A recent need for some caul fat brought me to The Spotted Trotter, who said they could hook me up with some. I knew they would have it because they make these crepinettes which are like fantastic meatballs wrapped in the stuff. Spotted Trotter has been a mainstay of the Peachtree Road Farmer’s Market, where I first saw them, but have since opened a brick-n-mortar in the Kirkwood area.
It’s a small shop, with a deli case chock full of meats, both cured and not. Throw in a few cheeses, H&F Bread, some sundries, and a butcher knife collection, and you have yourself a quaint butcher shop and salumeria. Atlanta does not have enough of these.
I did indeed get my caul fat, for just a few dollars, but caught the urge to sample a few things – some bresaola, cheese, pate, and a spanish (spicy) and french style (more aromatic) salumi.
Excited as I was to sample my treats, there was a bit of sticker shock as I handed over my quaking American Express. My total tab was about $85, which equals twice of what you see below. Granted, I should have paid more attention. The cheeses and pates were the costly bit. The cheese was good, but the pates were very disappointing as they were almost $50 of the total order (that’s four slices of each). Both were primarily made of chicken, with one filled with the rabbit boudin for which they are known. Neither were as creamy or distinguishably flavorful as I’d want them to be. Both had an unpleasant crunch from what I could only figure were tiny mustard seeds of some sort. They were simply, fine, which doesn’t cut it at that price.
The salumi, while priced more at expectation, did not fare much better. The French and Spanish were good enough, though the Spanish didn’t have the kick I’d hoped and the French lacked intrigue, with a hint of refrigerator flavor (as all of them somewhat had). The bresaola, however, was amazingly poor. Their red wine soaked version was dry, coated with salt, with no other discernable taste. It was confusingly salty and bad – I don’t think it can simply be my palate.
I wanted to like Spotted Trotter (check the photos of the nice shop below) – but for my money, Star Provisions and Pine Street deliver more satisfaction. I noticed that they have quite a large selection of salumi, and can only wonder if they are trying to cover too much ground without focusing on nailing a few things.
