Turning tables: Restaurant and food news

Main dish

In today’s economy, are chefs destined to trade in their toques for soda jerk hats?

In late 2010 local chef Shaun Doty closed his eponymous fine dining restaurant, which earned four stars from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, to focus on his gourmet burger joint, Yeah Burger.

Now, the news has broken that Doty plans to open a fast casual chicken concept this September. The currently unnamed spot looks like it will be located in Midtown’s Ansley Mall shopping center, where Doty is in the process of signing a lease.

As an active member of the organization Georgians for Pastured Poultry, Doty plans to use local free-range pastured poultry at his new restaurant. In a conversation with Creative Loafing, Doty revealed that the chicken would be served rotisserie-style rather than fried.

From the few details released, it seems that parallels can be drawn between Doty’s new chicken place and the concept dominating the fast casual market: Chipotle Mexican Grill. Both concepts were created by chefs (Chipotle founder Steve Ells attended the Culinary Institute of America; Doty went to Johnson and Wales University) and both place emphasis on sourcing sustainable, humanely raised products.

Hopefully, the parallels don’t end there and Doty will have the same success enjoyed by Chipotle.

Bites

• Georgia-born Sublime Doughnuts owner Kamal Grant is no stranger to receiving national attention for his sweet creations. This popular Midtown haunt is in the limelight once more, with its recent nomination as America's Best Bakery by Bake magazine. Sublime is one of six bakeries across the country chosen by Bake's editorial staff for a people's choice vote. The voting runs until March 30 at www.tinyurl.com/SublimeContest. Congrats to Grant and Sublime Doughnuts for being nominated. 6 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesdays-Friday, 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturdays, 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Sundays. 535 10th St. N.W., Atlanta. 404-897-1801, www.sublimedoughnuts.com.
• Midtown's Cucina Asellina, a rustic Italian restaurant that opened last month, recently began offering daily lunch hours. Cucina Asellina is a smaller offshoot of the original Ristorante Asellina in New York and a sister restaurant to Atlanta's STK, which opened last December. The lunch menu includes pizzas, flatbreads, Italian cured meats and cheeses, and pastas like the pistachio garganelli. The restaurant is located next to the Loews Atlanta Hotel at 12th and Peachtree and offers a dog-friendly patio. 11:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays, 11:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Fridays-Saturdays. 1075 Peachtree St., Atlanta. 404-793-0141, www.togrp.com. $$-$$$.

Gravy

Inman Park Restaurant Week ... www.inmanparkrestaurantweek.com

Inman Park will hold its spring restaurant week March 26-April 1. Fourteen restaurants will offer three-course meals priced at $15, $25 or $35. Participating establishments include Barcelona Wine Bar, Rathbun’s, Kevin Rathbun Steak, Fritti, One Eared Stag, Sauced and Wisteria. Reservations are recommended.