REVIEW
Dancing Through
THE SEASONS
Fall in love with this seasonally inspired dish of tender smoked duck breast and Cotechino sausage, accented with roasted pumpkin, local mushrooms, soft apples and braised chestnuts.
Ecco Buckhead’s hyper-seasonal dishes make for ever-changing offerings STORY:
Jennifer Bradley Franklin
PHOTOS: Sara
Hanna
S A side of pommes frites (that's fancy fries) with sherry garlic aioli is a simple pleasure worth the indulgence.
74
ome of my fondest memories are of gliding around the dance floor, being led through the elegant one-two-three of the waltz or the crisp, drama-filled steps of the tango. What started as an elective ballroom dancing class in college turned into a full-fledged passion for me. Meals at Ecco in Buckhead have that same elegance and spontaneity. Instead of a partner leading him to music, Executive Chef Drew Van Leuven allows
November/December 2021 | Simply Buckhead
himself—and his highly developed sense of creativity—to be driven by what’s in season. “Farmers grow vegetables throughout the year, all with a short timespan of perfect seasonality,” he says. “There aren't four seasons; there are actually around 16 [when it comes to produce].” He maintains strong relationships with regional growers, so he’ll know what’s coming into its peak of freshness, even if ingredient availability is short-lived, sometimes even a handful of days. Case in point: Though there was a scant two-week interval between recent dinners, the menu was transformed. During my first visit, I fell in love with a starter of impossibly creamy burrata with peppery arugula, English peas, sweet-tart strawberries and pickled fennel, drizzled with peppercorn vinaigrette; grilled Spanish octopus, charred in all the right places and served with Castelvetrano olives and fried shallots; and a rather extraordinary grilled pork tenderloin with beet top risotto, crispy pancetta and golden beets. Though their memory had my mouth watering in advance of my second reservation, they’d been replaced with updated dishes according to micro-changes in what was available from local farmers. During my second visit, I decided to stick to items that tend to be perennial Ecco
favorites—the things that might incite a riot among regular guests if they were removed. No matter when you visit, the tangy goat cheese, fried to golden, drizzled with honey and flecked with cracked black pepper (a holdover from Fifth Group’s original location in Midtown), is a must-order. The pastas are made fresh, so you can’t go wrong with carb-loading here. A classic, the toothsome, just al dente pappardelle is tossed with silky pork, braised with garlic, basil and mild, sweet peppadew peppers. At lesser restaurants, a flatbread can feel like a safe or uninteresting choice. Here, the Allora arrived crisp and char-spotted from its brief stint in the ultra-hot, wood-fired oven and topped with ruby red San Marzano tomato sauce, still bubbling mozzarella, hot sopressata and pepperoni. That dish alone will keep me coming back; it’s casual, comforting, unpretentious and perfectly done. If you’re looking for a way to exercise a bit of your own creativity, the culinary crew is known for its fresh bread and curing many of the meats on offer, so you’re always able to build a spectacular charcuterie board. Mortadella studded with pistachios, duck confit rillette and enough smoked sausages to make a meat-lover’s head spin come served with seasonal accoutrements such
