THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Dogwood

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Dogwood Restaurant Review:

Chef Shane Touhy and Scott Black designed this contemporary restaurant to reflect the role of Southern food in today’s culinary landscape. The “Grits Bar” isn’t really a bar, but a selection of offerings based on Logan Turnpike grits, one of Georgia’s top producers. The grits may be topped with wild mushrooms or pieces of butter-poached lobster; ham and pimento cheese speak classic Southern. A trio makes a lovely appetizer, but there are more: a soup flight and Southern fried quail with a buttermilk spoon biscuit, goat cheese-pepper gravy and red onion marmalade that blends tradition and modernity. The fried chicken, a piece of buttermilk-soaked breast from Georgia producer Springer Mountain, is paired with mac ‘n’ cheese and braised bacon-flecked greens. Georgia trout is stuffed with blue cheese, apple and walnuts, flavors that seem a bit much for the delicate fish. The wine list has lots of interesting choices, but given the restaurant’s Southern emphasis, ought to showcase wines from the region. Why not offer, for instance, the very fine Kluge Estate sparkling wine from Virginia? Check out happy hour on Wednesday nights from 5 p.m.-7 p.m., when drink specials and a $5 entrée rise to the occasion.