The Iberian Pig

Living up to a name like The Iberian Pig is easy enough: just import lots and lots of world-class jamón. But of course Federico Castellucci does much, much more than that to win the hearts and minds of Atlantans who cozy up in his Decatur date-night haunt, lined with wine racks and glowing like a wall-to-wall hearth in brown-and-red tones. Though its porcine possibilities are endless—blood sausage on toast with wild mushrooms, melt-in-your-mouth pork cheeks braised in a cast-iron skillet beneath a poached egg and a dollop of black-truffle spread—the seasonal repertoire proves as diverse as it does deeply soulful, covering rabbit empanadas, boar meatballs and vegetarian delights like calçot-inspired grilled spring onions drizzled with Sherry in romesco sauce. Uniquely suited cocktails skew dark and decadent with brown spirits and bitters. And while Castellucci’s newer, slicker Basque-influenced venture Cooks & Soldiers warrants celebration in its own right, the Pig’s foie gras French toast—oozing with mascarpone and drenched in barrel-aged syrup—inspires next-level loyalty, which the gracious service only cements.