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May 2008
New farmers market opening on the Northside
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Roswell gets a farmers market on Saturday, with the opening of the Riverside Farmers Market in Riverside Park. Organizers expect seven farmers for the first market, as well as vendors selling coffee, baked goods and other items.
If you live in Roswell, you probably know this park: It’s got two gigantic playgrounds, one each for younger and older kids, with plenty of parking and a nice location on the Chattahoochee. It’s at 575 Riverside Road, not far from where Highway 9 crosses the Chattahoochee and Sandy Springs gives way to Roswell.
Hours are 8:30 a.m. to noon, and the market will be open on Saturdays through Oct. 25.
The market restricts growers to those who produce within 100 miles of Roswell.
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Is Maxim Prime?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I DON’T DIG THE DIGS at Maxim Prime, downtown. Do you?
Photo: Louie Favorite
In today’s Living section I take a look at Jeffrey Chodorow’s first Atlanta restaurant, Maxim Prime. Read the story here
Chodorow obviously relies on a lot of stun factor in many of his restaurants — Kobe Club in NYC is dripping with samurai swords from the ceiling and has a dark, brooding ambience. But the whole of it is so childish that it seems like the restaurant is throwing a temper tantrum.
The same thing goes for Maxim Prime, though the food, executed by local chef Daniel Zoby, is quite good.
I hate this sort of decor in a restaurant — it’s garish, loud and cheap looking to me. But since Chodorow is opening up to 25 more Maxims in the next two years, somebody somewhere must like his style.
Have you been to Maxim Prime or Kobe Club? Did you like the digs or not?
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Bad Service: Is it the Server Or the Kitchen?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
IS YOUR DINNER LATE because of the line cook?
Photo: Jenni Girtman/AJC staff
Restaurant diners are always so quick to blame the server whenever anything goes wrong during the dining experience. But sometimes things go wrong elsewhere in the restaurant and the result has a rippling effect — your dinner may be late to the table because the kitchen is slow. Your server may be having a hard time keeping up with drink orders because he/she was just triple sat by the hostess.
Truthfully, a well-run restaurant is a well-oiled machine, and when there’s a breakdown, it often affects the customer. Funny thing is, as the diner, you can usually tell where the problem is.
I ate at a Epcot-esque Italian restaurant inside Sandestin resort over the weekend (definitely not my bag, but it was late and the kids were hungry, AND it was pasta — a triple threat).
From the time our waiter took our order to the time we actually ate an hour went by. The waiter kept apologizing, blaming it on the kitchen, and we kept eating bread. It took him almost 30 minutes to bring salads, though. Looking around, no one else had their food, either. And he even admitted to sending our calamari to another table by accident.
The lack of food on other tables is a sign that the kitchen is slow, especially when there’s not a sense of frenzy to the atmosphere. But our server should have helped with the salads to get them to the table faster, and he should make friends with the fry cooks to get some pull when he screws up and sends an order out to the wrong table.
What clues tell YOU where bad service is coming from?
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NYC vs ATL
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I LOVED THE THAI JEWELS AT SPICE MARKET IN NEW YORK AND ATLANTA. DID YOU?
Photo: Becky Stein/Special to the AJC
In today’s Living Section, I take a look a the four restaurants from New York that are opening — two have already opened — in Atlanta: Craft and BLT Steak are still to come, but Spice Market and Maxim Prime are already up and running. Read the story here.
Have you been to these new spots? Have you eaten at them in NYC? What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with me?
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Atlanta-made goat cheese now in stores
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mary Rigdon offers a sample of goat cheese produced on her Decimal Place Farm to Laura Perry at the East Atlanta Village Market. Photo by Elizabeth Lee/Staff.
Georgia is way down on the list of states linked to artisan cheese making. Vermont, yes. Wisconsin and California, too. But Georgia? Not so much.
That’s starting to change. For years, Sweet Grass Dairy near Thomasville was the only artisan cheese maker in the state. Now there are three.
The newest is Decimal Place Farm in Conley, in Clayton County not far from the airport. It’s run by Mary Rigdon, who’s dreamed of making goat cheese since she and her husband bought 18 acres at the back of an older subdivision 13 years ago. (The other cheese maker is Flat Creek Lodge, near Swainsboro.)
Rigdon got her state certification in mid-May, and the three types of cheeses she makes are slowly starting to appear in stores. She makes chevre, a creamy goat cheese that she likens to cream cheese. It’s mild, and good for spreading on a fruit-and-nut bread or crumbling over salads. It’s especially good with the arugula, baby beets and lettuces in farmers markets now.
The other two varieties are feta and tuma, a mozzarella-type cheese that can be sliced thinly and melted onto pizzas, or layered with tomatoes and basil for a quick salad.
For now, you can find Decimal Place Farm cheese at the Alon’s in Morningside, Rainbow Natural Foods in the Emory area, and at the East Atlanta Village Farmers Market, on Thursdays from 4 to 7 p.m. Available varieties differ, depending on where you buy. Rigdon usually has all three at the farmers’ market, and sells an 8-ounce container for $5.
Have you tried any of the Georgia artisan cheeses? I’m curious about Flat Creek Lodge’s cheese — I haven’t noticed it in stores in Atlanta, but it appears to be available by mail order. Anybody been there and tried it? Have a favorite recipe for cheese to share?
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How About Some Burgundy With That Big Mac?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
HOW ABOUT A POUILLY-FUISSE WITH THOSE FRIES?
Photo: Carlos Osorio/AP
Click Wine Group has done some interesting research. Founded by Australian wine maverick Peter Click, the group is offering — based on findings from the Institute of Food Technologists — wine pairings for Americans.
That may not sound so interesting, but these pairings are with fast food. “Although 75% of Americans are eating their dinners at home, nearly half those meals are fast food, delivery, or takeout from restaurant or grocery delis” states the press release that flew into my email box one morning.
They’ve paired some of their top-selling wines with selections from America’s “most popular restaurants.” Hmmmm …. let’s see; are the Aussies on to something?
Chipotle’s chicken burrito with the “rich and complex flavors of Root:1 Cabernet.” I can dig that.
With Boston Market’s Pastry Top Chicken Pot Pie? “The bright fruits of Flying Fish Riesling integrate perfectly with all the vegetables and chicken while the crisp acidity works in harmony with the pastry and gives a delicious lasting impression.”
Are these guys serious? It “works in harmony?” Even silly dining critics don’t use expressions like that…. and when we do it’s not to describe a chicken pot pie’s pastry.
Still, I kind of dig this idea. I’m not kidding. How about some funked up ribs from Maddy’s with a bottle of MD 20/20? That sounds pretty harmonious. (Roach Motel would be so proud.)
And how about a nice, crisp Reisling with a Chick-fil-A sandwich? I think the floral notes in the wine would be extremely harmonious with that pickle and chicken. Those cows never had it so good.
Okay, your turn: what would you pair with a Big Mac? What about a slaw dog from the Varsity? I’m suddenly craving a glass of Alvada Madeira with a Krispy Kreme doughnut…
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Cellphones Don’t Mix with Dining
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
PUT DOWN THAT CELLPHONE HONEY AND EAT
Photo: Mark Lennihan/AP
One of my blog posts from last week prompted a response I had completely forgotten about. In the “Okay Restaurant Folks, Now It’s Your Turn” blog, a few industry folks spoke out against the use of cell phones at the table.
I couldn’t agree more. To answer the phone at the table and excuse yourself to a quiet spot outside is fine — I have to do it all the time since my daughter usually calls me during “dine outs” to have me sing her to sleep. I can remember owner Riccardo Ullio at Beleza looking at me as if I had lost my mind when he caught me singing “La Vie En Rose” to her in the small nook beside the bathroom of this Brazilian beauty on Juniper Street.
But to answer the phone at the table and then continue a conversation — whether it’s work-related or not — is rude to everyone: your dinner mates, the servers, even the chef. Guys do this a lot more than girls, I’ve noticed, but women are guilty, too.
Why did you come to dinner if you wanted to talk on the phone? Okay, maybe something important came up — is it more important than your manners? Simply excuse yourself and go outside. If it’s an emergency, then dinner’s over anyway. Having a conversation with someone else says something very strongly to the people you are with — that you’d rather be with them than who you are with. And the server can’t do his job if he has to work around your cell phone antics.
Leave the phone on vibrate. Dinner will be more enjoyable for everyone.
Who talks on the cellphone at the table more: Women or men?
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Cheese Cake Fantasy Number 437
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
IS THIS CHEESY ENOUGH FOR YOU? The sweet potato cheesecake at Sweet Auburn Bread Company wowed President Clinton.
Photo: Louie Favorite/AJC staff
Since returning from a recent trip to New York, I’ve come to the conclusion that I simply don’t eat enough cheesecake. We had tastings (some the size of city blocks, like the mega slices at Stage Deli) almost everywhere we went, and that creamy-yet-dense tanginess is quintessentially New York. We loved the hefty slice at BLT steak, dressed up with rhubarb and raspberry sorbet, and Kobe Club offered a large portion size as well, enough for three, maybe four — but who’s counting? Good thing it keeps in the hotel room’s honor bar for breakfast.
In Atlanta, I love the light, lemony tang of the delicate portion at Repast, and the creme brulee-like version served in a ramekin at Maxim Prime and Stella Trattoria in Grant Park. The sweet potato cheesecake at Sweet Auburn Bread Company will make you want to slap your grandma. But my search is on: who makes the BEST cheesecake in Atlanta?
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I Want Me A Chili DAWG
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DO YOU DIG THE DOGS as much as John Kerry did back in 2004? At the Varsity, he ordered chili dogs, a Varsity orange and onion rings.
Photo: Curtis Compton/AJC staff
I’ve been trading emails with Scott Sapp, a reader and local connoisseur of all things Southern ( the guy makes his own maps of the best BBQ in the state — but more on that in a week or so).
He’s also a chili dog fan and claims, as I do, that the good ole Varsity has the “filet mignon of frankfurters in Georgia.” He also mentions the Nu-Way in Macon, and Dinglewoods in Columbus.
Summer’s coming, and I want a DAWG. Who makes your favorite chili dog?
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Health Code Conundrums
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A May 2 posting on health inspections rants pretty hard about some celebrity chefs’ restaurants scoring low on health inspection scores. Sourced from Inside Edition, chefs like Anthony Bourdain and Emeril Lagasse are getting the boot when it comes to being clean.
According to the report, Bourdain’s Les Halles restaurant in Coral Gables has been shut down by inspectors 3 times since 2006 for “dangerous violations.” Todd English’s restaurants in Boston have the worst record, according to the website.
Our own Paula Dean’s Lady and Son scored the cleanest.
How much I trust Inside Edition is questionable, but it does make one think. Georgia just instated new forms that require restaurants to post their health inspection scores — which include letter as well as number grades, and also include scores from two previous inspections — on drive-through windows and within 15 feet of their primary door.
Do you look at the scores when dining out? How much does a health inspection score mean to you? Would you walk out of a restaurant based on a low score?
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Wild-Caught Shrimp
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
YOU CAN barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey’s uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that’s about it.
— Bubba from Forrest Gump
Photo: Renee Brock/Special to the AJC
Certified wild-caught American shrimp are showing up on menus now, and you’ll see them labeled in grocery stores, too.
You may have seen the commercial on the Food Network: it’s a Bubba Gump kind of solicitation, with shrimp farmers that look like they came from Central Casting telling of how American wild-caught shrimp are the “shrimp you thought you were eating.”
Truth is, you may not realize that a lot of the shrimp in mid-scale restaurants, especially chains, is imported from Southeast Asia. Most upscale restaurants are serving wild-caught shrimp farmed in the United States.
The ad is pretty heavy-hitting, but it makes a good point: if we want to live sustainably, then shrimp need to be on the food chain’s list of local, seasonal foods we eat.
Where’s your favorite shrimp dish? Are you a shrimp and grits gal, or is fried shrimp your thing? What about shrimp cocktail?
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Foie Gras Flap
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
TO EAT OR NOT TO EAT: Would you support a city-wide ban on foie gras in restaurants?
Photo: Louie Favorite/AJC staff
At Craft In NYC last week, we enjoyed one of the finest terrines of foie gras I’ve ever eaten — luxuriously smooth, pink and full of delicate flavor, coupled with a sweet raisin chutney over brioche toast points.
Folks in Chicago can today indulge in foie gras again — legally, anyway — since the city council repealed on Wednesday a two-year restaurant ban on the delicacy. Animal activist groups have pressured for the ban of foie gras, claiming that the method of gavage — force feeding the animals (ducks and geese) until their livers are engorged to sometimes ten times the normal size is inhumane. California has a law in place to to end the production and sale of foie gras by 2012.
It’s an ancient argument, and one that will never be won by any single side since there will always be meat eaters and non-meat eaters. But I’m wondering how Atlanta would react to a similar ordinance. Over the past four years I’ve eaten my share of foie gras in this city.
Would you support or not support a ban on foie gras in restaurants?
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Okay Restaurant Folks, Now It’s Your Turn
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
WAITERS LEARNING to be waiters.
Photo: Alex Brandon/AP
If I’m going to rant about what I dislike from a restaurant, it’s only fair that I give the folks on the other side of the equation a go. If you’re someone who works in or owns a restaurant, what would you want your customers to know?
Having been on the other side myself (I am someone who based my reason for getting married the first time on the answer to the following question: Will I ever have to wait tables again? When he said no, I said yes. No wonder it didn’t work out…) I would have a few beefs with customers. Here’s my list:
Yes, the customer is always right. But that doesn’t mean you’re actually correct. Check your ego at the door and loosen up. It’s only food.
Please don’t have sex in the bathroom. I’m the one the restaurant paid to clean up after you.
Please don’t assume that because I wait on tables I’m stupid. Please don’t assume that because I cook on the line I’m stupid. This is classic sandbox stuff: It’s nice to be treated as an equal.
There must be something interesting about this industry: I don’t see any shows on Bravo or Fox about working in a dentist’s office. Are there shows called “Top Certified Public Accountant?” I don’t think so….
Leaving $1.20 on a $35 dollar lunch bill is criminal. If you can’t pay the tip, don’t go out to eat.
If you don’t think I deserve a tip, then tell me. I’d like to know what the problem is so I can improve.
In regard to #6, yelling is not a form of communication.
I love kids, but I’m not your baby sitter. Neither is the hostess.
Saying “thank you” every now and then goes a long way in making us both have a better evening.
I don’t want to engage in your table conversation any more than you want me to.
Want more waiter rants? The popular blogger from waiterrant has written a book called “Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip — Confessions of a Cynical Waiter” (Ecco, August 2008, $24.95). It’s touted as a front-of-the-house-version of “Kitchen Confidential” and includes accounts of everything from sex in the bathroom (see #2, above) to customer arrogance and misbehavior to “the little unseen bits of human grace that transpires in the most unlikely places.”
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Ten Things I Hate About You
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THE BATHROOM AT NAN is serene and clean.
Photo: Phil Skinner/AJC staff
Continuing on my men’s mag fetish, I noticed that a regular feature for most is a female celebrity 10-question story form of what that person thinks men should know. You know, like Kim Cattrall letting guys know that multiple orgasms aren’t a luxury, they’re a must.
Strange ground for an idea for a food blog, I admit, but fertile nonetheless. I started thinking about the ten things I’d like restaurateurs to know. Here’s my list:
The bathroom is part of your restaurant. Pay someone to keep it clean. Always.
Servers should know how to pronounce everything on your menu. “Gestapo” for “gazpacho” doesn’t cut it.
Servers should know what everything on your menu tastes like. The worst answer to the question, “how’s the coconut milk soup?’ is “I don’t know, I’ve never tasted it.”
Never think that #2 and #3, above, don’t happen. They do. They have.
Terms like “vine-ripened” and “organic” are only worth using if your ingredients actually are.
“Made-from-scratch” does not mean the same thing as opening a box and adding eggs and water.
The customer is always right. Really.
There is no place for smoking in a restaurant, including you, smoking at the back door on your break.
Sure, Anthony Bourdain is cool. You are not Anthony Bourdain, no matter how cool you think you are. Be yourself.
“Award winning” means that you have actually won an award. It’s not a catch phrase.
So, what would your list include?
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Manuel’s Is in Esquire
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Manuel’s has been pouring beers since 1956.
Photo: Frank Niemeir/AJC
Reading Esquire (men’s mags are SOOOOO much more interesting to read than the crud the industry offers women, plus it was my fiance’s) on the plane back from NYC yesterday I came across an article about the best bars in the USA.
One Atlanta spot made the list: Manuel’s Tavern in Poncey-Hi. Of one of the city’s oldest taps (Manuel’s opened in 1956), writer Justin Heckert had this to say, “…the bar top here holds the urn and ashes of Manuel Maloof … the dusty pictures on the wall are of people — Jimmy Carter, for instance — telling the same types of stories as they are tonight … a place where journalists and lawyers and politicians have always communed at the same tap.” Absolutely. Plus the burgers rock. And for that matter, so do the blueberry pancakes long about 11 O-clock on Sunday morning…. congrats Manuel’s.
Where’s your favorite Everyman’s bar?
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It’s Not All Black And White
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This is truly the city that never sleeps — trucks, jackhammers and rain all had a hand in making my night a long one.
Or was I just dreaming of another black-and-white cookie? The urban legend in NYC these days is that there are only one or two bakeries that actually make these cookie-cum-cakes striped with chocolate and vanilla fondant. They are one of my favorite things to eat in the entire world. You can get them in lots of spots in this town, but the freshest I’ve ever had come from Stage Deli on Seventh Avenue. The selections further downtown, at busy lunch joints like Duke’s are never as fresh and the cake part is too yellow and not as buttery as what I get at the Stage.
You can get black-and-white cookies in Atlanta (Goldberg’s and the Marietta Diner both have them). But they are never the same as they are in NYC. Street food in general just doesn’t exist in Atlanta, which is a shame — the first thing I eat whenever I come to the Big Apple is a pretzel from a street vendor gobbed with mustard. Then I head for the roasted nuts…..
Meanwhile, I had more kobe beef last night, this time at Kobe Club, where Japanese katana swords dangled from the ceiling like icicles. Glad I wasn’t sitting under them. This time the ticket came up $115, but it was for four ounces, not five. The fat had been seared into the surface, creating a super thin crustiness that gave way to incredible flavor inside. This joint is way too gimicky for me (and I’ll share lots more on that when I return), but this steak was better than the one I had last night, though I’m tiring of beef in general. How much steak can one girl eat?
Tonight, I’m headed to Craft. Tom Colicchio’s crew is gonna have to come up with something other than kobe beef to entertain my taste buds.
And it’s going to be pretty tough to beat the black-and-white cookie craving. Do you have a favorite regional food or street goodie that you wish we had in Atlanta? Tastykakes? A Philly cheese steak?
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Buying in bulk at farmstands and wholesalers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Buying in bulk is an old strategy for cutting food costs, which is why you’ll usually pay more for smaller boxes of cereal than large ones.
It holds true for fresh food, too. One of my favorite farmstands, Osage’s in north Georgia’s Mountain City, offers such good prices on large amounts of just-picked produce that it draws buyers from metro Atlanta eager to stock up on strawberries by the gallon and peaches by the bushel basket. (At least, it did last year. Higher gas prices will probably dissuade some this year.)
Closer to home, those who want large quantities of fresh produce usually head to the Atlanta State Farmers Market in Forest Park and go to the wholesale side, on the right as you enter the market. Here, you don’t buy straight from the farmer. You buy from a company that could have purchased directly from the farmer, or could be just the last link in a long chain of brokers and packagers that stretches to other regions or around the world.
Some of the wholesalers welcome walk-in customers; others focus on large accounts that include supermarkets and restaurants. Usually you must buy by the case or half-case.
Recently, I visited Destiny Produce, a certified organic distributor at the state market that welcomes walk-in customers. It’s open daily, with weekend hours of 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. and weekday hours from 5 a.m. until around 4 p.m. DeeDee Digby, who manages Destiny and works to reach out to local growers, showed me around.
Some of Destiny’s offerings are purchased directly from Georgia farmers, like Sparkman’s Cream Valley milk from Moultrie, and baby beets and organic Vidalias from Relinda Walker in southeast Georgia’s Screven County. Like other wholesalers at the market, they sell in bulk by the case or occasionally a half-case. (Case quantities vary depending on the product. A case of milk, for example, is eight half-gallon bottles.) Some of its offerings are organic, but not all. It’s all spelled out on product lists that are updated weekly.
As warmer weather boosts local harvests, Destiny expects to have more from farmers within a 250-mile drive of Atlanta. Organic broccoli, cauliflower and carrots are coming in from Georgia farmers, and organic peaches and plums from South Carolina growers. (In early May, much of their stock came from California, with Florida and Central America other sources).
Prices change weekly. They’re lower than retail, but it’s a tradeoff: You’ll wind up with a lot of perishable food. And because some of these foods carry premiums in grocery stores, they’re priced higher than conventionally raised produce available from other wholesalers at the market.
Some of Destiny’s customers are buying clubs, which split the large quantities among neighbors or customers. Maybe others are like one of my co-workers, who likes to buy tomatoes a case at a time, drizzle them with olive oil and then slow roast for a couple of hours, saving them to use in pastas, on pizzas, etc.
If you’ve bought produce by the case, how do you prepare or preserve it? If you share with friends, how has that worked out? Do you find that you’re saving money?
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How Much Would You Pay for a Steak??
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In New York for the rest of this week to check out some of the Big Boy restaurants that are opening in Atlanta, I tried a kobe steak at BLT Steak last night.
I’ll give a full report when I return, but let’s start with the marked difference between what this restaurant looks like in New York — a small bistro, very loud, and believe me the distance between tables doesn’t pass the fire code (read: I’m not sure why they bothered with more than one table at all; they should have just given us all a spot at the same large trough) — and what I suspect it will look like in Atlanta. In Atlanta, inside the W Hotel Downtown, my guess is that it will lack most of the annoying little qualities — like a din so loud we couldn’t even hear the people sitting next to, um I mean on top of, us — that actually make it interesting. The look is New York, not Paris, but there are small touches like the signature blackboard menu, that includes daily specials like English peas with strong hints of mint and bacon and salsify with trumpet royale mushrooms.
That said, the food, designed by tres cosmopolitan French chef Laurent Tourondel, centers around beef (Lourondel has a slew of restaurants here and elsewhere that focus on a particular fill-in-the-blank for consumption: BLT Steak, BLT Fish, BLT Market. Here, beef gets all the perspective, sometimes naked and exposed (BLT-cut bone-in double sirloin), sometimes airbrushed until the last blemish has been removed (Japanese kobe strip steak, though on this evening the cut was filet).
The kobe costs $26 an ounce, and there is a five-ounce minimum. The waiter brought it to the table before it was grilled for me to see its perfectly marbled flesh. And once cooked to a perfect medium rare, it was velvety, juicy and exceptional. But it wasn’t $130 exceptional. Russell Crowe could have cooked it naked tableside and it wouldn’t have been $130 exceptional.
Kobe is incredible beef, and I’m a big believer in “you-get-what-you-pay-for.” And I don’t think BLT Steak is necessarily overcharging. I just don’t think it’s worth it. There’s just not as much there there as everyone yammers on about.
How much would you pay for a steak? How far would you go to get a really great steak?
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In the mood for ceviche? Where do you go?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
From central Mexico to the tip of Chile, the appetizer of choice tends to be ceviche, a salad of marinated raw fish or other seafood that originated in Peru. Increasingly popular in the United States, the dish is served in Atlanta in various forms. One chef adds milk for ceviche con leche. Another swears by Gulf shrimp dusted with a Chilean herb.
Do you ever get In the Mood for ceviche? If so, where do you find the best ceviche?
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Spruill Green Market opens for the year
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Spruill Green Market opens for the season Wednesday, May 7. Freezes in March and April have cut down on early harvests, so fresh produce won’t be as abundant as it would in a typical year.
But there will be salad mix, lettuce, radishes, pea shoots, Swiss chard, Lacinato (dinosaur) kale, arugula, herbs and braising mix. Vendors will also offer duck and chicken eggs, vegetable transplants, honey, granola bars and potted herbs. By the end of May, there should be more produce and more farmers at the market.
Market hours are 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Wednesdays at Spruill Center Gallery, 4681 Ashford Dunwoody Road, between Perimeter Mall and downtown Dunwoody.
Have you shopped at farmers’ markets yet this season? What’s been your favorite find?
LINK: Seasonal farmers markets, with maps, from accessAtlanta.com
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Spruill Green Market opens for the year
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Northsiders, rejoice.
The Spruill Green Market opens for the season Wednesday, May 7. Freezes in March and April have cut down on early harvests, so fresh produce won’t be as abundant as it would in a typical year.
But there will be salad mix, lettuce, radishes, pea shoots, Swiss chard, Lacinato (dinosaur) kale, arugula, herbs and braising mix. Vendors will also offer duck and chicken eggs, vegetable transplants, honey, granola bars and potted herbs. By the end of May, there should be more produce and more farmers at the market.
Market hours are 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Wednesdays at Spruill Center Gallery, 4681 Ashford Dunwoody Road, between Perimeter Mall and downtown Dunwoody.
Have you shopped at farmers’ markets yet this season? What’s been your favorite find?
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Pink Drinks for Everyone
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THE FAB FOUR: Kristin Davis stars as “Charlotte York-Goldenblatt”, Sarah Jessica Parker stars as “Carrie Bradshaw”, Cynthia Nixon stars as “Miranda Hobbes” and Kim Cattrall stars as “Samantha Jones” in New Line Cinema’s upcoming release of SEX AND THE CITY: THE MOVIE. Who’s buying the Cosmos?
Photo: Craig Blankenhorn/New Line Cinema
I was a huge fan of Sex and the City when it was still on HBO. It was the first time in television history that a show actually approached dealing with life for women the way life with women actually is, from sex, to shoes, to cocktails.
Cocktails were a big part of the show’s persona. The foursome of Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte made the Cosmopolitan — a sweet, smooth mix of vodka, lime, cranberry and triple sec — a household term that had nothing to do with a magazine founded by Helen Gurlie Brown. And the sweet “martini” craze that ensued makes the drinks of the Roaring 20s seem like something Betty Boop would slurp.
Girls grow up, and after a few of these flirty pink drinks, I moved on just like the show: I drink dirty martinis with Hendrick’s gin these days.
But the opening of the film, set in theaters for May 30, has me waxing for the old days with my girlie pals Alexis and Pat from my Providence Journal days.
So I need to know: Who makes the best Cosmopolitan in Atlanta?
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Can You Get Anything You Want at Alice’s Restaurant?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ARLO GUTHRIE: Folksinger, menu-maker
Photo: Brian Kersey/AP
Why doesn’t someone ring me up at work and ask me to endorse a restaurant? The latest frozen yogurt? The pretzel stand at Turner Field?
I’ll tell you why. I’m not a celebrity. It’s the saddest case of the rich getting richer there ever was, but the folks with the most are always the ones asked to make more. I mean, for crying out loud — I sound as good as that chick that used to be on West Wing, you know, Allison Janney? How come she gets all the voiceovers?
Right here in Atlanta we’ve got newly opened Straits from rapper-cum-restaurateur Chris Bridges, aka Ludacris. And That 70s Show alums are all part of the money behind Dolce (if I were them I’d disassociate myself from that one…). Heck, Usher backed the Grape in Inman Park. Dog (or is that dawg?). Mega music man Jermaine Dupri backs Cafe Dupri and Gladys Knight’s name is all over Chicken and Waffles.
The latest? Arlo Guthrie has actually stamped his approval on a restaurant called — here’s a stretch — Alice’s Restaurant. No, it’s not in Stockbridge, Mass., where the real restaurant (which has had several names over the years, none of which were ever “Alice’s Restaurant”) is. It’s a dining venue inside Hard Rock Park (a 55-acre theme park) in Myrtle Beach, S.C., scheduled to open May 9.
Well dang, kid. Apparently Guthrie even had a hand in designing the menu, which offers up Italian specialties, vegetarian and vegan dishes as well as New England clam chowder. There’s even a “Group W Bench” as part of the Colonial-style structure’s interior.
Whether you can get anything you want remains to be seen. My how times have changed. Would you be more apt to visit a restaurant if it was endorsed in some way by a celebrity? If so, why? Or why not?
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Piedmont, Marietta, Suwanee markets open this weekend
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
More farmers’ markets roll out Saturday, with a new location for an old favorite in Marietta and openings in Piedmont Park and Suwanee.
The Marietta Square Farmers Market lives up to its name this season, moving to a spot on the square itself. Last year, the market was held in a parking lot a block away.
The Spruill Green Market opens for the season in Dunwoody on Wednesday. At markets in early May, look for some of the first local strawberries, as well as lettuce, arugula, beets, carrots and other spring produce, baked goods and vegetable seedlings.
Green Market for Piedmont Park: 9 a.m.-1 p.m Saturdays. Along the 12th Steeet entrance to Piedmont Park.
Marietta Square Farmers Market: 9 a.m.-noon Saturdays. North Park Avenue on the square.
Suwanee Farmers Market: 8 a.m.-noon Saturdays. Town Center Park.
Spruill Green Market: 8 a.m. -noon Wednesdays. Spruill Center Gallery, 4681 Ashford Dunwoody Road, Atlanta.
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Let’s Talk About Our Options, Then
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ZAYA just opened in Inman Park. What’s a new restaurant to do in hard times?
Photo: Becky Stein/Special to the AJC
First, thanks to everyone who responded to Thursday’s blog post about the dip in fine dining sales. Clearly, these are tough times, and they may get tougher.
A few comments mentioned that establishments should do more for customers during good times if they expect to see customers during bad times. This intrigues me, and I’m not being a smart mouth. It really intrigues me.
Other than lowering prices, what type of add-ons would you like to see in these tough times to make it worth your while to visit a restaurant — any restaurant — regularly (say, once a week)? Daily specials, of course, but let’s get creative — raffle drawings for a free meal? A free dessert for children under 12? What about cooperative cooking — where you can help cook your own meal? A “frequent flyer” card? What perks would you like to see a restaurant offer?
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A Dip in Fine Dining
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
CHEF OWNERS Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison in the kitchen at Bacchanalia, the city’s most celebrated restaurant.
Photo: W.A. Bridges, Jr./AJC staff
Speaking with chef-owner Anne Quatrano on Tuesday, she told me of her and husband Clifford’s plans to open Abattoir, a “meat-centric” casual spot that will hopefully open later this fall in the White Provisions complex. While not a steak house, the menu definitely operates around four-legged things, with an emphasis on local pork and lamb, and eventually (hopefully) local beef.
She also talked sadly about something we may already know, but don’t want to admit. For the first time, her fine dining establishments — Bacchanalia and Quinones at Bacchanalia — have taken a big dip in sales from the numbers last year. “This is not a good time for the restaurant industry,” Quatrano told me.
Gas prices, an impending recession, losses to personal investment portfolios and 401 K plans — all these threats make it hard for a family to justify spending a couple of hundred bucks on dinner, no matter how incredibly good it is.
But as recession looms, we need to also realize that fine dining, just like fine arts, are the life blood of a city’s pulse. They are vibrant offerings that give a city its personality. Even in the direst of times we need to support, in whatever way we can, the efforts of our native artists and craftsmen, a group that includes our local chefs and restaurants.
I’ve asked this before, but want to know — how hard is the looming recession hitting your dining options? Have you made changes? Do you eat out less? Have you ruled fine dining out all together?
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