Restaurants

Chicken and the Egg

The modest Marietta strip mall facade belies Chicken and the Egg’s cavernous size: The large, open dining room grows cacophonous when full. Chef-owner Marc Taft, previously general manager of Midtown’s defunct Pacci, brings Atlanta’s Southern culinary revival to the northwestern suburbs.

An early visit was peppered with hits and misses. Tough, overly thick batter marred both the fried oysters and the fried green tomatoes, though a peach and prosciutto salad with Marcona almonds and ricotta salata was light and lovely. A grilled bone-in cowboy rib-eye—as rewarding as a steakhouse masterpiece but easier on the wallet at $29 a la carte—trumped Southern-themed entrees like grilled catfish and chicken and dumplings. Despite the unevenness, the enthusiastic crowds seem thrilled that an ambitious restaurant has moved into the hood.