THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED The Cockentrice

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED The Cockentrice Restaurant Review:

To describe Kevin Ouzts' The Cockentrice (rhyming with "thrice"), one must use a much-abused word: unique. While vegetarians will find something nice to eat --- the vegetable “study” for one --- this is a meat-lover's fantasy. Named for a Medieval beastie that stitched together the fore half of a pig with the rear half of a capon, the restaurant explores both classical and creative charcuterie based largely on pasture-raised pork, although other meats come into play on the menu. Appalachian sorghum, made from a grass that's crushed to release a liquid that's then boiled, lends its intense sweetness to a house-made sorghum salami that's a personal creation but one with solid Southern roots. Small plates excel, especially a skewer of suckling pig "grattons," three squares of roasted pig unctuous from the fat and crispy from the cooking method, anointed with brandied apricot gastrique, Jerusalem artichoke whip and warm ham fat mustard. We also like Ouzts' "pâté gelée," for which roasted pork belly, pork cheek, fresh pimenton and other aromatics are formed into a terrine, cut into batons and paired with pickled mustard seeds. Cheeses are local, as in the Many Fold Farm's sheep-milk Brebis from south Fulton County. For beverages, a decent wine list offers many choices by the glass --- but not a still rosé --- and plenty of craft brews. Yes, there is dessert, but who can indulge after such rich fare?