Omnivore Atlanta

Antico Pizza Napoletana is now open for lunch and has installed seating at its large communal table. Jennifer Zyman has the restaurant’s announcement on her Blissful Glutton blog.

As it happens, Wayne and I visited the pizzeria again Saturday night and took a seat at the table with five Georgia Tech students who were in obvious awe as we plowed our way through two pizzas, leaving only four slices to take home. Wayne ordered the marinara with white anchovies and I got the pie with sopressata and fiery pepperonata.

The pies, I’m sorry to say, were so soft and floppy they were almost impossible to eat without a fork and knife. Pizzaiolo Enrico Liberato said the sudden cold and rainy weather had played havoc with his dough. Interestingly, the leftover slices actually re-heated quite well on a cookie sheet in a 300-degree oven.

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Top Flr is the default choice when I’m able to dine out Monday night. The restaurant’s special of three courses for $15 is a bargain nobody in town can beat.

Favorite Dishes: Among the best on the regular menu of uncomplicated eats are the tarragon-spiked pan-roasted chicken and the crispy duck with fennel salt and vermouth honey. 674 Myrtle St. 404-685-3110. www.topflr.com.

We will be counting down Cliff’s Top 10 Favorites every day between now and Oct. 21, the day our Food Issue 2009 launches. Check back tomorrow for Number 2.

(Photo by James Camp)

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Cakes and Ale crosses my mind whenever I head to Decatur. I don’t get to dine here as often as I’d like, but to me it’s everything a restaurant should be: chef-driven to the point of eccentric, highlighting seasonal ingredients and giving foremost attention to flavor.

Favorite Dishes: The gnocchi is always reliable – a great dish for showing off those seasonal ingredients. 254 W Ponce de Leon Ave. 404-377-7994. www.cakesandalerestaurant.com.

We will be counting down Cliff’s Top 10 Favorites every day between now and Oct. 21, the day our Food Issue 2009 launches. Check back tomorrow for Number 3.

(Photo by James Camp)

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Cóm is my favorite Vietnamese restaurant. While there are a couple of fancier spots in town, Cóm is inexpensive, informal and mainly quite healthy. Don’t go without trying the house salad, made with green mango, green papaya, Fuji apples, fried onions, roasted peanuts, mint, basil and cilantro. You add the grilled seafood, meat or tofu of your choice.

Favorite dish: My default entrée is usually a bun (rice vermicelli) bowl with la lot leaves stuffed with lamb. 4005-E Buford Hwy. 404-320-0405. www.comgrill.com.

We will be counting down Cliff’s Top 10 Favorites every day between now and Oct. 21, the day our Food Issue 2009 launches. Check back tomorrow for Number 4.

(Photo by James Camp)

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This week has been what Wayne and I call a “Freedom from Food Week.” That means we didn’t have to eat anything for first-time review. The reason is that I wrote the list of my 10 favorite restaurants instead of Grazing for next week’s paper. That put me a week ahead.

By the way, some people don’t seem to distinguish between the “best” and a “favorite” restaurant. A favorite restaurant is one that I go to regularly because the food is consistently good, it’s fairly inexpensive and it’s relatively convenient to where I live.  I would, for example, consider Restaurant Eugene among the best restaurants in the city but it’s not a favorite for regular dining week in and week out.

I’ve had several terrific meals this week at favorites. Above is the gigantic pickle we brought home from the Shed at Glenwood Wednesday night after our usual indulgence of $3 sliders. Wayne asked for an extra slice of pickle and the waiter brought him this dinner-plate-sized monster. It seems owner Cindy Shera bought an entire barrel of them, thinking she was buying the usual size.

We had two excellent newbie sliders — fried oysters and coleslaw, and pork belly with pork and beans.

I lunched Friday with my friend Frank Miller at La Pietra Cucina, where I haven’t been in nearly a month. Our meal was flat-out spectacular, starting with a large bowl of soup featuring octopus and chickpeas with a bit of escarole and delectable Olivastro oil. That was followed by lemony tagliatelle with chunks of Dungeness crab, which was followed by porchetta paninos. No, I did not take a nap in the car after lunch, but I sure felt like it.

Last night, Thursday, I scored a seat at the bar at the always-crowded Dynamic Dish for an amazing-as-usual meal: creamy, slightly crispy aubergine croquettes over San Marzano tomato sauce with steamed kale and crowder peas. I followed that with owner-chef David Sweeney’s interesting take on bread pudding — more like toast pudding — topped with whiskey sauce and toasted walnuts.

Last Monday, I visited the new Antico Pizza for another Naples-style pie, this time the San Gennaro topped with sweet sausage, bufala, cippolini and sweet pickled red peppers. Like the week before, I carried the pizza home in a box and it was way too gooey by the time I arrived, but nonetheless a really stimulating play of sweet flavors. I wish the restaurant included seating — there is one table where you can stand and eat — because the pizza is really not suited for travel. It’s not on my list of favorites yet, but it’s only been open a few weeks and I’ve been twice!

(Photos by Cliff Bostock)

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And Hankook Taqueria (1341 Collier Road. 404-352-8881) is located ITP.

Click HERE to read the rest…

(Bad iPhone photo by Jennifer Zyman)

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The Shed at Glenwood is where I land every Wednesday night. That’s when Chef Lance Gummere prepares an ever-changing menu of fat, delicious sliders that cost all of $3 each. The regular menu includes the delicious novelty of pan-fried chicken hearts and a foie gras torchon with warm fig jam. Go Sunday and you get three courses for $20.

Favorite dishes: Recent favorite sliders have been wild boar with caramelized onions, and one showcasing a thick slice of fried green tomato with goat cheese.   475 Bill Kennedy Way. 404-835-4363 www.theshedatglenwood.com.

We will be counting down Cliff’s Top 10 Favorites every day between now and Oct. 21, the day our Food Issue 2009 launches. Check back tomorrow for Number 5.

(Photo by James Camp)

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Spoon has blown all other Thai restaurants in Atlanta out of the water. Although its menu is a bit limited compared to others, the curry sauces have no equal for their complexity and fiery heat (unless you specify “mild”). I go to the East Atlanta location, but the original is in the Westside.

Favorite dishes: The Massaman curry, to which I add mixed seafood or chicken. The tofu steak is my favorite special. 749 Moreland Ave., 404-624-4713. 768 Marietta Street., 404-522-5655. www.spoonatlanta.com.

We will be counting down Cliff’s Top 10 Favorites every day between now and Oct. 21, the day our Food Issue 2009 launches. Check back tomorrow for Number 6.

(Photo by James Camp)

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THREE'S COMPANY: The dining room at 5 Seasons Westside

When I first became a restaurant critic, someone asked me, “What’s more important? Great technique or great ingredients?” My answer was, of course, that the best food results as a combination of the two. Crappy ingredients in the hands of a fantastic chef can still become something enjoyable to eat. And the best ingredients in the wrong hands can easily go to waste.

David Larkworthy, chef at the three locations of 5 Seasons Brewing, has long been an advocate for great ingredients. Back when locavorism was still a term and movement unused by anyone but the most rarified foodie, Larkworthy was quietly buying up huge amounts of local veggies for 5 Seasons’ original location in Sandy Springs. In our 2006 Food Issue, I wrote, “By volume, David Larkworthy uses more locally grown produce than any other chef in Atlanta.” This is likely still the case, with 5 Seasons expanding to include an Alpharetta location in late 2006, and in the spring of this year, the first intown location opened on the Westside.

Continue reading “Review: 5 Seasons Westside”

(Photo by James Camp)

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Au Rendez Vous is probably the least expensive French restaurant in town. Kiet Jean-Claude Changivy is its Vietnamese, Paris-trained owner/chef. He serves simple, country-French fare in a dining room that feels makeshift but charms the hell out of you, anyway.

Favorite dishes: I love the cassoulet. Classics like boeuf bourguignon and coq au vin are also quite satisfying.  1328 Windsor Pkwy. 404-303-1968.

We will be counting down Cliff’s Top 10 Favorites every day between now and Oct. 21, the day our Food Issue 2009 launches. Check back tomorrow for Number 7.

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Fritti remains my favorite pizzeria in town despite much hoopla over a few newcomers. Part of its appeal is the starters. The one I order most is the mushrooms fried in rice-flour batter with white truffle oil. (It may be the only place I like to smell truffle oil anymore.)

Favorite dishes: My favorite pizzas are the margherita, the speck and arugula and the Napoli with bufala, anchovies and capers.  309 N. Highland Ave. 404-880-9559. www.frittirestaurant.com

We will be counting down Cliff’s Top 10 Favorites every day between now and Oct. 21, the day our Food Issue 2009 launches. Check back tomorrow for Number 8!

(Photo by Cliff Bostock)

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Whoa! Subway is about to overtake McDonald’s. OK, we’re not talking sales; we’re talking number of locations, but still..:

Restaurant upstart Subway, riding high on the marketing message of healthy fast food, will overtake its titanic competitor McDonald’s in American store locations by the end of 2009, with a shocking total of more than 32,300 outlets.

That’s something few consumers could imagine before the sandwich chain piggybacked on huge weight loss of morbidly obese Jared Fogle — who lost 245 pounds by exercising and eating only its sandwiches, in contrast to Super Size Me’s Morgan Spurlock, who got fat and sick eating McDonald’s grub.

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Ugh. Another Atlanta restaurant bites the dust. This time it’s Fishmonger in Sandy Springs. (Hat tip: Patricia Tinsley)

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I ate lunch and dinner at the new Bocado last Friday. Located in the Westside, across from Octane at the corner of Howell Mill and Marietta Street, this restaurant has a spare, modern look reminiscent of the Globe. The owner is Brian Lewis.

“Bocado” means “mouthful” in Spanish. The accent here is on inexpensive small plates for sharing and sandwiches. However, a few entrees are available at dinner, like this flounder with braised beans, green olives, almonds and capers.

(more…)

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Watch what happens. Closely. And you’ll see that at this point of our Las Vegas competition, fatigue becomes a factor.

Tightly cropped haircuts grow past their next usual appointment. Beards and bellies expand. Eyes droop. Attitudes alter. And real world dilemmas present themselves in this unreal world. Like getting sick. What has only been a couple of viewing hours to us at home has been a non-stop, every day, three week grind for the cast up to this point.

Boo-hoo. Chefs work long hours. Right?

Not like this.

“Top Chef” combines two labor intensive industries, television production and cooking. Both are notorious for 12 to14 hour work days. Throw them together and you get a grueling, high-stress 17 to 20 hour day.

When our chefs aren’t cooking, they’re still on the clock. Whether it’s dictated isolation and quiet time, or sitting in the proverbial crock pot called the stew room, it is some of the most demanding work of the participants’ lives. It creates compelling stories, interesting cooking and usually some drama.

And the physical toll doesn’t even compare to the mental strain. (more…)

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I just received this photo from a friend of mine who waits tables at the restaurant:

When I spoke to her yesterday, she told me that the clean up was moving along quickly — all the interior wood had been replaced (although it still needs to be stained), among other things — and that the restaurant was anticipating an early November re-opening. This could change a few things…

(H/T to Lindsay Saripkin; Photo by Kelly Smith)

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Pura Vida is the stage for recent “Top Chef” contestant Hector Santiago to perform his avant-garde magic with tapas. No other chef in the city gets quite as successfully crazy with the form. Faves have included the duck confit with caramelized plantains and steamed coconut buns filled with pork belly, cabbage and pickled chilies.

Favorite dish: Santiago’s mofongo, a Puerto Rican specialty, was my absolute favorite here for years. 656 N. Highland Ave. 404-870-9797. www.puravidatapas.com

We will be counting down Cliff’s Top 10 Favorites every day between now and Oct. 21, the day our Food Issue 2009 launches. Check back tomorrow for Number 9!

(Photo by James Camp)

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Next week, our annual Food Issue will be hitting the streets, packed with advice from our critics on where to eat in Atlanta right now. As part of that guide, for the first time ever, Cliff Bostock will be counting down his Top 10 favorite restaurants in our city along with his favorite dishes from those restaurants. Over the next 10 days here on Omnivore, we’ll be counting down Cliff’s favorites, starting later today with Number 10. So watch for that today and every day for the next 10 days. And watch for the Food Issue next week, which will also have my Top 5 special occasion restaurants, Jennifer Zyman’s Top 10 ethnic picks, and much more!

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Top Flr is one of the over 80 restaurants serving at Taste of Atlanta.

This weekend is the outdoor food festival known as Taste of Atlanta. Along with great food, the eight-year-old event also has live music performances and appearances from celebrity chefs. In fact, our very own columnist Richard Blais of Top Chef fame will be speaking at the main stage from noon to 12:45 on Saturday. But with over 80 restaurants showcased, how are you to choose? We here at Creative Loafing have taken it upon ourselves to make your life easier by compiling some of our favorite restaurant reviews along with what they’re serving. Bon apetit!

4th and Swift
- Roasted Berkshire City Ham with Fall Root Vegetable Slaw and Quince Chutney
- Parsnip Soup with Crispy Duck

Desta
- Fish Tibs
- Lamb Awaze
- Veggie Sampler

Flip
- Organic Grass Fed Flip Burger
- Liquid Nitrogen Milkshake

Legal Sea Foods
- Clam Chowder

Market
- Vietnamese Chicken Curry
- Short Rib Vinaigrette
- Kulfi Lollipops

Parish
- Louisiana Crab Melt
- Olive Oil Poached Tuna w/ Lemon Thyme and Sweet and Sour GA. Beet Relish

Restaurant Eugene
- Whole Pig Sliders with GA BBQ and pickles
- Boiled Peach and Sorghum ice cream with dark chocolate

Sun Dial Restaurant & Lounge
- Butternut squash with pumpkin seed pesto soup
- Venison Chili with Goat Cheese Grits

Top Flr
- Pork Belly with Apple Sauce(Saturday) Duck Sausage (Sunday)
- Duck Confit Salad
- Chocolate Brownie Cake

West Egg Cafe
- Red Velvet Cupcake
- Coca-Cola Cupcake
- Pig and Grits (pulled pork over grits)

$30-$65. Sat.-Sun., 11 a.m-6 p.m. Tech Square, Spring and Fifth streets. 404-875-4434. www.tasteofatlanta.net.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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We visited Udipi last week. The restaurant, once my favorite Indian venue in town, has moved to the shopping center at the corner of Lawrenceville Highway and Church Street.

The menu is the same, as far as I remember, but the experience is generally quite changed. This classic thali (above) was good but a few other dishes were unpleasantly surprising. There was, for example, a spicy puree served with, um, something very much like the bottoms of hamburger buns (right). Yes, chewy, gooey white bread.

I’ll have more to say later this week in Grazing.

(Photos by Cliff Bostock)

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As an ardent observer of Atlanta’s Pizza Wars, I rushed Monday night to try Antico Pizza Napoletana, which Jennifer Zyman raved about here last week.

Her post, which is heavily illustrated and continues on her personal blog, is followed by 40-odd comments. Read them! It is weird how emotional Atlantans get about pizza. When I was critical of Varasano’s (while nearly every other critic and blogger in town waxed orgasmic), I received an avalanche of furious comments. Now, Varasano’s is greatly dissed by commenters on Jennifer’s post and it seems pretty clear Antico is on its way to being the new palazzo di pizza.

The place, located in the old Jaqbo Bakery building, really is like nothing I’ve seen in our city. You can start with the booming opera soundtrack. There’s a big table where you can stand (only) and mix and mingle with Georgia Tech students and foodies while eating the pizza, served hot from the 1,000-degree, wood-burning-ovens.

Standing there, you will get a view of the gigantic kitchen and see that even more people are dining at a couple of large tables inside, within view of the fiery ovens and staff (including Enrico Liberato, who recently departed Fritti). Gazing at the happy seated people, you might feel like a second-class foodie, but you’re not at Antico to burnish your foodie credentials, are you?

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In case you missed this: I suppose it’s coincidence, but I can’t help but remember that Cracker Barrel is the same restaurant chain that fired all known gay employees around 1991 and provoked a years-long boycott. I wonder why they won’t release the video tape of the race-motivated beating that occurred there last month. In any case, it’s astonishing to see something like this happen now.

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Whoa! I thought economists were saying we’d hit bottom and were on the way up — and now something like this happens. The NYT just reported that the nation’s premiere magazine publisher, Conde Nast, will shut down the nation’s premiere food magazine, Gourmet.

How big is this news? Well, Gourmet has been around since 1940 and has always had an air of prestige, reflected by its iconic, at times even abstract, cover designs.

And, since 1999, Gourmet has boasted an editor who’s a foodie celebrity in her own right. A former NYT food critic-turned-bestselling author, Ruth Reichl had been seen by many as having updated a magazine that had developed an air of stodginess.

Says the NYT:

The magazine has suffered a severe decline in ad pages, but the cut still comes as a shock. There was speculation that Conde Nast would close one of its food titles — Gourmet or Bon Appetit — but most bets were on the latter. Gourmet has a richer history than Bon Appetit, and its editor Ruth Reichl is powerful in the food world.

Adding to the shock:

On Oct. 17, the Condé Nast title will debut its new public television show, “Gourmet’s Adventures With Ruth,” in which the title’s editor, Ruth Reichl, spans the globe visiting cooking schools with celebs including Frances McDormand and Lorraine Bracco.

Is that show now on or off? Who knows? It’s a sad day.

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Another landmark closes, according to Repeat Atlanta:

Following the recent closures of ESPN Zone, Wolfgang Puck Express, Roy’s Hawaiian and the Dining Room at the Ritz Carlton, T.G.I. Friday’s on Peachtree has closed too. Located just north of Piedmont Hospital on Peachtree Road, their Buckhead location was one of only a few locations left locally when they ceased operations as of 9/28.

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In case you think the restaurant business is about dead, go to the Real Chow Baby on a Saturday night, as we did this week. The inexpensive stir-fry restaurant was absolutely packed, making it basically impossible to get back in line to exploit the all-you-can-eat deal unless you’ve got unlimited time.

We didn’t. We were on our way to see Grey Gardens at Actor’s Express, which you should see before it closes at the end of this week.  Jill Hames, who plays the dual roles of Big Edie and and the grown-up Little Edie (right)  in the two-act production, is especially brilliant.

There are a bunch of full-service restaurants on Marietta Street and Howell Mill where you can dine on the way to the theater, but our meal at Real Chow Baby was very satisfying. I’m always amazed how I can randomly assemble a bowl of  ingredients, hand it to the chefs and end up with something that makes no sense but tastes very good. …

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