Chef Deborah VanTrece has worked in the industry long enough to know when it’s time for a change.
In February, she closed her Latin soul food restaurant, Serenidad, just five months after its debut, citing similarly themed restaurants nearby in Cascade Heights as a factor.
Instead, she looked for inspiration to Italy, where she lived for a year during her previous career as a flight attendant.
Credit: Henri Hollis
Credit: Henri Hollis
In May, she unveiled La Panarda in the 60-seat space on Cascade Road, with a menu featuring timeless Italian favorites given a fresh look by incorporating local, seasonal ingredients, Southern cooking traditions and VanTrece’s penchant to do things with a twist — just like she does at Twisted Soul, her modern Southern restaurant in west Midtown.
VanTrece’s latest offering differs from other nearby restaurants (including her Oreatha’s at the Point, just across the street), as well as from other Italian restaurants in greater Atlanta. Only at La Panarda will you find deep-fried smoked mushroom manicotti, sweet potato ravioli in a pool of brown butter sauce or Tuscan smothered chicken with Vidalia onion risotto.
Credit: Courtesy of Josh Swinney
Credit: Courtesy of Josh Swinney
The restaurant’s name refers to an Abruzzese culinary tradition based on the legend of a young mother who, having gone to fetch water from the village well, returned to find her newborn in the mouth of a wolf. The woman prayed to St. Anthony and the wolf let the baby go. To celebrate the miracle, the grateful mother promised to prepare a feast for others, and the lavish, multi-course feast known as La Panarda was born.
At La Panarda, every meal begins with a complimentary bruschetta and spritz of the day. Toasted bread decorated with this or that, accompanied by a refreshing rosemary dragon fruit spritz, is a most hospitable way to calm the hangry.
Credit: Courtesy of La
Credit: Courtesy of La
Once you’re settled in, peruse a thoughtful cocktail list by VanTrece’s daughter, Kursten Berry. While the drinks align with the Italian theme, some were unbalanced, including the too tart-sour Summer in Amalfi and La Sophia spritz, which improved once scoops of raspberry sorbet melted into the drink. The boozy, everything-but-the-bar-sink Lucky Lucci is for Long Island iced tea lovers. My dining partner loved it.
A succinct, mostly Italian wine list features very reasonably priced ($10-$14) — albeit unremarkable — choices by the glass.
A generous basket of Italian bread and focaccia squares by 2Bruhz Bakery ($8) came with a ramekin of sardine butter. Although the fishy change-up is fun, softer butter would have made it easier to smear.
Fried artichoke hearts were an addictive, shareable snack. The execution was terrific — the chokes were dredged in just enough batter that they came out of the hot oil shatteringly crisp, without any oiliness.
Compared with somewhat dry meatballs in a straightforward pomodoro sauce (good for swiping with that bread), dishes such as deep-fried smoked mushroom manicotti and Parmesan-crusted fried eggplant and green tomato gave Italian staples an old-fashioned Southern touch.
Even a Caesar salad became interesting with a puffy cloud of egg nesting on top of the romaine head, the wobbly yolk just waiting to get pierced and swirled into the mix. The caveat: the cornbread croutons’ dessert-level sweetness clashed with all the savory elements.
Credit: Courtesy of La Panarda
Credit: Courtesy of La Panarda
Sweet potato ravioli, flecked with toasted pecans, brought an unexpected level of sweetness, due to a brown butter sauce doctored with brown sugar. But the sweet-salty combination worked, and the ingredients were Southern, through and through.
The ravioli, like the majority of the half-dozen pastas on the menu, is available as a half or full order. So, try a bunch, including the pappardelle with heady short rib ragu. Seafood lasagna was teeming with creatures of the sea — shrimp, crab, bay scallops, lobster and crawfish — but, rather than the expected layers of pasta, the jumble was served in a cast-iron skillet and lacked eye appeal.
The restaurant recently underwent its first menu change. The oyster arancini, marinated seafood salad and cod piccata were nixed before I had a chance to try them, and the fritto misto and grilled salmon (with a divine corn risotto) are now menu mainstays, instead of specials. I hope the porchetta and provolone sandwich sticks around. It’s a hefty number, all the more filling with superbly seasoned fried baby potatoes, and a bargain at $17. Same goes for the Tuscan smothered chicken with creamy Vidalia onion risotto.
La Panarda’s creative, mostly well-executed dishes and warm hospitality give Cascade Heights residents a solid spot to adopt as their neighborhood haunt, and provide a driveworthy destination for anyone in search of an Italian feast with Southern flair.
Credit: Courtesy of La Panarda
Credit: Courtesy of La Panarda
LA PANARDA
3 out of 4 stars (excellent)
Food: Italian with a Southern drawl
Service: well-versed on menu, attentive, warmly courteous
Noise level: low
Recommended dishes: fried artichoke hearts, deep-fried smoked mushroom manicotti, flatbread pizza of the day, Caesar salad, pappardelle with short rib ragu, sweet potato ravioli, porchetta and provolone sandwich, Tuscan smothered chicken
Vegetarian dishes: fried artichoke hearts, deep-fried smoked mushroom manicotti, fried eggplant and green tomato, mixed green salad, sweet potato ravioli, pasta pomodoro, broccoli pesto linguini, escarole, collards and cannellini beans fregola
Alcohol: full bar
Price range: $$$-$$$$
Hours: lunch, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Fridays; dinner, 5-10 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays; buffet brunch, 11 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Saturdays
Parking: free lot and street parking
MARTA: none
Reservations: accepted
Outdoor dining: small front patio; side patio to debut in mid-September
Takeout: not recommended
Address, phone: 2317 Cascade Road, Atlanta. 404-343-1342
Website: lapanardaatl.com
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