Omnivore Atlanta

Have you driven all over Atlanta in a desperate attempt to find the raw foods you crave? Chef Jenya simplifies your search in the video above.

Do you cook? Then you’ll like this new website, Good Bite.

Do you love the recession? Perhaps you need to open a pizzeria.

Didn’t anyone tell Indigo Girl Emily Saliers that meat is murder? Check out her favorite Atlanta restaurant (after Watershed, of which she is part owner).

Popeyes’ sales are up (even though I haven’t eaten there in many months). But overall profits are down. Meanwhile, Arby’s and and Wendy’s are invading the Middle East.

Who’s (finally) taking over the Clubhouse location at Lenox Square?

La Tavola is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a prix fixe menu of all-time favorites. Hurry. It’s only available for a few more days.

Optimism is epidemic in Midtown!

Teens go wild in Johns Creek!

Do some yoga and eat something organic at the Go Green Expo this weekend.

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Tarek Tay, one of the owners of Zaya, is featured in an MSNBC article about stress among small business owners who are struggling to stay afloat these days:

In the economic tailspin of the late 2000s, loss is part of life. Workers are losing their jobs, employers are losing their businesses, and as credit becomes more and more scarce, everyone is losing confidence. What’s more, entrepreneurs are grappling with a sense that they’ve lost control of critical factors that could determine their futures. Those psychological hurdles are perhaps the biggest challenges facing today’s business owners; after all, it was probably that shining confidence and ability to innovate that got you started in the first place, right?

“So much of it has nothing to do with you,” says Tarek Tay, 36, co-owner and managing partner of Atlanta’s Zaya Restaurant, which launched strong in February 2008, boomed through the summer–and then saw business drop 30 percent in September. Although well-reviewed, it has operated in the red since, even with $1.2 million in 2008 sales. “If your food isn’t good, you can improve the quality,” he says. “If service is the problem, you can train your staff. But if the problem is that no one’s going out to eat because of the economy, what can you do?”

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I’ve been writing at the Ansley Starbucks today, as usual. The baristas tell me that one of the regulars here grabbed their tip jar, containing about $75, and bolted out the door. How rude.

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(Hat tip to Patricia Tinsley)

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NPR’s “Morning Edition” reported today that more than 50 percent of consumers are cutting back restaurant dining, according to a recent Nielsen survey.

At the same time, increasing numbers of people are buying prepared meals from grocery stores. These include meals to heat at home but many stores, like Whole Foods, have installed tables and are serving food on the premises. That’s not new for Whole Foods but other grocery chains are following suit. And convenience stores are getting in on the action too.

As it happens, I’ve been sampling prepared food at grocery stores for a Grazing column. My longtime favorites have been the fried chicken at Publix and the Indian-style chicken at Whole Foods. Many of the prepared foods at Trader Joe’s have surprised me with their quality. The Ansley Kroger has recently expanded its own selection of ready-to-eat dishes. I’ve eaten at taquerias inside Mexican groceries for years.

Do any of you readers have your own favorite grocery-store choices? Clue me in.

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Woo hoo! Shaun Doty has taken pity upon us poor folks and is making a very affordable offer on Sundays — “Family-Style Pasta Night,” starting March 1. Garlic bread, salad, pasta and homemade gelato will cost you $12.

The planned revolving menu of pasta dishes includes spaghetti with Brooklyn gravy and meatballs; penne with roasted cauliflower and ricotta; and orchiette with broccoli rabe and homemade sausage.

Shaun’s is open 5-9 p.m. Sundays for dinner. The regular menu will also be available for spoiled members of your family.

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If you haven’t heard, our economy is tanking and among those who are feeling the pinch big-time are restaurants, especially the more expensive ones. Opening my e-mail the last few days, I thought maybe I should write a post about the enormous glut of special, reduced-price, extra-indulgent Valentine’s Day menus, but I don’t have three days to record all of them.

These are an annual offer, but not typically of this year’s profuse and generous degree. And these follow the increasing number of incentives restaurants are offering routinely.

As it happens the New York Times‘ Frank Bruni wrote about the effect of the recession on restaurants a few days ago. His “Diner’s Journal” opens with this:

Has a restaurant hugged you lately?

Has it insisted that you can have it more cheaply than you thought possible and whenever you want, not just at 5:45 p.m., when your desire isn’t close to peaking, or at 9:30, when you almost can’t be bothered anymore?

Has it dropped its usual guard? Surrendered its typical reserve?

Yes, yes and yes. The only restaurants where I’ve had difficulty getting a table are Flip and the Original El Taco, neither of which take reservations. But I can’t think of a single other restaurant where I haven’t been able to reserve a table at the last minute or simply walk in. And, yes, I’ve noticed how staffs rush to tables to bathe the feet of diners and how perkiness has become epidemic among front desk folks.

But I have disconcerting news. Bruni’s piece mentions two NY dining-scene stars who have opened restaurants here recently. Both have begun offering super specials in Manhattan. One is Tom Colicchio, who has opened a Craft and Craft Bar here:

Craft, which in October opened its private room twice a month for 10-course, $150 dinners cooked by Tom Colicchio — called Tom: Tuesday Dinner — reached out in the other direction, to bargain hunters, last month. It opened that room once a week for Damon: Frugal Fridays, with a range of dishes cooked by Craft’s executive chef, Damon Wise, for $10 apiece.

The other is Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who has opened Spice Market and Spice here:

Mr. Vongerichten, many of whose restaurants have always offered price reductions at lunch, is being particularly aggressive (by which I mean huggy). In October Perry St. instituted the option of a $35 three-course dinner menu during the slow hours of 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 to 11 p.m. In December, his restaurant Nougatine, a casual adjunct of his Columbus Circle flagship, Jean Georges, instituted its own $35 three-course menu, every night but Saturday from 5:30 to 6:30 and 10 to 11 p.m.

That same month he began to offer a $35 seven-course omakase dinner at Matsugen, of which he is a principal owner. There are no restrictions on the hours when it can be ordered.

Ahem! Unless things have changed recently, neither restaurateur is offering comparable bargains here in Atlanta.

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Easy on the pockets? You be the judge. This is from PR folks for Aqua blue and Morton’s:

This February, Atlanta-area restaurants are showing their love for lobsters and giving guests easy-on-the-pocket eats in the process.  Aqua blue in Roswell is offering “A Tale of all Tails” combo dinner selection for the month of February (excluding the 13th and 14th), so diners can enjoy fresh water cold lobster tail at an affordable price.  On the other side of town, both locations of Morton’s The Steakhouse are serving up a “Classic Combination” to give guests a more reasonably priced version of surf and turf through March 31, 2009.

Three different lobster combinations are available at Aqua blue.  The three tail combo costs $31 and features one lobster tail stuffed with Newburg sauce, one lobster tail stuffed with lump crab and shrimp and one lobster tail broiled with white wine and garlic.  Other combos are available for $23 and $28.

At Morton’s The Steakhouse, the “Classic Combination”  steak and lobster meal costs $75 per person and includes Morton’s single cut filet mignon, an Australian lobster tail, tender asparagus spears and the choice of either a Morton’s or Caesar salad. the judge

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The Fifth Group Restaurants are offering recession-buster specials. I’ve tried the Tuesday-night cocido at Ecco and liked it very much.

TGIS AT ECCO

Every Sunday night at Ecco, guests can choose a plate of pasta or a wood-fire pizza and a glass of wine or bottle of beer for only $15/person (plus tax and gratuity). Special is available at the bar or in the dining room. Reservations are recommended but not required. 40 7^th St., 404-347-9555.

TUESDAYS IN SPAIN AT ECCO

In Spain, it has long been a tradition to gather with friends and family each Tuesday to enjoy a glass of fine wine and cocido, a hearty Spanish stew. Ecco now brings this charming custom to Midtown for only $24/person (plus tax and gratuity). Special is available at the bar or in the dining room. Reservations are recommended but not required. 40 7^th St., 404-347-9555.

MOLTO MONDAYS AT LA TAVOLA

Every Monday night at La Tavola, guests can choose a plate of pasta and a glass of red or white wine for only $15/person (plus tax and gratuity). Special is available at the bar or in the dining room. Reservations are recommended but not required. 992 Virginia Avenue, 404-873-5430.

BEER & BBQ AT SOUTH CITY KITCHEN Midtown & SOUTH CITY KITCHEN Vinings

Join us at South City Kitchen in Midtown and Vinings every Sunday night for a celebration of traditional BBQ. From slow-smoked-all-night-long brisket and pork to tender dry-rubbed ribs to delicious days-gone-by sides and fresh biscuits and cornbread with every order—it’s finger-licking, mouthwatering, “More napkins, please!” good. Plus, locally brewed Sweetwater beers are only $3 all day Sunday, too. 1144 Crescent Ave., 404-873-7358; 1675 Cumberland Pkwy., 770-435-0700.

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EAT IT AND WEEP, POLLAN: Beet soup at Dynamic Dish

Trends of the last year?

Slow-roasted meats. More tapas. Local produce. Organic meat. Fancy burgers. Gastropubs. Fixed-price menus. Chocolate. Mainstreaming of molecular cuisine. Yummy scrap meat. Gluten-free dining. Tea. Chef-driven steak houses.

And then, looking ahead: poverty and bad health. No, they’re not exactly dining trends but they’re certainly beginning to play a significant role in our food life.

This hit home with me recently, when Michael Pollan, author of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “In Defense of Food,” appeared on the PBS program “Bill Moyers’ Journal.”

“People with more money generally have healthier diets,” he said, “but affluent people who don’t cook are not as healthy in their eating as poor people who still cook….If you don’t have pots and pans, get them.”

Pollan, whose research is first-rate, didn’t cite a source for the statement, but, as someone who has eaten out most days of the week for over 20 years, the space where my gall bladder used to be certainly intuits the truth of his statement. Fast food like McDonald’s is just about universally recognized as unhealthy. (See the film “Super Size Me.”) But we increasingly learn that what passes for “fine dining” may be anything but fine from our health’s perspective, too.

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