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| Open kitchen at Ecco, Midtown Atlanta. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books |
On a busy Saturday night in midtown Atlanta, you know it's going to a memorable meal when the chef comes to your table and asks if you'd like to see the rooftop
garden. When you look up from your cocktail and say, "why,
certainly!" he says, "well, let me go get the ladder and I'll be
right back for you."
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| Ladder to the rooftop garden, Ecco. Lucy Mercer/ A Cook and Her Books |
Ecco Sous Chef Justin Jordan didn't lead my husband and me along the
primrose path, he led us up the ladder, to the roof, around the
air-conditioning units and very close to the edge (at least it seemed that way
for this slightly phobic ~ hubs would argue that point ~ writer) of the restaurant's roof. On this triple-digits-in-the-shade June afternoon, we savored a view of Midtown's skyscrapers above and the restaurant's
valet parking below, with raised garden beds in between.
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| Chef Justin Jordan at Ecco's rooftop garden. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her books |
Ecco is the kind of restaurant where “source”
is a verb, not a noun. As in “we source as much local produce as we can,”
according to Chef Justin. With bounteous sunshine and a clever irrigation system,
the rooftop garden is part of Ecco's response to the local and farm-to-table commitment.
In addition to purchasing organic produce from local farmers, with a little
planning, it’s simple enough to just grow vegetables and herbs yourself. After
all, what could be more local than the roof of the restaurant?
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| Chef Justin shelling peas. Lucy Mercer, A Cook and Her Books |
The a/c units that I walked around are essential to the garden.
Condensation runoff is piped to the beds, so the plants are continually
watered, necessary in Atlanta’s drought/deluge weather patterns.
Chef Justin showed us the lush heirloom tomato and chile pepper plants, pea
plants, and the summer squash blossoms and fragrant basil, a preview of the
meal to come. Before leaving the rooftop, Chef Justin snapped off a peapod and showed
me the cowpeas that are nearing maturity. I’ve heard of cowpeas; usually they’re
called black-eyed peas or field peas. These, however, look like Holsteins:
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| Cow peas. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books |
Back downstairs, in the blessedly air-conditioned restaurant, Chef Justin fed us well,
beginning with a fried squash blossom drizzled with chile oil. The blossom came adorned with a paper-thin fried basil leaf. (I stuffed
pumpkin blossoms last summer and I now what a labor of love these delights can be!)
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| Fried squash blossom. Ecco. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books |
We tried the grilled Piri Piri squid served with a fried egg and an olive emulsion. I like the crispy tentacles, where the spice concentrates.
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| Grilled Piri Piri squid with olive emulsion. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books |
Next up, a dish I could eat all summer long ~ sea trout a la plancha with luscious romesco and a summery salad of green
tomatoes, cukes and a snap of mint. A side of local beans, slender haricots verts, blanched and
served with shaved torpedo onions, opal basil and dressed with sesame oil is my must-duplicate-at-home selection.
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| Sea trout a la plancha with romesco. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books |
The beautiful green bean dish...
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| Local green beans with shaved onion, basil and sesame oil. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books |
From our table in the middle of the restaurant, we could view the wood-fired
pizza oven and Chef Justin presiding over the plates. The action is diverting and reassuring, background buzz for a busy Saturday night.
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| Chef Justin Jordan @ Ecco, Saturday night. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books |
Ecco is located at 40 7th Street, Atlanta 30308. 404.347.9555.
~ Thanks to Ecco and Chef Justin for a lovely meal and the tour of the rooftop garden. (The meal was comped, but the opinions expressed here are my very own.)
Text and images copyright 2012, Lucy Mercer.
