Rare: Our second foray into Atlanta’s resturant scene

photo by James Camp

Normally, when I think of tapas, I think of little plates of tasty morsels that pair well with my beer. To be honest I haven’t done alot of tapas but when I have it was just a few steps above bar food; basically, it served as second fiddle to my main course, beer. Soul food on the other had, never plays second fiddle. As a matter of fact when you get soul food, its the ONLY fiddle! Me and my wife knew this place back in Brooklyn called Mamma’s, the food was so good we promised only to visit bi annually, the food was just too good and the portions were just monstrous.

At any rate, my wife and I stumbled onto a restaurant here in Atlanta that plays R. Kelly and Jay-Z to soul food and Tapas. Rare soul food tapas bar, serves soul food the tapas version. This is especially great for the horizontally challenged like myself, I can enjoy soul food without the guilt of going to a place like “Mamma’s” in Brooklyn. It’s no help however that the meals are served on large beds and not tables. (Yep, you heard me,right . . . BEDS!)

At any rate, when we arrived we were able to get seated immediately since it was a Tuesday, apparently this place gets packed on the weekends so make reservations or get there early. Our waiter led us to our table, which wasn’t really a table but a bed and not so much a bed but a huge lawn chair with extra plush padding and ultra wide arm rests.

The first thing I noticed was the music and the decor. It was like a neo-downtempo-soul type vibe, sprinkled with some deep house. I love deep house. (by the way if you’re ever in the mood for some dope deephouse, check out dogglounge. Dogglounge is by far one of the best sources that I’ve found for free deephouse, they stream it and they also offer dozens of downloads from their resident team of DJs, but I digress.) The decor was kind of a mish mash of things with a morrocan boudior type flair. It was all dark and candle lit and what not, the dining area has a large airy feeling thanks to the high ceiling but still maintains its intimate small feeling with all the dark paint and exposed brick walls.

So, we checked out the menu and decided on four small plates. We wold have the Buffalo Cornish hen, lobster macaroni, piri piri pork and collard green potstickers, but we started off with some drinks. My wife got a fruit punch and I got a mojito. The fruit puch was fruit punch and the mojito was couch syrup. Honestly it was the worst mojito I’ve ever had in my life, maybe it was because it was Tuesday and this mojito was leftover from the previous weekend or something, but whatever it was, it was bad. The food however, would change all that.

The food was pretty good with the potstickers being the standout. The potstickers where served piping hot and crispy with a melange of ginger, spices, a little pot liquor and succulent firm and not mush collard greens. They were quite tasty. Next was the piri piri pork. I have no idea what piri piri is, but I’ve seen it in a few places down here. Whatever it is, it tastes good. Its a spicy sweet marinade similar to jerk type seasoning. The pork was cooked in this rub and was very moist and tender, it was great. The Cornish hen was like buffalo wings except it was the whole chicken, it was novel but if you’ve had Buffalo wings you ain’t missin’ much. I’m allergic to lobster so I didn’t have the lobster mac and cheese. My wife said it was ok, “nothing to write home about”, is what she said, and judging from our fork fisted eyeball to eyeball fight for the last morsel of piri piri pork I believe her.

What meal would be complete without dessert? Especially since Rare’s portions aren’t huge and there’s enough space for the sweet stuff. Our waiter’s favorite dessert was the bread pudding so I decided to give it a shot. When the bread pudding arrived it was warm and sat above the rim of the ramican it was served in, oozing chocolate sauce, whipped cream and pudding down its side. Our waiter was correct, the bread pudding was superb. It had a great texture soft abd pliable but not too mushy with a few crunchy toasted bits around the edges, wonderful.

Service at Rare was good, but the place was empty. I bet on the weekends the level of service may dip a bit, but that’s too be expected. each plate at rare averaged between $5 to $7 dollars and was designed to be shared by two, so you can easily get in and out of there for under $50 with a few drinks and dessert. All in all, I give rare a 3.75 out of 5. It was great, and I can’t wait to go back on the weekend, I hear its a hotbed for Atlanta celebrities. but if you want to avoid the traffic and get a bed without a reservation, try going to rare on a weekday. Enjoy.

Rare
554 Piedmont ave.
Atlanta, Ga
tel: 404.541.0665
hours:
sun - thur: 5pm - 12pm
fri - sat : 5pm - 1am