Food: Kyma

Kyma **** - I was telling my friend David, who came with me to dinner, that I've rarely eaten Greek food since I lived in Greece a few years ago.  It wasn't because I had enough of it; it was because the places I did go to afterwards in the states fell way too short.  Kyma is the first Greek place in Atlanta I've been to in over a year.  It certainly looked promising: (1) its blue-trimmed white building is an homage to Mykonos and (2) it's a Buckhead Life Group restaurant.  This is true authentic Greek cuisine.  The menu selection remind me of menus in Heraklion and Athens.  The service staff were Greek.  Most customers were Greek.  The small tapas-like dishes brought back memories of family-style dinners we had on Crete.  The cheese saganaki brought me back to Heraklion: unbelievably delicious and nearly orgasmic (the way saganaki, done right, should be).  The "Saganaki tou Posidona" was filled with fresh shrimp and mussels: also delicious.  The pork pies ... Oh my.  It was as if I was eating the world's softest croissant stuffed with the world's most tender pork: fantastic.  The Greek salad was in fact that: traditional and quite good.  Now, Kyma specializes in seafood.  We split the whole-grilled Carolina trout, which was cooked with a mild lemon vinaigrette and wild greens.  This fish was the best I've had in a long, long time (yes, including Charleston), and certainly in Atlanta.  The trout was so buttery and light and fresh, it approximated ambrosia.  I can't remember the last seafood dish where I truly cherished and enjoyed each and every bite.  As for dessert, due to peanut limitations, I only had the orange sponge cake with chantilly: very light and not shy on flavor.  I don't think dessert was the star of the show, but I don't think they were necessarily aiming for that.  Now factor in the beautiful decor and live Greek band (they had the right light mood and did not drown out conversation) and you have a phenomenal dining experience.  I'll defend Kyma as Atlanta's best Greek restaurant.  I'll defend Kyma as Atlanta's best (non-sushi) seafood restaurant (the sushi honor goes to MF Sushibar).  I'll defend Kyma as one of Atlanta's best restaurants.  Superb.