Chef Ford Fry Opens St. Cecilia in Buckhead on Monday

Ford Fry and his team are opening anothe restaurant this week. St. Cecilia will open Monday, Jan. 13 at the corner of Peachtree and Lenox roads, adjacent to The Pinnacle Building.

The restaurant’s name not only pays tribute to the patron saint of music, it also represents chef and owner Ford Fry’s love of music and the sirens of Greek mythology whose songs coaxed mariners to shore.

Fry and executive chef Brian Horn worked together to create a menu that travels the southern European coastline, exploring delicate pasta, roasted fish and fresh crudo served in the historic seaside towns and villages, according to a release from Fry's team.

“When we started creating dishes for St. Cecilia, we were inspired by the region’s day to day fishing, home-style pasta making – nothing too fancy, just really simple,” says Fry.

St. Cecilia
3455 Peachtree Road
Dinner is served: Sunday-Thursday, 5-10 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 5-11 p.m.
Lunch is served: Monday-Friday, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
Valet parking is available.
Visit online
Reservations: 404-554-9995

Horn’s culinary methods are in harmony with Fry’s.

“There’s nothing very complicated about my style of food, nothing too ‘frou-frou,’” says Horn. “My favorite thing to make is handmade pasta and when you do it with heart it truly shows. I personally find the process a simple enjoyment – it’s about relaxation when kneading, rolling and shaping the dough. I wear my ear buds, get my hands in and there and practically mediate!”

Examples of menu items include salt cod beignets; bucatini with Jonah crab, Serrano chili and garlicky crumbs; fluke crudo with blood orange, pink grapefruit, Castelvetrano olive and EVOO; and veal rib chop with cipollini onions, mushroom, pancetta and madeira.

Pastry chef Chrysta Poulos says, “I wanted to keep the menu straight-forward, super delicious and with a heavy Italian influence” about the dessert menu she created.

Diners can finish their meal with offerings such as the panini di gelato, an ice cream sandwich with pizzelle cookies; bomboloni doughnuts filled with housemade ricotta, honey-cinnamon syrup; and zabaglione gelato with a brown butter caramel.

The bar with its 20 stools and additional cocktail lounge are ready to host those looking for a post-work or pre-dinner drink.

“We put an emphasis on wine, carefully picking each of the 200 bottles on our wine list,” says beverage consultant Lara Creasy. “Our cocktails are very European and aperitif, or lighter-bodied, in style.”

Craft cocktails include the Evil Ways with a Spanish brandy, Licor 43, Oloroso sherry, salt and a Marcona almond-stuffed olive; Gold Dust Woman with pisco, L’Esprit de June, prosecco and flower pollen; and Let it Bleed with bourbon, Casoni 1814 Aperitivo, cherry Heering and tangerine juice. In the center of the bar, the La Marzocco Strada espresso machine is used to create another large component of the beverage menu – coffee drinks.

The Meyer Davis Studio designed the massive, light-filled 11,000-square-foot space which seats approximately 160. Tucked away on the second floor, a private room holds a flat screen television neatly hidden away and walls decorated with playful, European beach inspired photographs.

Downstairs, the windows are accented with soft, patchwork curtains attached to pulleys, distressed wall mirrors that have the ability to make guests look “just right” at night and Romanesque tiled columns. These design elements create a comfortable environment where guests can relax and feel removed from the busy outside world.

There are vintage touches such as timeworn Mediterranean books, kitchen tools and metal bins, prominently displayed on a sky-high shelf unit that separates street entrance from the dining room space just one staircase below. Reclaimed lightwood covers the floor and a matching rounded, wooden wall hangs over three gleaming stone chef’s tables. Collectively seating 12, the tables are positioned in front of the icy crudo bar. The shiny stainless steel of the open kitchen showcases a roaring, mini-hearth for roasting the fish of the day and provides guests a peek into the kitchen.

See also: Chef Ford Fry to Open New Buckhead Restaurant in Fall 2013