Key Points:
- Italian restaurant Füm opened at Stella at Star Metals.
- Expect a menu centered on open-fire cooking techniques and handmade pastas.
- Look for an Italian-leaning wine list, a selection of champagnes, and classic Italian cocktails from the bar.
Another Miami import recently joined the restaurant lineup at the Star Metals complex on Atlanta’s west side.
Füm, considered a “contemporary Italian” restaurant, opened at Stella at Star Metals on 11th Street last week, just around the corner from Miami-based Ghee Indian Kitchen on Howell Mill Road.
Backed by Grassfed Culture Hospitality, Füm (Italo-Gaelic for “smoke”) won’t be the only concept at Stella from the Miami restaurant group. Later this spring, Grassfed Culture plans to open a reservation-only cocktail bar and listening room called Rabbit Ears on the 17th floor of the Star Metals building.
As for Füm, expect a menu centered on open-fire cooking techniques, including dry-aged steak entrees, a bone-in pork chop with smoked tomato-miso sugo, and saffron-spiced trout garnished with trout roe. The menu also features handmade pastas like strozzapreti with braised grass-fed oxtail, agnolotti with smoked corn and taleggio, and chitarra with sea urchin and Osetra caviar.
Füm features an Italian-leaning wine list, as well as a selection of champagnes. In addition to wine, look for classic Italian cocktails and riffs on aperitifs, like the Muratore made with Italian extra-virgin olive oil and fat-washed amaro, Koji sake, Lapsang Souchong tea, and tequila.
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• Will the Northwest Beltline boost Westside Atlanta restaurants?
The recent restaurant openings at Star Metals come after a slew of closures over the last two years around the southern Howell Mill Road corridor, including at Star Metals and neighboring complexes The Interlock and Westside Provisions District.
Exorbitant parking fees at these complexes were initially blamed for the restaurant shakeout in the area. However, further reporting indicated the problems facing restaurants were due to a multitude of factors, in which parking played a small part. Rapid overdevelopment, high rent, parking issues, traffic congestion, ongoing construction, and too-similar restaurant concepts within striking distance of one another compounded, leading to a snowball effect.
The pace of restaurant closures has since slowed, as construction winds down on Howell Mill Road and developers in the area continue courting new restaurants and retail businesses to fill vacant spaces.
Füm, 660 11th St., Stella at Star Metals. Open Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday, 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Check out the menu here.