Seed Kitchen & Bar Serves Up Variety and Invention

One doesn’t have to travel uptown to have a fine dining experience. Free, easy parking out front is also a boon. Marietta’s Seed Kitchen & Bar is located in a popular strip center alongside Whole Foods, and just yards from Merchants Walk Stadium Cinemas and Home Depot, for that matter.

This East Cobb neighborhood dining scene labels itself “inventive American cuisine with Asian and Latin accents in a sleek high design space.”

The Bay of Fundy Salmon and Pan Roasted Blue Cod were “jumping fresh” fish

The main room is divided into a bar area with regular seating and the more decorative dining room with art and bottle storage racks. As a sign of fun, but maybe not so much a nod to acoustics, there’s a fairly noisy buzz on a weekend night. Total seating capacity is 125 with an airy outdoor patio. The décor is white, bold, and clean with contemporary lines, if not Nordic.

Get The AJT Newsletter by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up

Actually, the Seed menu is true to its wave to seasonality, mixed with some playfulness. But we found ourselves searching for the name tie-in. The Seasonal Regional Vegetable Plate ($24.95) is served with chef’s selection of grains. The Roasted Beet Salad ($14.95) came with “seed brittle” which was reminiscent of old-fashioned Passover candy in mini molasses/toffee crunched rectangles hardened over sesame seeds, and equally as sweet. The aforementioned beet salad is bursting with “purpleness” over Tucker Farm arugula, fennel, pecorino fresco (on the mild side) dressed with Green Goddess.

The Baby Farm Lettuce Salad ($13.95) was tossed with gorgonzola, north Georgia apples, spiced walnuts, and white balsamic dressing. The Bay of Fundy salmon was served over mashed potatoes, truffle vinaigrette and melted leeks that made for an elaborate presentation, with layers of artfully arranged purees. The fish was “jumping into the net” fresh. Bay of Fundy is known for its thousands of years of hosting salmon in its bay, connecting the forests and ocean between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in Canada. The salmon is known for its texture and juiciness because of these extreme bay tides.

Sweet potato ravioli is served with mushrooms, toasted pepitas, sage brown butter and Grana padano.

The other fish entrée, Pan Roasted Blue Cod ($32.95), was as thick as it was alabaster white, maybe a tad too salty, served proudly over caramelized Brussels sprouts and cauliflower in a subtle Thai herb vinaigrette.

Our Bulgarian server was on the attentive side and explained that he had “waited” for years on the Queen Mary, then in Dubai, and on river cruises. He was proud that he had just earned his U.S. citizenship. Anyone who can please cruise ship diners would find East Cobb suburbanites to be a cake walk.

The lemon mascarpone cheesecake is topped with blueberry sauce…pleasantly on the light side, but not much lemon in the way of accent.

Seed proprietor/chef Doug Turbish, who lived and worked in Asia prior to settling in Atlanta, reaches back for menu accents like Korean ribs, Thai herbs, and braised local greens with soy and chile. Many of the touches are Southern like pimento cheese crostini, deviled eggs, white corn grit fritters, iron skillet cornbread; but then there’s snitzel, smoked chicken tacos, hummus, marinated olives, and feta. Enough variety to please but not to overwhelm. Next visit try: Sweet potato ravioli with mushrooms, toasted pepitos, sage brown butter and grana padano ($27.95).

The Seed interior is modern, clean, and white.

A lifetime in the restaurant business, Seed is celebrating its 11th anniversary which is an indication that they are doing some things right. During early November, they celebrated with a week-long prix fixe menu/chef’s tasking menu. A portion of the proceeds was donated to the Giving Kitchen, a nonprofit organization which provides emergency assistance to food service workers.

Cheers to 11 years in business! Seed is located at 1311 Johnson Ferry Road, Marietta 30068. (678-214-6888) Hours: Sunday, Tuesday through Thursday, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5 p.m. until 10 p.m.