It's peanut butter and jelly time in Atlanta with the return of PB&J for Good.
The annual fundraiser runs now through Sunday and features special peanut butter and jelly inspired creations from a variety of local restaurants.
Many of the city’s well-known chefs have put their own spin on the childhood favorite elevating it from a lunchtime staple to a culinary delight.
American Food & Beverage is offering boiled peanut hummus served with bacon jelly and wood-grilled flatbread.
While at Canoe, the PB&J cream puffs are served with peanuts, strawberries, goats’ milk and chocolate. Guests at ONE Midtown Kitchen can try a wood-grilled pork belly with mulled apple cider glaze, red onion jam, pumpkin seed brittle, kale and peanut butter.
And at Wahoo! Grill, you can get a peanut quesadilla with Sweet Grass Dairy’s Asher blue cheese, toasted peanuts and Emily G’s cabernet jam.
"The chefs have fun with it," said Michael Levison. "It is simple and fun and people can related to it."
Levison is the Atlanta-based co-founder of Stop SAM, an organization he created two years ago with friend, Luke Mysse, to fight severe acute malnutrition, the final stage before starvation. Stop SAM raises funds to purchase a fortified peanut butter concoction that is effective at treating children who suffer from SAM, said Levison.
The life-saving Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) is fortified peanut butter -- a mixture of peanut paste, vitamins and dry whole milk. When given to children three times daily for six to seven weeks, it is 98 percent effective at returning them to a healthy and sustainable weight.
Levison and Mysse, piloted PB&J for good in California three years ago to raise money to purchase, manufacture and distribute the product. Last year, they brought the fundraiser to Atlanta and hope to expand to other cities in the future.
All of the profits from PB&J for good go towards Stop SAM which raised $16,000 last year. This year, the goal is $25,000 which would be enough to treat 700 children, Levison said. Malnutrition is a problem in many countries, but Stop SAM focuses primarily on South Sudan, he said. RUFT is manufactured by Manna Nutrition in Fitzgerald, Ga. and is distributed through partnerships with world relief organizations.
This year, more than 50 Atlanta restaurants are participating in PB&J for Good. Levison has already made the rounds of several restaurants to try out the PB&J specials. His favorite so far is the crispy fried chocolate chip bread pudding with peanut butter ice cream at Local Three. "Many of the restaurants that I have been going to are not ones that have been on my radar screen," said Levison who happens to be the brother of Souper Jenny's Jenny Levison. "I go and take groups of friends to the restaurants because of their participation."
Here's is a round-up of the confirmed restaurants and the dishes they are serving. (Note: Café Jonah, Juicy Jenny and Souper Jenny are offering rotating dishes so they are not listed here and a few additional restaurants are still being confirmed):
- Alon's Bakery – Peanut butter cookies
- American Food & Beverage – Boiled peanut hummus with bacon jelly and wood-grilled flatbread
- Aria – Seared foie gras with peanuts and ginger apple jam
- Bellwoods Social House – Thai-spiced ground short rib, brisket and chuck with peanut butter, bacon, pickled carrots and jalapeno on a Holeman & Finch bun
- Bite Bistro & Bar – Foie "PB&J" sandwich with housemade honey-roasted almond butter, seared foie gras and pickled grapes served on brioche
- BLT Steak – Peanut butter mousse with Muscadine jelly
- Bocado – Peanut butter mousse with honeycomb candy and shaved chocolate
- Café at PARISH – Peanut butter Rice Krispie treat with dried seasonal fruit
- Canoe – PB&J cream puffs with peanuts, strawberries, goat milks and chocolate
- Cibo e Beve – Peanut butter and chocolate canoli with raspberry jam
- Common Quarter – Peanut butter pie with milk chocolate sauce and whipped cream
- Farm Burger – Peanut butter milkshake
- Food 101 – Pistachio butter and fig jam sandwich (lunch) and Peanut butter and jelly cheesecake (dinner)
- Fred's Meat & Bread – Triple decker munchie PB&J with crunch peanut butter, strawberry jam, potato chips, fluff and Nutella
- Hard Rock Cafe Atlanta – Mini peanut butter pie cups
- JCT. Kitchen – PB&J cheesecake with peanut butter cookie crust, peanut butter cheesecake and Concord grape jelly swirl
- Local Three – Crispy fried chocolate chip bread pudding with peanut butter ice cream and caramel sauce
- Meehan's – Thai chicken stir fry over jasmine rice with sautéed yellow squash, red pepper, onion and broccoli with crunchy roasted peanuts (all local locations participating)
- Muss & Turner's – Tagalong cookie with peanut butter mousse and shortbread
- ONE Midtown Kitchen – Wood-grilled pork belly with mulled apple cider glaze, red onion jam, pumpkin seed brittle, kale and peanut butter
- PARISH – Seasonal fruit napoleon with peanut butter and jelly macaroon
- Pittypat's Porch – Concord grape PB&J swirl cheesecake with Nutter Butter cookie crust and mixed berry sauce
- Queen of Cream – Peanut butter chocolate chip ice cream
- Sweet Auburn Barbecue – Grilled okra with peanuts and peanut sauce
- Table 1280 – Peanut butter and jelly mouse bar with vanilla sponge cake, peanut butter mousse and strawberry gelee
- TAP – Peanut butter fried pie with chocolate whipped cream, brown sugar and vanilla ice cream
- The General Muir – Peanut butter blondie with Muscadine jam, brown sugar and vanilla ice cream
- The Melting Pot – PB&J milk chocolate fondue
- The Optimist – PB&J ice cream sandwich with peanut butter cookies and Concord grape sherbet (photo available here, credit to Andrew Thomas)
- The Spence – Cashew and peanut butter with Muscadines and crudites
- Urban Cannibals at Tipple + Rose Tea Parlor and Apothecary– Thai pepper jelly and curry peanut butter sandwich
- TWO Urban Licks – Chocolate peanut butter bar with grape jelly ice cream
- Wahoo! Grill – Quesadilla with Sweet Grass Diary's Asher blue cheese, toasted peanuts and Emily G's cabernet jam
- West Egg – PB&J cheesecake with peanut butter cheesecake and jam glaze
For more information, visit pbjforgood.com and stopsam.org.
