I’m a firm believer in change. It’s cathartic, it generally brings about good, and it keeps momentum going. But it’s not always the best plan of action. Take for instance Neo, the luxurious contemporary Italian restaurant we featured not too long ago in September. The Venetian-style tuna, the gnocchi with Asiago cheese and chervil crème fraiche, the chilled calamari with chorizo, fennel and lemon and the tart, refreshing limoncello were all superb. It was nice to have another posh destination for dates and client dinners and a good reason to get dressed up in your Sunday best. So when Maria and I took another couple there recently with the idea that we were going to check out Neo’s new farm-to-table concept, I expected that the Italian fare would be spruced up with fish caught off the coasts of Georgia and Florida, the tomatoes would hail from the chef’s local garden and the lemons would be straight out of the general manager’s mother’s backyard. That’s the trend I’ve been seeing around town, at least: Restaurants utilizing local and regional ingredients to decrease their carbon footprints, stretch their dollars and, let’s be honest, to attract more customers by being on top of the next big thing.
Marketing the farm-to-table concept is tired and old. It’s no longer the cool thing to say you’re doing; it’s the norm. If you’re not doing it, shame on you. Which leads me back to my visit to Neo. It’s doing it, but not in the way that I’d hoped: to enhance its colorful Italian offerings. Instead, Neo has morphed into another Livingston, WaterHaven or 4th and Swift, with its North Georgia mountain trout, Riverview Farms pork chops and George’s Bank scallops, accompanied by mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and fried green tomatoes. All delicious, don’t get me wrong. And the setting—the gorgeous view of a perfectly manicured English garden, glistening champagne-hued leather chairs and chocolate brown accents—is sophisticated and rich. But the Southern fare doesn’t match its surroundings, and it feels like a sell-out or a ploy to copy some of the other successful restaurants in town.
Atlanta has very few top-tier Italian restaurants, and Neo, for all its wonderful ties to the booted country, has made a detour I don’t understand. Even our server had no real answer for the change, except to say that he didn’t know if it was permanent and that the restaurant was trying it out because of the economy. True, the price points are lower, but we can get this well-prepared Southern cuisine at the aforementioned restaurants in just as beautiful surroundings. Why not do something different?
I’m all for farm-to-table, but Atlanta chefs should be more innovative with the local and regional ingredients, rather than emulating other chefs’ creations. Diners at the new Neo will likely love every bite of the new fare drenched in Southern elegance, but those who visited the old Neo are in for a surprise. SP
Kirsten Ott Palladino is the Life & Food Editor of The Sunday Paper. Get in touch at kpalladino@sundaypaper.com.
