoned breadcrumbs to achieve a drier consistency.)

Make the dough

  1. Whip eggs, oil and salt in a mixing bowl.
  2. Place flour in a stand mixer bowl. Turn the machine to low and slowly add the egg mixture. A ball of dough will start to form. (If it’s too wet, add a little flour, and if it’s too dry, add some water.) Dough should form and pull away from the sides.
  3. Once dough forms, remove from machine and place on a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, until smooth.
  4. Wrap dough in plastic film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Make the ravioli

  1. Remove pasta from fridge. Working in small batches, while keeping the remaining dough covered, start with the wide setting and roll out dough.
  2. After each pass, reduce width, fold dough in half. Keep passing dough in the rollers, reducing width every time, until dough is about 1 millimeter thick (usually the smallest setting on pasta roller machines).
  3. Using a ring mold or round cookie cutter, lightly press into one half of the pasta sheet to space out ravioli. Fill the round with butternut squash mixture within a half inch of the center. Mark with a spoon or piping bag.
  4. Wet the edge of ravioli and place the other half of the pasta sheet on top.
  5. Using the sides of your hand, press down firmly and press the two halves together, pressing out as much air as possible.
  6. Cut out ravioli with a round cutter. Press ravioli together with your thumb and index finger, ensuring a tight seal.
  7. Place ravioli on a parchment-covered baking sheet, taking care not to overlap, until all filling is used.
  8. If cooking ravioli the same day, refrigerate. Otherwise, freeze to use on a later date.

Cook the ravioli

  1. Boil a large pot of salted water.
  2. Meanwhile, place a sauté pan over medium heat. Melt butter and sage leaves, slightly browning the butter, to ensure a nutty flavor.
  3. Reduce to a simmer. Cook ravioli for 3 to 5 minutes, until they float.
  4. Drain well, coat with butter, and place on a serving platter. Top with butter, sage, and grated Grana Padano and serve.

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Beth McKibben serves as both Editor-in-Chief and Dining Editor for Rough Draft Atlanta. She was previously the editor of Eater Atlanta and has been covering food and drinks locally and nationally for 15 years.