Omnivore Atlanta

Dogwood Restaurant chef Shane Touhy will be preparing a five-course meal at New York’s James Beard House next Saturday, April 18.

Lucky for us, the restaurant will present the same menu here this Tuesday, April 14. That’s the day before your tax return is due, so ease the misery with Touhy’s great food and wine pairings from Swanson Vineyards of Rutherford, Calif.

The menu, limited to 60 reservations, costs $95 per person, including wine. I want the third course in particular: charred rare venison tartare on toasted brioche, sunny-side-up quail egg, caramelized shallot jam and smoked blackberry-merlot reduction.

Call 404-835-1410 for a table.

(UPDATE: Another impostor’s comment was deleted 4/12 – CB)

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Save your seat for Dogwood’s Sweetwater Beer Dinner on Mon., Oct. 27. The dinner showcases Atlanta’s own Sweetwater ales paired with five courses from the Dogwood kitchen. There will be a brief reception beginning at 6:30 p.m., kicking off the night with a frosty pint of Sweetwater 420. 404-835-1410. $55 per person.

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In the midst of our city’s Southern restaurant boom, let us pause to admire one of the cuisine’s staples, a dish that’s been elevated from down-home comfort food to high-end food magazine cover model: the grit. Versatile, appropriate for any time of day, and able to put a Southern pedigree on a dish in a single bound, grits are the superhero of New Southern cooking.

At Dogwood, they’ve been given their own menu section. The “grits bar” offers a plate of warm grits with a choice of one of three toppings, which have ranged from fried oysters to butter-poached lobster to ham and pimento cheese. The toppings vary in extravagance, but they aren’t the stars of this show. The grits are rich with corn flavor, and their coarse, substantial texture delivers maximum impact to the surface area of your taste buds. Take a bow, grits; encore, encore.

Dogwood sits across from Emory Crawford Long Hospital in the Reynolds condominium building. The few blocks of Peachtree Avenue between North Avenue and the Connector exist in a locational paradox. The city has tried to brand the area SoNo, although I’ve never heard anyone call it that. It’s not really Midtown, but it doesn’t fit neatly into downtown, either. So a restaurant here must tread a carefully plotted path to appeal to both the tourists and conventioneers staying in downtown hotels, and the finicky trend followers who make or break Midtown restaurants. Whether by lucky accident or by design, Dogwood looks poised to pull off both. The striking decor, soft-jazz ambiance, fancy plating compositions and eager service will no doubt please the expense-account set and out-of-towners. But chef Shane Touhy’s thoughtful flavor profiles and attention to quality ingredients should put Dogwood squarely on the radar of Atlanta foodies as well.

Read the rest of this article here.

(Photo by James Camp)

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Dogwood, the city’s latest venue for Southern cuisine, is open for lunch now.

The menu includes starters ($3-$15) such as fried green tomatoes, a grits bar selection and smoked Georgia trout cakes. Among the entrees ($11-$18) are a duck club sandwich on pecan-raisin bread, the Dogwood burger and an Atlantic salmon BLT. Desserts ($6) include grilled lemon pound cake and a classic crème brûlée.

The restaurant is located at 565 Peachtree St. in the Reynolds condominium building. Chef is Shane Touhy. Call 404-835-1410 for reservations.

You can take a tour of Dogwood’s construction on its YouTube channel.

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Jay Pontrelli reports: “Had a wonderful ‘free range’ chicken soup (MEAT!) at Dynamic Dish with rice and beans and all kinds of goodness…The place is a gem.” Damn, I am sorry I missed a chance to taste what owner David Sweeney does with meat …

The Reynolds condominium building at 565 Peachtree St. will be home to a new restaurant, Dogwood, in April. The owners are Shane Touhy, also the chef, and Scott Black, the managing partner. Both have extensive experience in the industry including a lengthy stint at Blue Ridge Grill. The menu will feature progressive American cuisine with a Southern accent …

Valencia Coty writes to say that only two restaurants in Atlanta have “green” certification from the national Green Restaurant Association. They are My Panini at Lindberg City Center and Radial on Dekalb Avenue …

Put down that Co’ Cola! Doesn’t matter if it’s sugar-free, soft drinks are killers, according to a recent study:

Drinking more than one soft drink each day may increase your risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to a recent study. Surprisingly, the effect is the same whether you’re quaffing regular soft drinks or the diet version. Scientists found that people who drink one or more soft drinks a day are 48 percent more likely to have metabolic syndrome, a group of factors that increases your odds of developing diabetes and heart disease. Those factors include high blood pressure, obesity, high triglycerides, high blood sugar and low HDL (“good” cholesterol). The findings are part of a large, ongoing, government-directed research project called the Framingham Heart Study.

Will someone please name a processed food that doesn’t kill …

Via Elisa, our city’s incomparable source for hand-made pastas, is now marketing its sauces. I want several jars of Sofia Sicilian Caper sauce. Elisa Gambino writes on her website:

CAPERS! My daughter Sofia is crazy about them and she is the inspiration for this sauce that reminds me of childhood summers in Sicily with my cousins. Luscious imported Italian plum tomatoes, capers, sun-dried tomatoes, peppers and extra virgin olive oil combine to create a dramatic flavor steeped in the traditions of Italy’s most intriguing island. Heat to simmer and serve over any Via Elisa fresh pasta. For a special Sicilian treat, after tossing the pasta with sauce, sprinkle grated ricotta salata on top.

Elisa is now shipping her pasta nationwide, by the way.

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