Cellar 56

Cellar 56: Wine, small plates, big flavor

Good things do come in small packages, as Cellar 56 demonstrates. This intimate wine bar and bistro tucked into a shopping center in the heart of Buckhead offers amazing food, excellent wine and terrific service for bargain prices. This is Buckhead-quality food and drink at Cabbagetown prices.

The wine comes first at Cellar 56 -- literally! Wine bottles decorate one wall of the cozy, candlelit restaurant. For $3 for a half glass, $6 a glass, or $24 a bottle, you can order tasty but off-the-beaten path wines such as Folie A Deux Menage A Trois, a white Napa; a Spanish red, Vega Sindoa El Chapparal; or go for pricer $42 bottle of black, white or pink sparkling wine -- dubbed "Bubbles" in the menu, or $56 bottles, which include an Italian Schiopetto Tocai Friuliano-Friuli and an Oregon red, Roco Pinto Noir. 

Not a wine connoisseur? The food here is fabulous at economic recovery prices. The food here comes in little plates, with little prices -- $3 to $5 a plate -- but big flavor. Take the fried green tomatoes drizzled with goat cheese and cilantro buttermilk -- hot and divine!

The plump sweet Georgia white shrimp accompanies the Logan Turnpike grits, which are slow-cooked and so deliciously creamy, you'll swear they're full of cheese (even though they're not.) The Guinness-braised short rib features slightly sweet meat that falls off the bone.

Cellar 56 is the perfect place for a romantic, white tablecloth meal in the heart of Buckhead.

- by Diane Loupe, Atlanta Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)