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December 2007
Let’s Do (Diet) Lunch
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Are you making New Year’s resolutions? If you’re like most Americans, your resolution probably has something to do with losing weight — the number one resolution for the New Year.
While most of us want to break bad habits, we still want to to have fun — to have our cake and eat it, too. Eating out a few times a week has become a standard for most households with or without kids, and it’s one of the reason’s Americans are overweight. Clearly, preparing meals at home is easier on the waistline.
But several trendy spots have popped up in the last year, making dining out easier for those who are trying to fight expanding waistlines. Seasons 52 (with two area locations) is a popular spot, and hot destinations like Lola are offering “lite” menus.
Do you eat out when you’re dieting? If so, where do you go?
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What’s Your Favorite of 2007?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lots of new spots opened in 2007 — Shaun’s (technically opened in 2006, but reviewed in 2007), JCT Kitchen, Trois (see what I just said about Shaun’s), Posh, Lola, MF Buckhead, Tamarind Thai, Palomilla’s, Bistro VG, Room, Stats, TAP, FAB — and that’s the short list.
What’s your favorite new restaurant for 2007?
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Margarita Madness
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Friends and I dropped by Rosa Mexicano last night for a margarita and some guac after hitting the after-Christmas sales ( it was insane, btw — the sales, not the margaritas). Rosa’s is known for its margarita’s, so we decided to do a little side-by-side comparison shopping.
We each tried a different tier in the margarita mix: la unica — made with reposado, orange liqueur, line juice and Grand Marnier ($12); la clasica — made with silver tequila, triple sec and lime juice ($9); and la suprema — made with reposado, orange liqueur, lime juice and aged Grand Marnier ($16) . Each was served on the rocks with salt.
The verdict? Save your cash for the guac — nothing about the $12 and $16 margaritas justifies paying that price — they were good, but almost too sweet. The clasica was sturdy and tart, with a good pour of tequila.
Where do you go for a great margarita?
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Blais is BAAAAACK
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Richard Blais (recently of Element, formerly of Blais) is offering a seven-course tasting menu for New Year’s from December 28 through December 31.
Where? Elevation, the restaurant at McCollum Airport in Kennesaw where he is now executive chef. When I spoke with him back in November, he was just getting back from a stint away (where he purportedly — though he will not confirm this — was filming a top TV show and couldn’t speak with the “outside world”). Element had closed in his absence, and he found himself without a kitchen.
He spoke of the kind of place he might want to someday open for himself. “I’d like to open a small spot, maybe just a counter, where I could cook for just a few people at a time with a really personal touch.”
Wishes are often granted this time of year; the tasting menu — called the “kitchen counter” menu — will be served at the restaurant’s counter (which apparently seats about five people) and must be reserved in its entirety and in advance. Blais will cook personally for the entire party. The cost? $175 per person without alcohol, taxes or gratuity.
No word back today from Blais about what might be on the menu, but I’m guessing the dinner will be an interesting way to ring in the New Year. To reserve, email trailblais.
I got tons of email from Blais’ fans when Element closed. Now he’s back, but he’s in Kennesaw. Who’s been? Will his loyal fans (the Blaisettes) venture that far north to check him out and support him?
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What’s the Perfect New Year’s Night Out?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s New Year’s Eve, and you want a meal to end 2007 and herald in 2008 with the panache it deserves.
Can you get it at just one restaurant?
What would the progressive dinner of your dreams be? Would you start at Beleza for cocktails, then head to Bacchanalia for an appetizer at the bar? Would you head across town for some badenjoon with saffron rice as a main course? For dessert, would you head to the Chocolate Bar in Decatur? One things for sure - you’ll need a designated driver.
What would your perfect New Year’s dinner be if you could create it just for yourself, with the help of Atlanta’s talented chefs and restaurateurs?
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Are plastic grocery bags an endangered species?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Whole Foods has just stopped using plastic bags at its flagship store in Austin, Texas, and will offer customers a choice of recycled paper bags or reusable, more rigid plastic totes (you’ll have to buy the reusable containers). If that test works out, Whole Foods will do the same thing at its other stores across the country, according to the AJC’s sister paper in Texas, the Austin American-Statesman.
Already, some shoppers are choosing to bring their own cloth bags or hard plastic totes to Atlanta grocery stores. San Francisco has banned plastic bags, and some other cities are considering it. Ikea charges customers a nickel for every plastic bag they use, to encourage customers to use alternatives.
If you’re interested in learning more about why plastic bags are considered environmentally harmful, check out Sacking the Environment, put together by a group of University of Georgia students.
What do you think about supermarkets dropping the use of plastic bags? Would you continue to shop at a store that no longer offered them? Are you already taking reusable containers to the store to carry groceries? Should governments tell retailers what type of bags they can offer customers?
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A Fondness for Fondue
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
January’s issue of Food & Wine boasts a very retro offering of the French version of Southern greens and black-eyed peas for New Year’s: fondue. Gooey, sticky gruyere cheese with hard salami, pickles and bread cubes for dipping.
Other than the Melting Pot chain, Atlanta doesn’t boast a lot fondue spots, even though a “comeback” of this 70s suburban trend has been predicted for several years.
Is there fondue to be found in Atlanta?
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Is Southern wine an oxymoron?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Southern wine? You must be kidding, right? Not at all, says Saving Southern Food guru John T. Edge in his latest installment in the series. It’s markedly improved in quality in recent years, he says. What’s your take? Had anything from the South that’s worth buying again?
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Never say diet. It’s a lifestyle
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kraft has quietly changed the name of its South Beach Diet line of frozen entrees, cereal bars and other foods modeled on Arthur Agatston’s successful diet plan. It’s now South Beach Living.
Now, you can say that they’re making a corporate statement about eating healthfully being a way of life, not the temporary switch that “diet” suggests. Or you could infer that Kraft is concerned that having “diet” featured so prominently might discourage buyers. (South Beach was listed as the hottest new product of 2006 by Information Resources, a market research firm, with a projected $210 million in annual sales.)
Do you buy products labeled as diet food? Would changing the name to drop “diet” make you more likely to pick up South Beach chow?
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A New Look For Floataway
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
At the end of the summer Floataway Cafe began a renovation that was projected to take only a week or so to complete. Finally last month the restaurant finished the major parts of the redo — the bar has expanded and a separate, private dining room has been added.
Tones of green apple, robin’s egg blue and tomato all accent the muted tones of the decor, designed by Patrick Coyne. The industrial look is still very much a part of the restaurant’s overall look, but now is softened.
And chef Drew Belline, who has worked for chef-owners Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison at many of their heralded properties, is alive and well at the helm in the kitchen as chef de cuisine. Belline has cooked for the two renowned chefs at five-star Bacchanalia, the city’s most critically acclaimed restaurant, and opened five-star Quinones at Bacchanalia.
The menu is fresh and inspiring, with seasonal offerings like country terrine of pate with pickled okra and whole grain mustard, as well as wood-grilled pork rack. It changes frequently. I’ve never had a bad meal at this quintessential Atlanta beauty, yet it rarely comes up in conversation when I hear folks talking about their favorite spots in town.
Have you been since the renovation? If so, what do you think?
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Is Atlanta Becoming Vegas South?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It only takes a drive down Peachtree Street to see that buildings are as disposable as tissues in this town. Construction continues regardless of the declining real estate market, the drought — nothing seems to put a crunch on the crane.
With big construction comes some big names in the restaurant business. Next year is slated to bring Tom Colicchio and Craft, Jeffrey Chodorow and Maxim Prime, Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Spice Market and Laurent Tourondel with BLT.
It’s the biggest big-name migration this side of the Mississippi, and it smacks of Vegas. Are we becoming a Vegas town when it comes to restaurants? If so, what does that mean for local chefs and restaurateurs?
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Do celebrity foods measure up?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I baked a Martha Stewart-branded ham last night, the first in a line of products that the Domestic Diva is licensing to Costco Wholesale. At $3.99 a pound, I expected a ham that would be far superior to what I could get at the supermarket, or for that matter, in the case right next to it at Costco.
Was it a good ham? Sure. Was it worth $3.99 a pound? No.
Over the years, I’ve tried Wolfgang Puck pizzas and soups, Mario Batali pasta, Jeff Foxworthy jerky, Dwight Yoakam’s Chicken Lickin’s Chili Cheese Chicken Fries, Emeril pasta sauce. Some I’d buy again; some were overpriced and not very good.
Have you tried foods from Rachel Ray, Paula Deen, Emeril, Mario, Dwight, Wolfgang or others? What’s your favorite celebrity food? What’s the worst you’ve tried? (The Wolfgang Puck soups and Dwight Yoakam fries are at the bottom of my list; the Mario pasta at the top.)
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Where’s Atlanta’s Best Raw Bar?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Aquaknox, the “global water cuisine” restaurant from Vegas, has opened inside the Terminus Building in Buckhead, and it features a raw bar.
Even without the recent raw oyster scare this past summer, land-locked Atlanta has never been a big raw bar town — Oceanaire’s is impressive, and a perfect perch for a flute of champagne and some raw oysters. Au Pied du Cochon sports shellfish and oysters on the halfshell de rigueur.
Where’s Atlanta’s best raw bar?
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Does Atlanta Have Portuguese Restaurants?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Having lived in southern New England for over 15 years, I never thought I’d miss Italian and Portuguese foods. I thought I’d had my life’s fill of clams and caldo verde.
What I’d give for a dishful of bacalhau or arroz de marisco.
Where is Portuguese in Atlanta?
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Black walnuts: Taste treat or just a big pain?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Many Southerners have childhood memories of shelling grocery sacks full of pecans for the family pecan pie or other holiday treat. But pecans are softies compared to the legendarily tough black walnut. First, there’s the outer hull, which some people break by running over with a truck or car. Then there’s the shell itself, which seemingly only succumbs to a blow from a hammer. Extracting the meat is so labor intensive that Mike Fredenburg of Ball Ground sells it for $10 a cup on craigslist. (Click here for the story.) The flavor tends to be an acquired taste and the nuts are generally used as an ingredient (think black walnut ice cream) rather than eaten by themselves. Do you have any favorite dishes that use black walnuts? Know of anyone who goes through the painstaking process of shelling them? We’d like to hear from you.
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Alone For Christmas?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You’re all alone on Christmas Day. Do you go out for Chinese or stay home and make mojitos for you and the dog? Have you ever dined alone for Christmas dinner? Why? Where did you go to eat?
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Where are the Best Breakfast Breads?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Every Tuesday morning I head to Candler Park for a fix of breakfast muffins from the Flying Biscuit — and usually bring in a half-dozen or so for my co-workers, who love the array (lemon cream cheese, chocolate, carrot cream cheese, raspberry blueberry, chocolate chip, banana nut) so much that Tuesday has lovingly been dubbed “muffin day” at work.
Quickbreads have their own special place for most of us, especially during the holidays. The best are moist and dense, with lots of spice and Proustian memories. A coworker brought in a scrumptious pumpkin loaf (called “party at my place pumpkin”) from the newly opened Breadwinner in Sandy Springs. Aromatic and moist, it was a perfect slice with a hot cup of joe. Another favorite is Alon’s ( in VA/HI) nutty pumpkin bread, which is so moist it will cling to the tines of your fork (if you are so inclined to use one).
Mmmmm… this is making me hungry. So where does Atlanta go for the best quickbreads, muffins and biscuits?
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$1,500 for a ham?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Next summer, a few Americans who’ve shelled out more money for one piece of prize pork than many of us spend on groceries for four months, will taste their first forkful of acorn-fed Jamon Iberico Bellota hams.
If you want to read what makes this ham so unique, besides munching on acorns for five months and a fat content that’s abundant (and closer to olive oil than saturated animal fat), check out their story on the Jamon Iberico Bellota web site.
But back to the real question. $1,500 a stunning amount of money to spend on one ham. You can pick up the low-acorn version of Iberico ham for just $800 at La Tienda, which specializes in imported Spanish foods. If you can get one — the hams are just coming in, and some customers put down deposits as long as five years ago.
Or you could spend less than $20 on a supermarket ham.
Is there any single food that’s worth that much money? What’s the most you’ve ever spent on something to eat, and was it worth it?
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What are You Eating Christmas Eve?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My family has a long tradition of eating out on Christmas Eve — usually at an El Toro. Our brood of 15 or so orders lots of nachos and enchiladas, drinks our share of beer and often ends the meal singing “Winter Wonderland” loudly (but not off key) until it’s time to go help Santa.
We’ve been creating this holiday mayhem for about 15 years. What restaurant traditions do you share with friends or loved ones on Christmas Eve?
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Facing a winter without fresh veggies
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Since mid-February, I’ve gotten weekly boxes and bags of fresh produce from a number of farms around metro Atlanta. We started with collards and we’re ending that way, too. Last week’s pickup, from the Mellow Bellies cooperative in Grant Park, including collards, kale, rutabagas, apples, sweet potatoes and even a few tomatoes that sprang up from seeds left from this summer’s crop.
The last delivery of the season is Wednesday. After that, it’s back to the grocery store or the handful of farmers markets still open, until spring. That’s going to be a tough switch. I’m seeing more and more produce already selected for me, packed in shrink wrap on foam trays, at the supermarket where we usually shop. No country of origin labeling, no idea where it’s from or how far it traveled to reach me. And undisputably, it’s not as fresh as something harvested just the day before and trucked from less than 80 miles away.
When you’re looking for fresh vegetables and fruit in winter, what’s your solution? I keep hearing about a new service called My Produce Guy, which is a home delivery arm of a produce wholesaler based out of the Atlanta State Farmers Market in Forest Park, but they don’t deliver to the northwest metro area, where I live. Has anyone tried this? What do you think of it?
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Who Makes a Stuffed Duck a la “The Christmas Story?”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You know the duck I mean… the Chinese duck in the movie “The Christmas Story?” Bud Namu makes a mean Korean duck cooked in a clay pot and stuffed with rice and chestnuts.
Where else can we find a stuffed duck on Christmas Day?
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What’s your favorite holiday party food?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For years, friends threw a Christmas party that my husband and I started calling the Lamb Chop party. A huge bowl of medium-rare chops, filled with dozens and constantly replenished, stood on every buffet table. Even with platters of boiled shrimp, sliced ham and beef tenderloin, pasta alfredo and other temptations close at hand, we stuck by the lamb chops.
The Lamb Chop party, unfortunately, is no more. This year, I’m noticing a lot more grab-and-go party food, like chips still in the bag and those ubiquitous brownie bites — which nobody is going to mistake for a homemade dessert, no matter how they’re cut up and arranged.
OK, OK. We know, it’s the getting together with friends that counts, not that anybody took the time to prepare some food to share with them. Still, I’d rather burn the calories on something homemade than baby carrots or pink frosted cookies from a black plastic tray.
What’s your favorite holiday party food? What’s worth the calorie splurge?
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What do you Think of Asian Fusion?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
And by fusion I mean a conglomeration of Asian styles, ingredients and flavors, not the old-fashioned fusion, meaning east-meets-west.
Geisha House tried it, and now Steel, a fusion concept from Dallas that sports a menu combining Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai and Korean dishes has arrived in Midtown. I prefer my Thai to be true to its roots; my Vietnamese veritable.
What do you think? Do you prefer your Asian foods to stay straightforward or does mixing it up make you happy?
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Have you noticed any changes in restaurant grades yet?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On Monday, health inspectors across Georgia started enforcing new health codes for restaurants, schools, hospitals and other places that serve food. One of the changes for diners is seeing an inspection form with letter as well as number grades. Another is seeing the inspection form more prominently displayed, on drive-through windows and within 15 feet of a restaurant’s entrance.
County environmental health departments — some of them, anyway — aren’t requiring restaurants to start displaying scores on their drive-throughs until they’re inspected under the new rules, which could be as long as six months from the date the rules took effect, on Dec. 1. So there may not be much immediate evidence of any changes.
So far, reaction seems muted. The Georgia Restaurant Association hasn’t heard much from its members, except some questions about interpreting some parts of the code. State health officials say things are quiet. What does it look like for diners? Have you noticed any changes, or seen one of the new inspection forms posted yet? (By the way, if you live in Fulton, you won’t see them for a while. The county plans to adopt the rules in early 2008. They’re in effect everywhere else in Georgia now.)
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Baby, It’s Cold Outside
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Well, sort of anyway.
Dropped by Chocolate Bar in Decatur with a friend a few cold nights back and they were serving — to my surprise — a gluhwien, that delightfully muddled mix of red wine and spices so popular in parts of Germany and Austria. Their hot chocolate rocks, too — a not-too-thick ganache-like cup of warmth topped with house-made marshmallows.
Who’s got the best hot drinks in town?
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Where’s Atlanta’s Best Sushi?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Soto’s long gone (having opened a place in New York). Now the Kinjo brothers of MF Sushi in Midtown have opened a dazzling new spot in the Terminus Building called MF Buckhead. Taka is still around, and Tomo is rockin’ at Room, downtown.
Who serves the freshest, best sushi in Atlanta?
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Should There Be a Truth In Menu Writing Law?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Restaurants have to meet new standards with the new health code in place. As of December 1, health inspectors will give a letter grade in addition to the number grade on a restaurant’s score. The score sheet has to be placed within 15 feet of the front door. All this is designed to give the customer an out before he or she ever sits down.
Menus are placed in restaurant windows and at their front desks all the time, but who’s to say what’s on the menu is actually what you’re eating? A restaurant’s menu is its contract between management, chef and customer, and yet there’s no guidance whatsoever for truth in menu writing. I’ve eaten at plenty of places where what was advertised on the menu wasn’t what was on my plate — and the restaurant just assumed I wouldn’t notice, know the difference and complain.
How can we be sure that the organic heirloom tomato we’re paying more for is actually heirloom and not just an enticement on the menu? Shouldn’t chefs have to comply to truth in menu writing, just as they must comply with health codes? Or is the proof in the pudding?
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Will You Dine at Home For Christmas?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Have you ever eaten out for Christmas dinner? Did you end up eating Chinese like the Parker family in “A Christmas Story?” Were you out of town and had nowhere else to go? Did the chestnuts roasting on your open fire explode and set fire to the house? Were you marooned in an airport somewhere, singing Christmas carols over the phone to your loved ones? Did you have to work? Perhaps you went on an Austrian ski vacation? A cruise?
What’s your most memorable Christmas dinner in a restaurant?
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What do you think of using letter grades to score restaurants?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As of today, health inspectors across Georgia (except Fulton — more on that later) will be using a new checklist in performing restaurant inspections. The rule changes also include a new scoring system, which adds letter grades to the familiar numerical ones.
The new rules are designed to take off more points for conditions that could cause foodborne illness, and fewer points for things that might be unappetizing, such as a dirty dining room, but not as much of a health hazard.
For consumers, the most visible changes will be the letter grades, and where they’re posted. As inspectors make their rounds, visiting all the restaurants on their lists over the next six months, they’ll be checking to make sure that inspection forms are posted in drive-through windows as well as within 15 feet of a restaurant’s entrance, where forms must be readable from one foot away. (The idea is you can check a place out before ordering or committing to a table.)
As of today, the posting rules take effect, even on old forms. So you should be reminded much more prominently of a restaurant’s cleanliness. Do you look for these scores when you dine? Before you dine? Have you ever changed your mind about eating somewhere after seeing an inspection score?
Fulton, by the way, is planning on adopting the state code early next year. It’s the only health department in Georgia that can write its own codes. Want to know what’s going on in the other counties? Check out these links to their Environmental Health departments, where the inspection scores are posted online.
Cobb/Douglas. Click on environmental health in the left menu and then follow the pull-down menus.
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