Two Stars for Watershed on Peachtree and F&B

For Atlanta Magazine, Bill Addison reviewed Watershed in its new location on Peachtree Road in Buckhead. Aesthetically, Watershed on Peachtree's dining room "exudes the studied neutrality of a museum cafe" but has a bar that displays "spunkier character." As for the menu, it "effortlessly glides between uptown and down-home." The four pieces of fried chicken— served only on Wednesday nights— come with two flaky, dense biscuits and separately-ordered sides like sauteed kale or grilled radicchio. Every night might not be Fried Chicken Night, but Joe Truex and chef de cuisine Julia LeRoy shine seven days a week. The few problems the restaurant faces are more about execution than taste: a muddled and fussy vegetable plate, chocolate cake needlessly stuffed into a jar.

Poetically, Addison recounts the menu's starters before following up with hearty praise for dishes like the salmon tartare, Berkshire pork chop, and jambalaya:

Start with shareable snacks and appetizers. Nibble catfish goujonettes—essentially gussied-up fish sticks with a side of spicy slaw—while sipping a glass of Champagne or sparkling rosé from the succinct but diverse wine list. Embrace the calories with hunks of pork belly painted with cane syrup, which you wrap in Bibb lettuce leaves and then swipe through a mixture of Dijon mustard and soy sauce. Slurp roasted oysters given a pungent, sophisticated bump from anchovy-lemon butter.

John Kessler took on F&B for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Following Brasserie and FAB Atlanta, Fabrice Vergez has opened F&B Atlanta on the ground floor of the Ritz Carlton Residences. Kessler describes the restaurant's decor as having a "thickly applied rustic look" and the food as Mediterranean French cuisine, smartly updated. He recommends much of the lighter fare, like the house salad, arctic char, and loup de mer with tabbouleh, but also says the pub frites and beer-braised chicken with truffled polenta gnocchi, tiny turnips, and mushrooms are key dishes. Some old favorites, like the escargot and the duck pate fall a little flat and the desserts are "perfunctory," but all in all, it's good to see Vergez and his fare back on the streets of Atlanta.

THE ELSEWHERE AND THE BLOGS: The AJC also assesses , Creative Loafing revisits Sun in My Belly and checks out Chef Liu's and Peasant Bistro, Hot Dish Review has tapas and tunes at Red Sky and pizza for brunch at STG Trattoria, Bella Vivere goes to El Nortena in Norcross and Woody's Famous Philadelphia Cheesesteaks, Chow Down Atlanta is pleasantly surprised by Tomo, Marie, Let's Eat discovers E 48th Street Market in Dunwoody, and Mike Christensen reviews Liu Fu for Roots in Alpharetta.