Omnivore Atlanta

It’s been a month since my regular Friday lunch bunch visited La Pietra Cucina. We did today and found chef Bruce Logue in an unusually upbeat mood. (Yes, he knows me.) He visited our table wielding this chunk of the highest-grade of Wagyu beef and insisted we each try a skewer of the meat.

I’ve eaten plenty of apparently lower-grade Wagyu over the years. This was completely unique to my taste. The beef, from the hanger cut, virutally had the texture of foie gras.

“This is the best piece of meat on Peachtree right now,” Logue said. “I’m telling the staff tonight they better sell this, because if they can’t sell this, they’re in the wrong place.”

If I were you, I’d get a reservation tonight or Saturday to sample it as a starter or entree.

The rest of our lunch included a round of soup with escarole, white beans and housemade fennel sausage, followed by speck panini for two of us and a chicken panino for another.

Another light lunch.

(Photos by Cliff Bostock)

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I dined alone at Stella in Grant Park Thursday night. I had a Caesar salad and a white pizza featuring zucchini, bacon and mozzarella, streaked with balsamic vinegar. The restaurant is slated to close and be resurrected as a Doc Chey’s Noodle House within the next few months. (The same people own both restaurants.) Meanwhile, the chef has left the restaurant to open her own venue in Florida.

I asked a server why the owners think Doc Chey’s will do better than Stella and she told me that “foot traffic” is much higher at all locations of the noodle house. She said some limited remodeling will occur before the transition. …

In my quest for new burgers, I dined Monday night at Roxx Tavern and Diner on Cheshire Bridge Road. On Mondays, the restaurant offers a build-your-own-burger special.  You start with a $5.95 Angus beef, turkey or veggie burger and add toppings of your choice.

Weirdly, the restaurant doesn’t offer a list of ingredients and their cost. You just choose whatever you like that is mentioned in the regular menu of kitchen-designed burgers and you’ll have to ask what each ingredient costs. I chose this Angus patty with caramelized onions. feta cheese and bacon. I ended up saving a couple of bucks.  It was quite good, if a bit undercooked. …

Speaking of burgers, the Shed at Glenwood featured a slider at its regular Wednesday “slider night” that included duck confit and fresh cranberries that had been marinated in port wine, jalapeño peppers and cloves. I keep craving it. …

Entice, a “Caribbean tapas restaurant and lounge,” is soon to open on Ponce de Leon Avenue near the Spaghetti Factory. …

Marketing Ploy of the Week: Over the weekend, the Ansley Publix appeared to repackage its small cobb salad in the large container, lowered the price a dollar and claimed it was on sale. Ugh. …

It appears Vesuvius, the new pizzeria on Edgewood Avenue, will not open tomorrow night, Friday, as hoped. Maybe next week. …

So light, so airy, so incredibly fattening. …

So noisy, so airy, so inedible. …

(Photo by Cliff Bostock)

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Miller Union, new in the Westside and soon-to-be-reviewed-here, has made the Daily Beast’s list of “fall’s hot new restaurants”:

The Buzz: Miller Union is the latest Atlanta restaurant to focus on farm-to-table fare. Led by chef Steven Satterfield, formerly the executive sous chef of acclaimed Atlanta eatery Watershed, Miller Union boasts an upscale Southern menu (beer-braised pork shoulder) built around local produce and a wine list of biodynamic, organic wines. Its atmosphere is meant to feel homey, with leather stools, antique furniture and exposed beams. The favorite appetizer: Farm egg baked in celery cream.

Check it out.

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Crawford Moran with a city water beer

The nifty rainwater collection system that 5 Seasons Brewing Company installed at their Westside brewpub location in September attracted plenty of attention. Apparently CNN saw my Talking Head story on it and decided to run their own short feature.

Unfortunately, the story also got the attention of various local, state, and federal regulators, who whipped out their statute books to find that there are no guidelines for the use of rainwater in beer, so therefore it must be illegal.

“We weren’t thinking about hiding it, because we had no idea it would be a problem,” says brewer Crawford Moran. “The system produces ‘potable water,’ which is the standard for commercial applications, but that doesn’t necessarily translate [to a brewpub], because there’s no regulating authority.”

The system, installed by RainHarvest Systems of Cumming, Georgia, has been used in commercial operations before, and the 6-stage filtration system filters down to 0.5 microns, followed by a UV filter that kills bacteria. It produces water so pure that the University of Georgia Soil and Water Laboratory, the certified lab that tested the sample from 5 Seasons, fairly gushed about it in its normally staid scientific assessment. No matter. The brewery could have dug a well on the site of the former stockyard without even having the water tested. (more…)

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Canoe Restaurant, located on the edge of the Chattahoochee River, will be opening its doors again on Mon., Nov. 23. The restaurant went through significant damages due to the September flooding. After embarking on a 10-week renovation process, the restaurant is ready to go for the holiday season. Chef Carvel Grant Gould will be offering a revamped menu, and the edible vegetable garden will be re-planted as well. During the first week Canoe will be open for dinner only and will offer a three-course prix-fixe menu at $55 per person on Thanksgiving Day.

Paces Ferry Road. 770-437-2663. 4199. www.canoe-atl.com.

(Photo courtesy of Canoe)

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Lambert Bridge Winery dinner at the Shed at Glenwood, Nov. 17, The winery will bring a five-course meal and wine pairings to the Shed at Glenwood. The main course will include wild boar ragout, winter vegetables and yukon gold potatoes. Cost $85 per person. 475 Bill Kennedy Way. 404-835-4363. www.theshedatglenwood.com.

Slow Food Atlanta presents a “slow taste of Tuscany,” Wednesday, November 18, 2009, 7 p.m. at Valenza and La Pietra Cucina. A celebration taking place across America of slow food and Douglas Gayeton’s new book Slow: Life in a Tuscan Town. $120 all-inclusive.

Atlanta Wine School’s For Beginners Only, Nov. 19, For the wine novice who is looking to expand their knowledge. The course is meant to expand wine vocabulary, learning what goes best with what foods and what to choose at a restaurant. You will also learn about tasting as you sample several wines. The class cost $50 per person and begins at 7 pm. 1570 Holcomb Bridge Road. 770-668-0435. www.atlantawineschool.com.

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It’s not as weird as the Krispy Kreme burger below, but here’s a novelty at FuzeBurger, another new burger joint. This one’s next to the Krispy Kreme on Ponce de Leon Avenue, but it isn’t featuring the iconic donuts in any of its burgers. (In fact, the restaurant doesn’t offer any desserts at all, weirdly enough.)

The dish above is a starter of fried tofu chips with Thai plum sauce. They’re kind of crispy but melt in the mouth instantly.

Fuze is owned by the same people who owned a Thai restaurant at the same location. Like its predecessor, Fuze has a terrific interior design. Its walls are red and a central focal detail is a long, serpentine, white paper lantern. Its shape is replicated in splashes of white paint on the red walls.

I assume the name, Fuze, is meant to imply “fusion,” and the burgers do indeed have elements of other cultures, from Malaysian to Korean.

More in Grazing later this week.

(Photo by Cliff Bostock)

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Here it is — the “Artery Annihilator,” on the menu at the new Burger Club. This isn’t the first time a restaurant in our city has served a bacon-cheeseburger between two Krispy Kreme donuts, but it was my first experience. And despite what Paula Deen thinks of such a concoction (see video below), I found it pretty nightmarish and in need of emergency tweaking by Richard Blais.

I’ve tried a lot else on the menu and found most of it quite acceptable, including the fried Moon Pie, which is not a Moon Pie at all, but a bakery version of one. I’ll say more about the restaurant later this week in Grazing.

(Photo by Cliff Bostock)

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We had a great dinner at Noni’s (357 Edgewood Ave., 404-343-1808) last night. Owner-chef Matt Rupert has added a bowl of squid piccata to the starters and it’s a really refreshing alternative to the usual fried calamari.

Wayne ordered the squid before an entree of farfalle with an anchovy-lemon sauce. I had my usual: a Caesar salad followed by the chicken-eggplant parmesan.

Matt is among the owners of the new Pizzeria Vesuvius (327 Edgewood Ave., 404-343-4404), which is replacing the Bureau in the next block. Also involved are the owners of Grant Central and Thumbs Up, along with Chris Lopez, one of the Bureau’s owners.

They hope to open by next Friday. The restaurant features a wood-burning brick oven. The pizza will be thin-crusted but more mainstream than the pies at Antico Napoleatana, Varasano’s and Fritti, according to Matt. They are targeting students at nearby Georgia State University. Diners will be able to build their own pizzas or order one of the house pies, all of which are named after volcanoes.

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I stopped by the new Painted Table Cafe (465 Boulevard) a few nights ago. The restaurant occupies the space that housed the much-missed Zocalo Taqueria. Unfortunately, a sign announced that “technical difficulties” had emerged during the restaurant’s soft opening, forcing it to close temporarily. It will reopen 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Nov. 16, according to the sign. But I’d call ahead (404-622-4353).

Daily Candy mentioned the restaurant recently:

Chef Omega Idolion Angell has taken up residence beneath the Fine Line Gallery, serving breakfast and lunch in a cozy, eclectic space.

A mix of wood, metal, stone, and orange Venetian faux finish make the interior a canvas in its own right. A big band soundtrack and rotating local art up the art house ante.

The far-ranging menu includes aromatic peanut butter and jelly soup, French toast rolled in caramelized Frosted Flakes and served with vanilla-orange anglaise, and pistachio-encrusted red snapper. The selections pay homage to Angell’s work in 92 countries (including stints as an Alaskan king crab fisherman and Flying Biscuit exec chef) and his willingness to play with his food.

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Doug Strickland, owner of Eno, sent out this e-mail today, announcing the sale of his restaurant and neighboring market:

Eno was born from the passionate pursuit of a life dream.

As most of you know, we sold Eno and Barrelman to Zaza Pachulia, the center for the Atlanta Hawks.

Living a life dream and having passion in what you do brings many rewards. It allows you to work endlessly and intensely without ever feeling like it is work; in our business, it provides a constant medium for giving to the community; thirdly, it allows you to form many great relationships. I think it is the relationships that I have been able to build that mean the most to me. I am truly blessed.

Some of our regulars and friends in the trade, have asked me to send out a note about what is going on, what’s next for Eno and what’s next for Doug Strickland. This warms my heart greatly. I would love to stay in touch. Thank you.

At Eno, Zaza and his team have expressed a real appreciation for the concept and while there will be tweaks, as I understand it, he does not plan to change much, at least not for now.

As for me, ironically, the sale of Eno has allowed me to more actively pursue my passion for food and wine, stir creative juices and spend more time with my family.

While exploring longer term opportunities on the beverage supply side, I am consulting private collectors, restaurants and hotels in wine and general beverage program management.
If I can be of help or should an opportunity arise that you know about please think of me.

Thank you for helping me live my dream.

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THE IBERIAN PIG: The lamb ribs

When food-obsessed people talk about modern cooking, they’re often talking about Spain. Spanish restaurants such as El Bulli have defined modern cooking in recent years, giving us the mad science of molecular gastronomy, and advancing flavors and techniques in ways that have changed the very nature of the relationship between the words “modern” and “cooking.”

So it presents a bit of a problem when a decidedly non-cutting-edge restaurant (even in Decatur) defines itself as “modern Spanish.” The Iberian Pig does just that.

Atlanta has had a strange courtship with Spanish food. The recent closing of Cuerno, our most authentic Spanish restaurant to date, is a prime example of the oft-quoted adage, “Atlanta isn’t ready for authentic Spanish cooking.”

The food served at the Iberian Pig isn’t authentic Spanish, but it’s not modern Spanish, either. To be blunt, it’s bastardized Spanish food.

Continue reading “Review: The Iberian Pig”

(Photo by James Camp)

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If you’re looking forward to all the splendor of a traditional Thanksgiving meal this year, but want to opt-out of the part that includes slaving over a hot stove, look after the jump for restaurants that’ll be open on Thanksgiving Day in Atlanta with a Thanksgiving meal, traditional or not. (more…)

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Love at the Pub tells the story of the Brick Store

I am so glad Rocktober is over, because that means that it is Novembeer. Although I don’t expect Gov. Purdue to declare it officially, I am herewith designating this as the unofficial silly pun name for this month. Novembeer is when we all get together with our loved ones and give thanks for beer. It is also that time of the year when the breweries release their winter seasonals and holiday beers. It is a good month.

There is a lot to look forward to this Novembeer if you are a beer lover, including a new Taco Mac, the release of Love at the Pub, the story of the Brick Store Pub, a host of beer dinners and tastings, and a slew of new beer releases, both local and from beyond Georgia. Here are a few of the highlights of just the next two weeks!

(more…)

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We checked out the new Pure Taqueria on North Highland in Inman Park tonight and had a pleasant meal. The place was packed, noisy as hell and featured a young, energetic staff that might end up becoming known as the city’s best looking.

The redo of the former tenant’s interior is a huge improvement and has a lot in common with the Taqueria del Sol look — lots of windows, a long bar (above) where you can eat and swill margaritas.  Unlike TDS, however, you don’t stand in line to order. Although,  you may have to wait for a table. We waited about 20 minutes. That’s not an experience one has in Atlanta restaurants much these days, especially on a Tuesday night.

Most of our food was good. Probably my favorite dish was a starter of grilled shrimp with an avocado-habanero salsa (right). For an entree, I tried chicken enchiladas with mole, which, like much of the food here, tasted a lot better than it looked. The mole was quite good, in fact.

As at the new Lupe, tacos are sold three-to-a-plate but you can mix and match. That will drive the price up a bit, since you also have to order side dishes — even the omnipresent rice and frijoles refritos –  a la carte.

A surprise was a tres leches cake made with coconut. It works!

Look for more in a future Grazing column.

(Photos by Cliff Bostock)

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The new El Toro on Memorial Drive in Grant Park, my neighborhood,  has opened. It’s located in the building that was occupied by the much-missed Redfish. I presume it is serving the usual Tex-Mex cooking that appeals to many gringos.

Grant Park was home to several completely authentic taquerias just a few years ago, including a couple hole-in-the-wall joints and the more  gringo-friendly Zocalo. The only really authentic Mexican restaurant left is the rather mediocre Mi Barrio, also on Memorial Drive, near Boulevard. And just west of that — on Memorial, at Cherokee — is the fun Tin Lizzy’s Cantina, also serving mainly Tex-Mex border cuisine.

Meanwhile, Pure Taqueria has opened a few miles away in Inman Park.

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Illy, maker of what many regard as the world’s best coffee, is going after the Starbucks crowd, according to the Wall Street Journal:

For more than 20 years the closely held company, based in Trieste, Italy, has sold its coffee in high-end grocers such as Whole Foods and in coffee shops, hotels and restaurants in the U.S. Now it’s expanding its reach by signing contracts with cafes in the U.S. that agree to serve Illy exclusively and allow Illy a hand in quality control.

There are only 28 such stores in the US now and one of them is our own Cafe Nineteen in the Westside:

Cafe Nineteen in Atlanta, which closed temporarily last year, reopened in June, having added an outdoor patio with red Illy umbrellas. Owner Sean Lupton-Smith said he began serving Illy coffee “so we could offer a consistent experience to our customers and be strong enough to stand up to the Starbucks around the corner.”

A 12-ounce Illy drip coffee in a white ceramic cup with the red Illy logo sells for $3 instead of $1.60 for his previously no-name cups of joe. Coffee sales have tripled to $750 a day. “We’re open until 2 a.m. and believe it or not, we sell coffee at midnight,” Mr. Lupton-Smith says.

Personally, I prefer Lavazza over Illy, and I mean the taste — not just the lower price.

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The Twitterers are tweeting that Stella in Grant Park will close at the end of December and be replaced by Doc Chey’s Noodle House. I’m not happy about that.

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LIVIN ON THE EGE: Ege Sushi's uni tofu

On a bright fall day around 2 p.m., Ege Sushi only has two tables occupied in its modest dining room. One by me, huddled over a bowl of steaming udon, slurping comforting broth and fat noodles muddled with scallion and nori and the occasional wisp of egg. A young black woman and an older, Eastern European-looking man occupy the other table. They’re speaking a language that sounds like a cross between Russian, German and Portuguese. Perhaps they’re speaking Russian but she has a Spanish accent. I imagine they’re spies, or doomed lovers, their affections thwarted by grand tribulations and vast distances.

The waitress appears at the table, answering requests with a short nod and an enthusiastic “Hai!” As I look around the room at the slightly shabby but comfortable brown décor — sushi bar stretching down one side of the room, a lone beer tap standing over a keg refrigerator at the back of the room (pouring Sapporo), signs handwritten in Japanese — I realize I could be almost anywhere in the world. The authenticity of the food and the Japanese staff suggest we could be in Anytown, Japan. But the international clientele and the place’s almost transitory feel indicate that we could be in any city large enough to support small pockets of intercontinental authenticity.

In fact, we’re in a strip mall in Marietta.

Continue Reading “Review: Ege Sushi”

(Photos by Jennifer Zyman)

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The New York Times blog “You’re the Boss,” is running a two-part list of “One Hundred Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do.” It ought to be posted in every restaurant in the city. It anticipates complaints:

Herewith is a modest list of dos and don’ts for servers at the seafood restaurant I am building. Veteran waiters, moonlighting actresses, libertarians and baristas will no doubt protest some or most of what follows. They will claim it homogenizes them or stifles their true nature. And yet, if 100 different actors play Hamlet, hitting all the same marks, reciting all the same lines, cannot each one bring something unique to that role?

Among my favorites from the first 50:

3. Never refuse to seat three guests because a fourth has not yet arrived.

6. Do not lead the witness with, “Bottled water or just tap?” Both are fine. Remain neutral.

36. Never reek from perfume or cigarettes. People want to smell the food and beverage.

40. Never say, “Good choice,” implying that other choices are bad.

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To all who are interested in showing off their awesome culinary skills, “Top Chef”will  hold auditions here in Atlanta for season seven. This open casting call will be at Craft Restaurant, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., on Nov. 8. Be sure to bring a filled out application, video submission and all other required materials, which can be found on the Bravo TV website.

Also, be sure to brush-up on you pastries and cakes, as a new “Top Chef” spin-off, titled “Top Chef: Just Desserts,” will also be casting at the same audition. The newest version of the show was just recently announced on Oct., 26 and auditions are already underway. The spin-off is said to premiere in 2010.

Craft is located at 3376 Peachtree Road. 404-995-7580. www.craftrestaurant.com.

(Photo courtesy Bravo TV)

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There have been conflicting reports of where and when Havana will resurface. Apparently, two restaurants named Havana are slated to open on Buford Highway in the near future. And two different people — Debbie Benedit and William Benedit — claim they are resurrecting the original “Havana.”

Mrs. Benedit (pictured above in the black shirt) has given me her side of the story. However, I have been unable to reach Mr. Benedit for a comment at this time.

Stay tuned as I gather additional facts and get to the bottom of this.

(Photo from Debbie Benedit’s website, www.havanarestaurantatlanta.com)

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We dined Thursday evening at Amuse (404-888-1890), the new restaurant in the short-lived Allegro’s space at 560 Dutch Valley Road in Midtown. The owners have improved the interior significantly, turning what was a rather chilly space into a warm, intimate bistro, replete with an instrumental jazz duo. We’d expect nothing less of the owners of Anis (Arnaud Michel) and Apres Diem (Andy Alibaksh) who have teamed up to create Amuse.

The menu by longtime Anis chef Lenny Robinson includes a number of novelties like the appetizer of sliced, charred octopus with pickled seaweed and cucumbers (above). My entree was a chunk of roasted, orange-glazed piglet (right) with shredded, pickled brussel sprouts and a paprika brodo.

Both dishes were terrific, although I thought the pickle flavors tended to overwhelm the octopus, which was sliced from a grilled tentacle. Wayne ordered an interesting appetizer of roasted cauliflower with a cauliflower puree. A bit of chili oil added zing to both forms of my favorite cruciferous vegetable. His entree was crispy mackerel over chickpeas with mint and sultanas.

Dessert: a butterscotch creme brulee with a roasted marshmallow topping for me and two scoops of housemade ice cream for Wayne — one lavender and the other violet.

The restaurant is also open for lunch weekdays and brunch on weekends. Did I mention that portions are huge? Some of the appetizers I saw go by our table looked like entrees, especially one of crispy pork belly over napa cabbage, plum, avocado and yuzu.

I’ll have more to say in an upcoming Grazing column.

(Photos by Cliff Bostock)

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Paul Luna, our city’s first celebrity chef (before there was “Top Chef” and such), was spotted at Atmosphere last night. I have not confirmed that he’s moving back, although AtlantaLatino.com reports that “he is looking to make Atlanta a new home and to teach cooking classes and English.”

Luna has, amazingly, crossed the U.S. on bike to promote his children’s book, Luna Needs a Miracle, an English-Spanish text about bridging cultural difference. He’s recorded his impressions of how Atlanta has changed since his departure on one of his blogs.

Let’s hope the brilliant chef decides to cook in restaurants now and then!

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My latest obsession: The “Burger stack” at Bocado (887 Howell Mill Road, 30318. 404-815-1399. www.bocadoatlanta.com) on the Westside.

Read all about it on my blog, The Blissful Glutton.

(Photo by Jennifer Zyman)

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