Lure Gets Two Stars From the AJC

This week, John Kessler takes on Lure, the newest restaurant from Fifth Group. The last couple sentences of the piece sums up his feelings perhaps a bit more nicely than the meat of the review suggests: "If it doesn't quite touch that seafood-loving part of your soul yet, give it time. It has plenty of other things going for it." Kessler doles out compliments then takes them back— dishes are clever but with mushy and "sproingy" components, or, as in the case of the roasted small eggplants with dill, pickled banana peppers, mild sheep's milk feta, and watercress, he was smitten the first time he tried the dish but found it to be an "odd mishmash" the next. Some items are "weirdly uncooked," "warm and soupy," or designated a "big plate of 'why,'" but others are crisp and chewy in just the right way, like the fried Ipswich clam bellies. In fact, all of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution dining critic's favorite dishes seemed to be the fried ones— he's also a fan of the fried oyster slider and the fish and chips.

HE ELSEWHERE AND THE BLOGS: The AJC also visits an Atlanta classic, The Colonnade, Hot Dish Review tries many things that aren't the burger at Holeman & Finch, Review Atlanta goes back for more at Mae's Bakery, Marie, Let's Eat gets Cuban at Havana, Bella Vivere loves the Korean barbecue at Honey Pig, the Dixie Dish finds Watershed refreshingly different, Food Near Snellville reviews Raging Burrito, Atlanta Restaurant Blog heads to Cruzado, Eat It, Atlanta gets hot fish at The Porter, and Cliff Bostock has cheap meals at Home Grown, Osteria 832, and Olive Bistro.