Omnivore - Lunch at Trois

I’m sure I’m the last foodie in Atlanta to make it to Trois (1180 Peachtree St., 404-815-3337). It’s one of those cases where everybody else reviewed it so thoroughly and positively that I kept putting off going. But I finally made it there for lunch Monday with my friend Jeff.

There’s no doubt about it: The restaurant deserves description as one of the city’s best. It’s not often that I rave about a salad, but this watercress salad (top photo) was amazing, made with roasted piquillos and socca (little rectangles of fried chickpea flour you find everywhere in Provence), served with a light, herbal dressing. Like much good food, it immediately set me to daydreaming, remembering my aunt, who used to grow watercress on the banks of the stream that ran through her yard outside Philadelphia. Yep, we used to eat little watercress sandwiches on white bread with the crust removed — just like Mr. Drysdale’s wife on the “Beverly Hillbillies.”

Jeff had French onion soup and, for an entree, perfect roasted chicken (left). My own entree was beef bourguignon — small chunks of beef with bacon and noodles (above right). The diet plate. Not. I couldn’t eat but half of it, since I was determined to have dessert — cheesecake sorbet with mango chutney, pineapple gelee and coconut crumble (above left). Jeff had a lemon tart with a blueberry creme fraiche sorbet.

I could hardly move after eating so much. It ain’t cheap, about $57 for two with no alcohol. Of course, you don’t have to eat three courses in the middle of the day. The menu here changes daily, by the way.