Vidalia

Is it fair to call Vidalia ‘Southern?’ Chef Jeff Buben, who also runs the kitchen in Bistro Bis, is a man who likes his French influences. But there’s clear Southern roots in his focus on mixing the rich with the filling – ‘Southern’ ain’t just grits, after all. Although with that said, the shrimp and grits here are something else, a sort of Platonic ideal of the shrimp and grits concept. Fare that’s a bit more unique-sounding but just as accessible to the everyman palette (and just as appreciable to a hard-core foodie) includes a cold cucumber soup of sea trout, squid ink and roe – pretty much like a spoonful of winter ocean – and rabbit loin and leg served under smoked bacon and a ginger-ale reduction (really?!) named, wait for it, ‘What’s Up, Doc?’ The subterranean dining room, wallpapered in sultry-sweet magnolia, is exquisitely lovely. The signature side is a slow-cooked version of the titular onion, but we opt for the silly-expensive ($6.75!) sweet corn on the cob with truffled white butter. In terms of decadence, it’s the culinary equivalent of a Roman orgy.