South City Kitchen

South City Kitchen Restaurant Review:

About the restaurant: South City Kitchen’s sleek, contemporary interior features a few community tables and a busy bar. Secure a table in the side space or on the patio in fine weather to escape the hefty noise level.

Food & Drinks: The medium-bodied she crab soup lacks richness or crab flavor and seems to be missing the requisite crab roe. Chicken livers with Benton's ham on a corn mash showed little taste of chicken liver. Halved lengthwise, pickled shrimp were swamped with other pickled elements --- and watch out for the pickled jalapeño. Better by far were the main dishes: singularly good juicy quail with marble potatoes and roasted asparagus and a slightly pink pork chop. Accompanying the latter dish was a cornbread purée that might be offered as a side, but the broccolini suffered from too much hot pepper. Pastry chef Eric Wolitzky (formerly of Cakes & Ale) creates desserts exclusive to this location and there are many choices, but they’re so overloaded with ingredients nothing stands out. The wine list is impressive with lots of options, but for a $20 fee you can bring your own. Service is upbeat. Also located at 1144 Crescent Ave. NE, Midtown, 404-873-7358; and 1673 Cumberland Pkwy. SE, Smyrna, 770-435-0700.