A year or so ago, I got an e-mail from a reader concerned about Brasserie le Coze losing its lease inside Lenox Square and moving downtown, reincarnated as French American Brasserie, better known as FAB. “Why would anyone go downtown to eat?” I remember the gentleman rhetorically asking.

I’ll tell you why: For the first time in 25 years, downtown Atlanta is the hottest place to be. Bye-bye Buckhead, your reign is over. Restaurants such as Room at Twelve, FAB, Stats, Thrive and Legal Sea Foods have already opened and, in spite of the economic downturn, hotels and businesses are still pushing up through the pavement of Atlanta’s most hallowed streets like daisies.

A new member of this brat pack of boldness is Dogwood, another in the city’s trend towards new Southern cuisine, nestled nicely on two floors inside the Reynolds condominium building on Peachtree Street. With it, chef-owner Shane Touhy cements two trends — the emergence of downtown as a viable place for business and the modern Southern menu — into solid movements.

Touhy is no stranger to Southern cuisine. A Dalton, Ga., native, he opened Dogwood in early August after helming the kitchen at Blue Ridge Grill for five years. His cooking is a little too contrived to have the raw sex appeal of that at Shaun’s, perhaps, yet is almost as polished as Ford Fry’s delicacies at JCT Kitchen.

Placing this lovely new spot’s menu somewhere in between the two could possibly be the best way to describe it. Comparison then, not imitation, proves the greatest form of flattery, since this chef obviously has a mind all his own.

Regionally inspiring

A grits “bar” turns out to be, oddly enough, one of the most workable things on the menu. Don’t think salad bar with sneeze shields — the “bar” here is simply an offering of grits du jour, Southern milled, with a selection of three daily flavors, from a tiny, perfectly fried oyster resting on a nest of pepped up hollandaise to butter-poached lobster. If this sounds a little heavy for an opener, hear this — the offering is small, and a very regionally inspiring way to begin a meal, not to mention satisfying.

Indeed, Touhy scores most often with his innovative approach to appetizers, from an autumnal offering of seared foie gras with a smear of smoked pumpkin puree and a red wine-and-black pepper reduction to a “flight” of his incredibly hearty yet sophisticated soups. Normally reserved for wine, this fun approach allows you taste three small servings of soups at once, from creamy pea soup with pancetta to root vegetable puree, laced with the flavors of carrot, turnips and parsnips and adorned with just-this-side-of-spicy wild boar sausage infused with cranberries. If soup is considered your benchmark of a great chef, go and enjoy.

I found myself completely uninterested in salads — a mix of local greens with a selection of local cheeses and a “Southern” Caesar (made so, I presume, from the addition of green tomato-bacon dressing) went untasted. And save for a rousing rendition of braised greens to go with completely acceptable fried chicken and mac-n-cheese, the menu lacks items of green.

Instead, Touhy focuses on cold-weather comestibles, from the smashed rutabagas with late-harvest blackberries that go oh so well with his mailliard-ized, braised short ribs, caramelized in their tender perfection, to cornmeal-dusted pickled okra, a kiss goodbye to summer’s bounty.

A welcome addition

Like others before him — Scott Peacock, Frank Stitt, Ben Barker and other Atlanta chefs such as Doty and Fry — Touhy utilizes fresh ingredients indigenous to Southern cooking, then turns the concept on it’s ear. At least a little, anyway. Because there’s nothing at Dogwood that isn’t recognizable, from sweet corn soufflé to ham-and pimento cheese grits.

This chef’s weakest links lie in entrees — which are too large and often seem overwrought — and his dessert options, which sound very good on paper, but don’t go over as well at the table. Blackberry-and-chocolate cornbread upside-down cake casts darkness over the table, almost like heavy molasses; and grilled lemon pound cake with Key lime ice cream (no longer on the menu) is an unhappy happenstance that seems sophomoric in its effort to combine Southern flavors.

But it’s hard to judge Dogwood too harshly. The dining room, bathed in khaki and flanked by Ionic scrolls toward the ceiling and a lovely bar overlooking Peachtree Street, is a welcome addition to downtown — the clearest sign yet that the heart of Atlanta may yet outlive its bad reputation.

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Food: New Southern
Service: Helpful, informative — well-versed in menu selections. Maitre d’ and co-owner Scott Black (formerly of Bones) is ready with a smile to help with wine selections.
Address, telephone: 565 Peachtree Street, 404-835-1410
Price range: $$$
Credit cards: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Diners Club
Hours of operation: Open for lunch Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.; dinner Monday through Thursday from 5:30 to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5:30 to 11 p.m. Closed Sundays.
Vegetarian dishes: Cornmeal-dusted pickled okra, soup flights, grits “bar” selections, sweet potato gnocchi
Best dishes: Off-the-bone short ribs, soup flights, grits bar selections, fried chicken with braised greens and mac-n-cheese, seared foie gras
Children: Yes
Parking: Complimentary valet in lot located on Linden Street.
Reservations: Yes
Wheelchair access: Yes
Smoking: No smoking
Noise level: Medium
Patio: Yes
Takeout: Working on it
Web site: www.dogwoodrestaurant.com

KEY TO RATINGS
Outstanding: Sets the standard for fine dining in the region.
Excellent: One of the best in the Atlanta area.
Very good: Merits a drive if you’re looking for this kind of dining.
Good: A worthy addition to its neighborhood, but food may be hit or miss.
Fair: The food is more miss than hit.
Restaurants that do not meet these criteria may be rated Poor.

PRICING CODE: $$$$$ means more than $75; $$$$ means $75 and less; $$$ means $50 and less; $$ means $25 and less; $ means $15 and less. (The price code represents a meal for one that includes appetizer, entree and dessert without including tax, tip and cocktails.)