Reviews
Creative Loafing Atlanta
Cruising Collier Road
Visits to Figo Pasta and Malaya
BY CLIFF BOSTOCK
Last week, I came down with the mother of all gastrointestinal viruses. This is my way of telling you that I didn't eat my usual grand quantity last week, subsisting instead on Gatorade and bananas. It's hell to be hungry but afraid to eat.
As I regained the use of my digestive track, I turned first to carbohydrates and beat a path to Figo Pasta (1170 Collier Road, 404-351-9667), the pasta shop that has pleased so many other critics in town. Located in a little strip center, next to a nail studio with enough pink neon to light an Amsterdam bordello, Figo is little more than a couple of counters, some stools and a few outdoor tables. Fresh pasta is made and cooked before your eyes. Owner Mirko di Giacomantonio, formerly of the groovy Ciao Bella, delivers plates to you and -- like every small-restaurant chef in Italy -- inquires repeatedly about the quality.
The concept is a bit strange. The pasta and sauces are mainly delicious but they are ordered separately without much direction given to combining things in the best way. Eats on Ponce does the same thing, but with much less esoteric offerings. Here you can order wild mushroom, checca, pomodoro, bologonese, chicken and bell peppers, smoked salmon with green peas and vodka, Siciliana and arrabbiata sauces.
Occasionally, you see Mr. Giacomantonio wince. The evening of my visit, someone asked to combine something -- a different sauce on a special ravioli -- that caused him to go kind of blank. Then he said, "We don't usually combine those two things."
The customer, anxious to please, asked what he should order instead and Mr. G, repairing himself, encouraged him to go ahead and experiment. The delighted customer agreed.
Maybe this is a small bone of contention, but, not being that well-informed about the way the 13 pastas and nine sauces should be combined myself, I'd like a bit more guidance from the menu. I presume the fairly standardized combos that the Italians have developed make sense.
That's my only complaint. Appropriate or not, Wayne ordered fusilli ($3) with amatriciana sauce ($3), a tomato sauce with pancetta which, though awfully heavy, was pleasingly piquant. I ordered what has become a signature special -- ravioli filled with butternut squash in a cream sauce with mascarpone and radichio ($9). It's a nice interplay of sweet and bitter flavors, even if most of the textures build themselves into a rather unctuous crescendo.
Wayne started with a caprese salad ($6), a very generous serving of fresh buffalo mozzarella, sliced ripe Italian tomatoes and a sprig of basil. My starter, a bowl of minestrone, was excellent comfort and instantly brought back memories of Gianni's in its original location next to a convenience store on Peachtree -- what? -- 20 years ago or more. That's almost Proustian, yes? A demonstration of how good food unlocks memory.
We took home a serving of tiramisu ($4) and it's a good version -- not the over-sweetened type usually found around town.
Figo, which is opening a second location in the spring at nearby 750 Huff Road, can't be beat for the money, though maybe I'm not quite as enamored as my colleagues.