H&F Bread Company, the outstanding bakery from the Restaurant Eugene/Holeman and Finch folks, has closed its doors to the public. According to part-owner Regan Smith, the bakery just wasn’t generating enough foot traffic to justify keeping the retail operation open. The bakery will continue to function as a wholesale operation, and Smith says that in the future they hope to offer call-ahead bread ordering for individual customers.
HAVE A BALL: The watermelon and feta salad at the Shed at Glenwood
When the Shed at Glenwood opened in April of last year, it had aspirations to bring a true neighborhood restaurant to an area that’s always struggled to resemble a true neighborhood. Tacked on to the back end of North Ormewood Park, Glenwood Park is a deftly designed and appealing example of a new urban development. But the timing of its completion, right before the housing bubble burst and the economy tanked, has left many of its wide, windowed storefronts empty. The result is kind of eerie, like an adorable ghost town.
Set up in a large corner space, the Shed seemed poised to bring new life to Glenwood Park. Here was a restaurant where you might drop in for a fresh fruit cocktail if you lived nearby, or wander over to for brunch on the weekend. Not a destination restaurant perhaps, but certainly a spot exhibiting higher aspirations than most of what’s available in the Grant Park/Ormewood/East Atlanta area.
Continue reading “Review: The Shed at Glenwood”
(Photo by James Camp)
After months of battling mightily for the wine job of a lifetime, it appears that Atlanta’s own Hardy Wallace, aka Dirty South Wine, has landed Murphy Goode’s Really Goode Job. Well deserved, congrats, we knew we’d picked a winner.
Tom Maicon, the founder of Atlanta Cuisine, has put up a post today announcing that the discussion forums on that site will be shut down at the end of this month.
Atlanta Cuisine has long been a virtual gathering spot for Atlanta foodies. When I first arrived in town I relied heavily on its posters to let me know what I should be checking out. I have many of the posters there to thank for directling me to many of the great meals I’ve had in Atlanta.
TURKISH DELIGHT: Al Ozelci tends to his baklava.
“How did you hear about us?” Al Ozelci demands the first time I visit Café Agora. It’s a rainy Sunday evening, and I’m unsure about how this particular restaurant works. When I walk in, no one greets me, tells me where to sit, or offers a menu. Ozelci is rushing around behind the counter — a one-man front-of-house, with one cook in back. When I approach him to find out what to do, Ozelci peppers me with questions.
“What kind of food you like? This kind of food?” He gestures to a case filled with a rainbow of salads, dips and other Middle Eastern cold specialties.
“I like all food,” I say.
“Fine. Take a seat. I’ll bring you something.”
A minute later, he arrives at the table, a plate in hand laden with stuff from the case. He places the plate on the table, and after taking a quick minute to do a magic trick for my son (an impressive disappearing-mint act), he begins to pick up small squares of pita and load them with tastes from the plate. An outrageously thick tzatziki, the yogurt shot through with dill, is smooshed with a roasted eggplant. And then Ozelci feeds me the square of pita. “You’ll like this,” he says, watching my reaction.
Continue reading “Review: Cafe Agora”
(Photo by James Camp)
In response to Cliff’s post from earlier today:
ACID TRIP: The shrimp and citrus stew at Abattoir
Dear Abattoir,
I’m so sad our time together is over. These past few weeks, seeing you every few days, taking the time to really get to know you, have been magical. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t come to love you, just a little. Maybe more than a little.
I’ll never forget that first time we met. I didn’t know what to expect, what with your name — so violent, so evocative! But when I walked into your dining room and saw the way you’d managed to take your ugliness and turn it into something beautiful, I was floored. Elements of slaughter — meat hooks adorning bar lights — wrapped into the comfort of farmhouse chic … there’s humor in that combination, as well as a deft intelligence that your family of restaurants alone possesses in this city.
People were shocked when they first heard your name. “Abattoir? What kind of a sick joke of a restaurant name is that?” they asked. But I always loved it, the boldness, the honesty.
Continue reading “Review: Abattoir”
(Photo by James Camp)
Bravo has revealed the chefs competing on the new season of “Top Chef” and three chefs are from Atlanta — Kevin Gillespie from Woodfire Grill, Hector Santiago from Pura Vida, and Eli Kirshtein from Eno. All this hometown competition should make for an exciting season.
OCEAN COMMOTION: The salmon with shrimp gnudi at La Pietra Cucina
Be careful what you wish for.
Last November, in my original review of La Pietra Cucina, I complained about the strangeness of the dining room, which was a small room adjacent to the massive space that once housed MidCity Cuisine. I hoped for a grander space to showcase chef Bruce Logue’s irrepressible Italian cooking. Then, in May, the restaurant closed for a short while and reopened using the entire footprint, repurposing the original dining room as a private dining space.
So what, then, could my hypocritical (and apparently hypercritical) heart possibly find wrong with that? Wait for it … I hate the new space. I miss the slightly disjointed but quirky feel of the original room.
I know, I know. It isn’t so much that the space has been redesigned, but how. Deep maroon with gold accents make up the palette — walls the color of Elvira’s lipstick; heavily gilded picture frames holding weighty paintings of monarchs and horses; chairs swathed in dark yellow velvet. Frank Sinatra croons through the speakers. It’s like someone’s rococo fantasy of what a fancy Italian restaurant should be — which is fine, I guess, except that once again, it doesn’t match Logue’s cooking in the slightest.
Continue reading “Review: La Pietra Cucina”
(Photo by James Camp)
Cakes & Ale, the Decatur spot run by chef Billy Allin, will be hosting its second monthly Sunday supper this Sun., July 5. The theme this month will be “dueling BBQ.” Price is $26 per person and children under 12 eat for half price. See the menu below, and call the restaurant at 404-377-7994 to reserve.
Sunday, July 5
Dueling BBQ
Pimento cheese, celery, crackers
Northern Alabama white chicken BBQ
& Western North Carolina Pulled Pork
Yeast rolls
Succotash
Slaw
Sliced tomatoes
Onion rings
Star pops
My husband and I had our two-day honeymoon in Charleston 4 years ago. We spent the whole time eating, and fell in love with the city’s restaurants. Every year since, we’ve tried to get back there at least once, always in the heat of summer, and always with an appetite. This past Friday night we hit the town to see what the city’s chefs are up to.
We only made it to three places this year, but two of them have to be two of the coolest restaurants in the country right now. We started at Fig, who’s chef Mike Lata just won the James Beard award for Best Chef in the Southeast. I have to admit that I was a little surprised at the award — I’ve eaten at Fig’s bar many times, and have always loved it but never had anything much more memorable than a deftly executed chicken liver pate. But this visit put my surprise to rest — Lata is turning out some incredible food, including what may be my favorite dish of the year so far. It takes a leap of faith to order pig’s trotters, but what a payoff — Lata takes the meat from the trotters and forms them into a cake, which is lightly pan-fried. The meat is so moist and flavorful, it’s like the best barbecue you’ve ever had, but without needing any sauce at all. Pure piggy piggyness. The accompanying salad, a jumble of field peas, lima beans, fresh corn, frissee, chives, tarragon and smoky bacon lardons, was beautifully composed and balanced, with just the right acid tang.
We stopped by the Charleston Grill for a glass of wine and a sweetbread appetizer. What impressed me the most here was the wine list and the server’s enthusiastic knowledge of it. On the glass pour list we were able to chose from incredibly cool wines such as a marsanne from Victoria, Australia and a 100% pinot noir vin gris. The server even let us do half glasses so we could taste more of the list.
We ended up at McCrady’s, where chef Sean Brock has transformed the historic restaurant into a temple of amazingly creative food, and is re-defining the idea of farm-to-table (check out John Kessler’s story about Brock in this month’s issue of Food Arts). Brock and his cooks grow much of the produce and raise much of the meat used on McCrady’s menu themselves, and the freshness of the product, as well as Brock’s handling of it, makes for some of the most exciting food in the country. The standout had to be Brock’s creamed kimchee, which appeared under a hugely fat scallop and a hunk of pork belly sourced from the restaurant’s hog farm. The kimchee had whispers of chow chow in its nature, a cultural hybrid of Southern and Asian that would never work in a less deft chef’s hands (say that three times fast). It’s a dish I’ll be thinking about for a long time. Other highlights included handmade ramp pasta (the most outrageous color green) with crab, chanterelles and nasturtium butter, and warm asparagus with a farm egg, Benton’s bacon, and bonito. Best surf and turf EVER.
(photo by Besha Rodell’s crappy cell phone)
OLD GLORY: The dining room at Livingston
It’s 6:30 on an early summer evening, and Livingston’s patio is throbbing with activity. Women dressed in spangles and silk sip cocktails under canvas umbrellas while seated in luxurious cushioned chairs. The newly renovated Georgian Terrace Hotel’s blond brick façade exudes moneyed charm. Across the street, the fabulous Fox Theatre’s marquee twinkles. There’s something about this scene that’s apt to fill your heart with Atlanta pride. It’s like the fantasy of what this city could be: a bustling Midtown nightlife; a future that dips into our storied past; a brand of glamour that feels just right.
The revamping of the Georgian Terrace and the opening of Livingston represents something important for our city. For the past year, many of Atlanta’s exciting new restaurants have sprung up in hotels, specifically in big-name chains such as W. Helmed by out of town celebrity chefs such as Tom Colicchio and Laurent Tourondel, these restaurants gave us reason to feel that we’re becoming a nationally recognized dining city, but the homegrown element was obviously missing.
The Georgian Terrace couldn’t be more homegrown, from its location at the corner of Peachtree and Ponce de Leon, to its history as the place where Gone With the Wind stars partied after the movie’s premier at the Loew’s Grand Theatre. When a city starts to revive the treasures it already holds rather than simply building on top of them, it’s an exciting prospect.
Continue reading “Review: Livingston”
(Photo by James Camp)
I can’t explain it, but I love the Queen. I loved her mum. I can live without her kids, and her grandkids. Anyway, all that’s beside the point — she’s planting an organic garden! Obama Foodorama opines that it was most likely inspired by Michelle’s own garden efforts. Long live Betty!
(Photo courtesy Wikimedia commons. It was taken by NASA. No, really.)
I heard a rumor this morning that Trois, Concentrics’ glittering French restaurant in Midtown, will be closing within the week. Calls to the restaurant and the restaurant’s PR rep garnered a lot of “no comment”s (although PR rep Jill Caramella at the Reynolds Group promised more information by the end of the day). But we were able to find three separate sources who told us, off the record, that the downstairs bar will stay open, probably serving food, while the upstairs dining room is “re-branded”. We’re told that concept, price point and decor will all be changed. It will no longer be Trois.
We’ll keep you posted as the official word comes down.
(Thanks to intern Robyn Baitcher for her intrepid reporting, which contributed to this post)
What’s worse than having to work on a Sunday? Having to work on a Sunday while drinking really good beer in someone’s summery back yard with a bunch of homebrew enthusiasts. For this year’s beer issue, I slaved away, drinking beer and hanging out with the guys from the East Atlanta Brewery, as well as homebrewer Abby Jackson and the guys from the Final Gravity homebrew group. I know. It’s a tough life.
Beer Issue ‘09: Homebrew!
Atlanta’s DYI beer community makes a splash
Slide show: Dave Hatker walks us through EAB’s homebrew process
Atlanta homebrew resources: stores to help you get your brew on.
Here’s a scene from a meal I had this week at a new-ish, high end restaurant in town.
Me: “I’d like to know about a couple of wines.”
Waiter: “OK, which wines were you interested in?”
Me: “This German pinot blanc, and this white Burgundy. What can you tell me about them?”
Waiter: “I’m not familiar with either of those wines. Let me go check for you.”
The waiter left for around 10 minutes, and when he came back he said “The French wine is going to be a little bit dry, like a chardonnay. And the German wine will be fruity.”
I bit my tongue. It’s tempting, in these type of situations, to say something like, “You mean like a chardonnay because it IS a chardonnay? Yes, I knew that, what can you tell me about it?”
But really, is it even the waiter’s fault? Shouldn’t the restaurant be training, and even testing its servers on wine knowledge? Or, just as acceptable to me, if the waiter doesn’t know the wine, shouldn’t there be someone on hand who can give me more information than a broad description of what wines from that country generally taste like?
Unfortunately, this experience is not uncommon in Atlanta restaurants. And I’m talking expensive restaurants, the kind where you’re paying a premium for touches like … wine service! Apart from general lack of knowledge, I’ve recently had a waiter pour for my husband when I ordered, another waiter bypass the tasting altogether (on the one bottle of the year so far that I’ve had to send back — a real pain when everyone at the table already had full glasses), many waiters who don’t even recognize the name of a wine I’m ordering off of relatively short lists, and many, many waiters who, if they do know anything about wine, assume that I don’t and lecture me about how I probably won’t like the French chardonnay I’ve ordered because it isn’t buttery. Or something equally insulting.
In fact, wine service is so bad in Atlanta, that for all the meals I eat out, I can remember more vividly the ones where the wine service was decent, because it’s so uncommon. Craft. Repast. A former sommelier from Floataway Cafe who I still remember three years later just because she was enthusiastic and recommended something I wouldn’t have picked otherwise but loved nonetheless.
What’s up Atlanta? Why is this one area of service that so often falls apart? My challenge to you: step it up! I’m thirsty!
(Image courtesy sxc.hu)
This just appeared as Riccardo Ullio’s Facebook status:
Cuerno will be closing its doors this Sunday, so for all of you that have enjoyed dining there in the past, please stop by this weekend for a farewell.
No word yet on the reason for the closing.
OOOHH BABY BABY: The baby octopus salad at Taverna
All but the best menus should be approached as one would a treasure hunt or a detective novel — as a search for clues, ingredients, and preparations that might make for the most enjoyable meal. Where most chefs showcase their best dishes with bravado, Taverna Fiorentina’s Andreas Montobbio tends to hide his authentic, soul-pleasing Italian dishes behind the veneer of suburbia-friendly comfort. It’s real Italian food posing as watered-down Italian food.
Little information can be garnered from the restaurant’s generic strip-mall façade, or from the classic dining room bedecked in dark wood and muted accents. A large flatscreen TV hovers over the bar playing a slideshow of dramatic Italian villas and vistas. Even the menu’s antipasto platters, fritto misto, green salads and veal saltimbocca give the comforting impression that there’s not many risks being taken here.
But in the pasta section, clues start to arise signaling a more serious Italian heart in the kitchen than appearances would have you believe.
Continue reading “Restaurant review: Taverna Fiorentina”
(Photo by James Camp)
Abattoir, the new meat-centric restaurant from Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison of Bacchanalia fame, opened last night in the White Provisions building on Howell Mill Road. The Blissful Glutton gives us a sneak peek from her opening-night meal. I’ve seen the menu and it looks awesome. Tripe stew and lamb liver fritters? Yes, please.
A few weeks ago, I reported that Top Flr had a new chef. This week, I got an e-mail from owner Jeff Myers saying the news was a tad premature (they did confirm the new chef, although they were reluctant to, seemingly for good reason). Anyhoo, here’s the scoop on the newest new chef, from Myers’ e-mail:
Originally from Philadelphia, PA. Shane Devereux discovered his passion for cooking as a child working in his family’s kitchen. The difference for Devereux was that his family was Vietnamese and this brought an element of diversity into meal time, which continues to influence Devereux’ cooking style. His culinary career began with a position of pantry cook at a local private club outside Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He then moved on to work for three of Philadelphia’s most well-respected certified French Master Chefs: Dominique Filoni, Jean Marie LaCroix and Jean Francois Taquet. Two of whom, Filoni and Taquet, where the youngest French Master Chefs in the United States.
He moved to Atlanta and found a home at Peasant Group opening a new venture in Peasant Bistro. We are so excited to have Shane on board…
The AJC’s Meredith Ford Goldman gives Nikolai’s Roof an affectionate 3 star review. I’ve never eaten at this Atlanta dinosaur, but from this piece it seems worth the visit, and for more than the kitsch factor.
On the Atlantic’s food site, Carol Ann Sayle asks whether small farms can feed the world.
In the New York Times, John T. Edge writes about the origins of and American devotion to Sriracha, the chili sauce known to many as “rooster sauce”.
She’s been talking about retiring for years, but yesterday Peach Buzz reported that Miss Ann is planning to sell.
Frank Bruni just put up his first blog post since yesterday’s announcement that he’s leaving the job as restaurant critic for the New York Times. In it, he describes the well funded and well respected status he’s enjoyed from his employers. Aw.
If you’ve missed it, the food world has gone totally rabid with the news of Bruni’s job change. Eat Me Daily has a good roundup of Eater’s excellent coverage of what they’re calling Bruniocalypse.
OK, that’s not quite true – there was a small segment at the beginning of last night’s show that was about the White House press conference cell phone debacle. But apart from that, it was a food-heavy episode last night, with outrage over the proposed soda tax, dining and dashing on $1000 meals, and an interview with Michael Pollan. My favorite part? Watching Colbert snort 24 carat edible gold. Just in case you missed it, here’s the episode.
After our coffee panel of a few weeks back, Jennifer Zyman and I were discussing what other blind-tasting fun we could have. Absinthe sounded like a blast, but the idea got put on the back burner for the time being. Doh! It seems the New York Times has beaten us to it – here they taste 20 absinthes, compare contrast and offer helpful hints on how to imbibe.
Eat Me Daily posts an awesome video which will both warm your heart and teach you how to make tabbouleh.
Ezekiel J. Emanuel writes on the Atlantic’s food site about how the internet age could be responsible for ruining eating – if every meal is blogged, do we lose the pleasure? This is kind of interesting, but is the same hand-wringing we’ve been seeing for years: does the internet make privacy obsolete? Did I ruin my relationship by blogging about it? And on and on….
