Omnivore Atlanta

BLT Steak: The beauty of BLT’s Vegetable Chopped Salad lies in the layering of textures and flavors. A pop of sweetness from some fresh corn, the crunch of romaine lettuce, slices of radish, briny feta, olives and a host of other ingredients bathe in a creamy olive-oil-based dressing. The ample serving in a large square bowl alongside the complimentary popovers served with room temperature butter might just be the perfect summertime lunch. 45 Ivan Allen Jr. Blvd. (inside the W Atlanta downtown). 404-577-7601. www.bltsteak.com.

Continue reading Mouthful

(Photo by Jennifer Zyman)

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The gourmet sandwich concept is nothing new, but Atlanta has seen an explosion of such establishments in the past year. Are gourmet sandwich shops this year’s cupcake or fancy hamburger? Trend or not, there’s a need for this type of dining — especially in areas saturated with office workers — and it’s easy enough to conceptualize the menus. Just throw on a few sandwiches, a salad or two, some fancy chips and pricey beverages.

Cafe Mims (659 Peachtree St., 404-897-5000, www.livingstonatlanta.com) is the latest spot to capitalize on the need for speedy lunchtime fare. The food, overseen by Livingston’s executive chef Gary Mennie, is made fresh daily and pre-packaged so you can grab and go. The cafe opens early so you can pop in for some coffee and one of the homemade baked goods, such as the trio of mini bear claws filled with blueberries, cheese and almond paste. Sandwiches are the best thing the cafe has to offer at lunchtime. Each sandwich — with the exception of the grilled cheese — is made with a personal-sized baguette and wrapped in brown paper affixed with a branded sticker. The crusty bread has just the right amount of chew. And the fillings have been uniformly excellent.

Continue reading “Cheap Eats: Cafe Mims”

(Photo by Jennifer Zyman)

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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)

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UPDATE BELOW

I went back to the new Livingston at the Georgian Terrace Hotel for lunch today with my friends Frank and Michael. Frank wanted to try the “three-martini lunch.” It’s actually three small plates — your choice — served in martini glasses — except they weren’t today. They were served in short glasses.

Michael ordered the pea soup and the salmon BLT, both good, and I ordered the entree described as Georgia white shrimp with ham hocks, fava beans and pickled Vidalia onions. Call me greedy, but for $16, I was expecting more than five medium-sized shrimp atop a ribbon of (what I took to be) pureed beans, some shredded meat and a few onions. The dish was quite delicious, but, way too skimpy for the cost. (I forgot my camera, so I can’t provide the shocking evidence.)

And, I’m sorry to say, there’s more to complain about. We were asked if we wanted sparkling or still water. We chose the latter, expecting tap water, but when the bill came, we found that we’d been charged $12 for two bottles of designer water. How very Guenter Seeger! Come on, people. Do not bring bottled water to the table unless it’s specifically requested.

UPDATE: Chloe Morris has the shocking photo evidence of the itty bitty shrimp dish I ordered on her blog, Chow Down Atlanta. Generally, her lunch didn’t measure up to my earlier ones.

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Brad and I lunched on the patio of the new Livingston at the Georgian Terrace Hotel today. (That’s the Fox Theatre in the background.) He had dinner there earlier this week and wanted to return before he and his partner head to their place in Rome for two months. (I will be looking for entertaining Friday fill-ins for lunch!)

Livingston is serving what it calls a “three-martini lunch.” No, it’s not actually reprising the infamous business lunches that turned every corporate slave in America into a drunk during the last century. Instead, Livingston offers your choice of three dishes served in martini glasses for $15. Brad selected (from left) tuna tartare, peekytoe crab salad and pea soup. All three were delicious. The only problem was the lettuce under the tuna tartare. It needed a bit of olive oil or some other dressing. (You can see the entire “martini menu” on the restaurant’s website.)

I ordered the lamb burger. This was my third burger meal in a row, but I can never resist lamb burgers, because my mother used to make them for me.

I ordered my burger medium-rare and seconds after it came to the table, a server rushed over and announced that it was not medium-rare, offered a thousand apologies and whisked it away. Obviously, someone else’s burger had landed on our table. Mine arrived shortly thereafter, with more apologies…and it was cooked quite…medium. Still, I gobbled it down, even if it was also a bit over-seasoned for my taste. Why do so many cooks feel like they have to strongly season ground lamb?

Brad, by the way, ordered the restaurant’s rabbit during his dinner visit and found it as remarkable as I did. You gotta try it.

(Photo by Cliff Bostock)

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GREEN WITH ENVY: The pea soup at Livingston

Atlanta is not a city that’s been kind to its own past. Having made the mythological Phoenix its logo to describe its own recovery from the fire of the Civil War, the city has been on a constant rebuilding campaign ever since.

I’m not talking about antebellum architecture alone – most of that was indeed destroyed in the war – but much of the architecture of the early 20th century has been razed, too. I well recall in the 1970s that Southern Bell planned to purchase and destroy the Fox Theatre to build its headquarters. Only a last-minute effort by an organization of preservationists, Atlanta Landmarks, saved it.

The hotel across the street, the Georgian Terrace, is actually older than the Fox, which opened in the ‘20s as a Yaarab shrine. The Georgian Terrace opened in 1911 and is famous for hosting guests of the 1939 premiere of Gone with the Wind.

The hotel has been up and down over the years, at one point becoming apartments. It is now at the end of an expensive renovation that has turned public areas, at least, into breathtaking spaces. This includes the new restaurant, Livingston (659 Peachtree St., 404-897-5000), named after Livingston Sims, Atlanta’s mayor from 1901 to 1903. According to press material, Sims was an avid gastronome and the Georgian Terrace was built on the site of his home.

Continue reading “Grazing: First Look: Livingston”

(Photo by James Camp)

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We hit the new Livingston at the Georgian Terrace Hotel tonight. It was only its second day of operation but we had a great meal prepared by Chef Gary Mennie and his staff.

The interior of the Georgian Terrace has undergone an astonishing renovation and the Livingston, named after a food-obsessed mayor of our city in the early 1900s, is two stories of elegant woodwork, art and lighting, including a gauzy-draped central chandelier that sets an elegiac tone.

There’s also patio dining, with a blinding view of the Fox’s neon marquee. A roomy lounge with bar adjoins the restaurant.

Service hummed. Our waiter Paul (left), most recently of Craft, knew just about every ingredient in every dish.

Among the dishes we ordered was this roasted rabbit, partly wrapped in speck. I don’t think I’ve encountered a better treatment of rabbit in our city. Mennie, who has an impressive resume well known to Atlanta foodies, is featuring ingredients from boutique farms when possible.

More later this week in my Grazing column.

(Photos by Cliff Bostock)

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