Lazy Betty’s Fall Menu Connects Southern Ingredients With Asian Flavors

Gulf Coast snapper meets green papaya and galangal-coconut at Lazy Betty this fall, while a peanut amuse turns a familiar Georgia crop into a small opening course with foie gras. The Midtown restaurant’s latest dishes connect executive chef-owner Ron Hsu’s Southern upbringing, Asian heritage and French culinary training.

For North Atlanta diners planning a dinner in the city, the seasonal changes extend beyond the tasting menu. Beverage and wine director Gracie Barwick has introduced cocktails inspired by China’s Mid-Autumn Festival, alongside zero-proof drinks built around ingredients such as muscadine, Asian pear and black sesame.

The snapper began as a collaboration with one of the restaurant’s lead line cooks, who is from Thailand. Hsu described a preparation that includes four days of dry-aging, followed by curing and marinating in kombu before the fish is served with a Thai-style dipping sauce.

“First, we dry age the fish for four days to concentrate its flavor and to give the fish a firmer texture, then we cure it for deeper flavor,” Hsu said in written comments supplied by the restaurant.

Another addition, Rocky Mountain lamb, grew out of a delivery of perilla leaves from a forager. Perilla belongs to the mint family, giving the kitchen a way to revisit the familiar pairing of lamb and mint. The dish combines lamb with smoked relish, perilla, sweetbread and bordelaise, along with housemade lamb bacon and charred cipollini, Hsu said.

The peanut amuse takes a different route through familiar flavors, pairing Hudson Valley foie gras pâté with a Madeira peanut gastrique.

“Our peanut amuse bouche is an ode to one of our home state of Georgia’s most iconic crops, the peanut,” Hsu said. “The combination with foie gras and jelly is a play on the familiar flavors of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”

On the drinks side, the Jade Rabbit combines gin, vodka, tea-infused verjus and clarified Granny Smith apple. Forbidden Fig brings together fig gin, baijiu, Lillet Blanc and bitters. Zero-proof options include Midnight in Macon, with espresso, chicory black tea and black sesame orgeat, and Backroads, which combines a nonalcoholic tequila alternative with muscadine, Asian pear, lime, yuzu and ginger beer.

Lazy Betty is at 999 Peachtree Street NE, at 10th Street in Midtown. Dining-room tasting menus are available by reservation, and menus may change with ingredient availability. See the current menus and reservation information before planning a visit.

Photos: Matt Wong of Graftable, courtesy of Lazy Betty.