IL GIALLO OSTERIA & BAR BRINGS ITALY’S PIEDMONT TO SANDY SPRINGS.
Passionate, expressive, generous and eager to serve an abundance of handmade dishes: Traits commonly associated with Italian grandmothers can also be found at il Giallo Osteria & Bar in Sandy Springs. Two things are certain here: You can experience the love-through-food feeling. And you won’t leave hungry. The popular chicken parmigiana is so big it fills the plate. Chicken breast is pounded, lightly breaded, pan-fried with butter, garlic and rosemary, then topped with marinara sauce, roasted tomatoes and mozzarella. The bubbly hot cheese pulls into strings with each forkful. Juicy, crispy, tender, gooey and tangy, it hits all the right buttons. For a perfect pairing, add a side of al dente spaghetti marinara that packs fresh tomato tartness into each twirly bite.
“People can’t seem to get enough of the chicken parm,” says chef Jamie Adams. When he presents it to dinner guests, he likes to joke, “Sorry we didn’t have a big one.” The decadent serving could easily be enough for two or even three diners, though a solo eater might indulge or take a portion to-go to satisfy inevitable next-day cravings.
Italian cuisine has driven Adams’ career, from his first job at a pizza eatery to a five-year stint working in kitchens in Italy to the Buckhead Life Restaurant Group’s Veni Vidi Vici where he helmed the kitchen for 21 years. Among his many accolades, he’s been a featured chef at The James Beard House in New York, competed in Food Network’s “Chopped” as well as “The Best Thing I Ever Ate,” participated in TBS-TV’s “Super Chef Cook-Off,” and appeared on “Great Chefs of the South.” On Halloween 2015, he launched il Giallo with business partner and general manager Leonardo Moura.
The menu showcases classic, seasonal and regional Italian dishes. “It’s influenced by an amalgam of the various places I worked while I lived in Italy,” says Adams, who spent the majority of his time in the North Piedmont region but traveled around the country and continues to revisit the boot-shaped nation.
Spaghetti and meatballs is a bestseller. It’s available as a hearty entree or as a “secret” side: Though not on the menu, order the spaghetti marinara side, and the server will ask if you want it topped with meatballs. Meatballs without pasta are featured as an appetizer; the spheres comprised of ground duck, turkey and beef are braised with mixed mushrooms and sweet onions. Fork-tender and savory with subtle sweet notes, they rank among Atlanta’s to-die for bites. Grilled octopus, another noteworthy app, impresses with cooked-to-perfection tenderness and sweet-tart flavors.
Fresh pasta is made in an open kitchen overlooking the dining room during service: “That has always been the core of our place,” says Adams. Options include agnolotti, a flattened pasta folded over a filling that’s typical of the Piedmont region. Here it encases roasted duck and fontina cheese topped with a brown butter sage sauce plus a smattering of pecans that adds crunch to the savory dish. “Crazy lasagna” layers braised beef short ribs with sheets of pasta, drizzled with garlic and rosemary juice for yummy umami.
Gnocchi, soft potato dumplings, are coated with bits of salty speck (dry-cured ham) with an earthy gorgonzola cream sauce. It’s hard to name a favorite. Fortunately, pastas are available in two serving sizes, so if ordering just one proves too difficult, simply get the smaller portions of whatever number of them piques your interest knowing you’ll never regret leftovers.
Pizza is now on the menu. “Our business model obviously got kicked sideways during the pandemic,” says Adams. “In the midst of figuring out how to deal with it, we added pizza to our repertoire. It’s extraordinary pizza—I don’t have anything to do with it. It’s made by pizzaiolo Brendan Keenan. We have such a large amount of space and during the pandemic didn’t have enough servers to cover our square footage, so we carved out a back corner of the dining room that has its own entrance on the side of the restaurant. That became the pizza area, a casual corner where people can come in and pick up food to go or sit in a little ‘speakeasy’ back there.” Pizzas are also available in the main dining room. One bite of perfectly charred, thin crust margherita is all that’s needed to be thoroughly impressed.
The wine list showcases varietals and blends from around the world, including several Italian picks, across a broad range of prices by the glass and bottle. Beer and classic cocktails are also available, along with some new creative drinks. Crimsonite is a bourbon based sipper on the spectrum somewhere between an old fashioned and Manhattan with sweet, bitter and boozy notes.
Dessert is a must. Traditional tiramisu is one popular pick, but don’t overlook the crostata di nocciole, crunchy bottomed hazelnut chocolate bars. Proof that even familiar flavors can rise to new levels of sophistication, the dish is a personal favorite, and I’m not alone: “We believe we would be put up against a firing squad if we stopped making them,” says Adams. I wouldn’t go that far, but I might shed a few tears.
Hungry? Book a table at il Giallo. As Nonna would say, “Eat, eat!”
il Giallo Osteria & Bar
404.709.2148
ilgialloatl.com
@gialloatl
Prices: appetizers, $4-20; salads, $14-16; pizza, $16-24; pasta, $18-39; entrees, $29-51; sides $12-13; desserts, $10-12.
Recommended: Margherita pizza, “crazy lasagna,” gnocchi, chicken parmigiana, crostata di nocciole.
Bottom line: Welcoming Italian restaurant that serves high-quality traditional and seasonal Italian fare in a warm setting with contemporary style.
PHOTOS: Madelynne Grace
