Omnivore - A great meal at Cakes and Ale

We visited Cakes and Ale Saturday night and had the kind of meal that’s hard to find in this city: straightforward, depending on high-quality ingredients from sustainable farms, instead of showmanship.

Chef Billy Allin was most recently sous chef for Scott Peacock at nearby Watershed. You can see Peacock’s inspiration in a starter of simple, creamy deviled eggs with pickled onions, carrots and cauliflower. Our entrees, roasted pork and skirt steak, were deliciously unadorned.

Desserts were equally good. Pastry Chef Cynthia Wong (who formerly wrote “Cheap Eats” for Creative Loafing) designed this take on Baked Alaska, featuring flavors of pistachio and strawberry. The restaurant does not flambee the dessert table-side. The last time I saw that done was over 20 years ago at the Lark and Dove in Sandy Springs, when the waiter turned the dessert into a bonfire that broke the plate on which it was sitting and caused someone to run out of the kitchen with a fire extinguisher.

I’ll have more to say about Cakes and Ale in Grazing. Suffice it to say for now that you should definitely visit.