After a looooooong day of work on Saturday, a dinner date was much needed. We had an OpenTable:AtlantaRestaurants gift certificate (you accrue points every time you book a restaurant reservation through their website, and eventually, you earn a gift certificate), so we decided to check out Muss & Turner’s. It’s located in a shopping center just outside the perimeter of Atlanta in the Vinings area (think more upscale than a regular old strip mall with the Chinese buffet and tanning salon). I love the neighborhood feel… they have indoor/outdoor seating, as well as some spots at the bar, which overlooks the open kitchen. During the day, they operate more as a deli/bakery. For the evening crowd, they operate a full-service restaurant. That particular night, they also had a big green egg going outside the front door, which I thought was pretty cool.

My only experience with M&T (until last weekend) was buying some of their white chocolate brownies for a party I was hosting right after we moved into our house. They were TO DIE FOR… a mix between white chocolate brownie and pound cake, with a slightly crispy topping. So I knew they had some amazing baked goods, but I somehow just never made it in for an actual meal. I was a little weary of the menu at first glance, but after some encouragement from Craig, who will eat just about anything, I found several dishes on the menu that I’d like. It seems to be a neighborhood favorite, and it’s just a couple minutes from our house…. so I’m surprised it’s taken us this long to try it.

We weren’t starving, so instead of a big appetizer, we went for the standard Bread ‘n Butter… sort of odd to have to pay for bread, but it was worth the few bucks. The bread was dense and a little sweet, but the best part was the jar full of butter that accompanied it. Some sort of nuts were mixed in, and Craig contemplated licking the jar clean when we ran out of bread.

Their Fall Salad (apples, red wine cranberries, bitter greens, pecans, blue cheese, pear ginger vinaigrette) sounded yummy and winter-ish, but again, we didn’t want to fill up before dinner, so I bypassed the salad and moved on to the real stuff. I chose the Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf (!!!!) that came with a really good sweet potato mash, crispy tatsoi (some sort of green – it was ok), roasted mushrooms (didn’t touch), and truffle jus (which I had them leave off because I am not a fan). Craig chose the Berkshire Pork, Apple, and Cranberry Sausage with braised greens, yummy, sweet pumpkin bread, and hard cider Welsh rarebit. I think he ate every bite, and I came close to finishing all of my bacon wrapped goodness. Oh — and we also ordered a small side of the Pommes Frites. I love some good, crispy french fries.

I always have room for dessert, and I had to have another white chocolate brownie. Craig added the homemade vanilla ice cream, and they heated the brownie for us. Perfect combination and perfect way to end a delicious meal and nice little neighborhood date.

I’ll look forward to going back to try some other dishes — Swifty’s Dream (pork shoulder, Carolina style bbq, bacon, horseradish slaw, french bun) and Chicken and Dumplins (ricotta biscuit dumplings, celery root, parsnips, carrots). Their brunch sounds pretty amazing, too. I’m eyeing the Pumpkin Bread Pudding French Toast.