Woodfire Grill

Final stop on the Bon Voyage Atlanta Mini Restaurant Tour!  I'm so glad we went to Woodfire Grill before the train pulls out of the station here in just a few hours.  (Hours!)  When we first moved to the ATL and lived down in the Virginia Highland area, we'd been eyeing Woodfire... just never went.  I suppose it took Executive Chef Kevin Gillespie getting on season 6 of Top Chef to really light a fire under our asses and get us over there!

Loved the ambiance of this restaurant.  It's inviting, but still has the slightest flutter of formality.  The dining room is lively but not too loud.  The scent of the woodfire grill is intoxicating as you first walk in.  The bartender has a friendly face.  It's easy to feel right at home.


We'll start with service.  The service at Woodfire was some of the best we've had from some of the finer establishments we've dined at as of late.  Attentive but not too talkative, this guy had it right.


There is a nice selection of seasonal cocktails available from the bar - I personally went with the Blackberry Bramble which had fresh muddled blackberries and gin.  Fresh, tasty and not oppressive with the taste of alcohol, this is definitely a nicely mixed cocktail.  The wine list is also notable - we had a 2005 Ferrari Carano Prevail Cab/Syrah with dinner that was outstanding.  Compared to retail ($55), the price of the bottle at the restaurant ($59) was not bad at all!  I love anything red from the Alexander Valley.  It was bold, big in the mouth, juicy and delish!


Now on to the food :)  I started with the caramelized gala apples with celery leaf, fennel bulb and a sort of salty cheese on top.  Very nice juxtaposition of sweet/salty/fresh and some great textures as well.  One of our dinnermates ordered the pork belly.... originally we'd passed but once it got to the table Mason and I had to have an order to split.  Definitely not the wrong move there.  More fat than meat, but a nice crisp carmelization from the woodfire on the outside paired nicely with the apple butter served on the side.  Can you ever really go wrong with pork belly?  Another dinnermate had the prosciutto wrapped arugula salad with cherries and cranberries... delectable!


My main course was a grass fed beef strip loin, which I had to clarify with the waiter -- was it a strip or a tenderloin?  It was the tenderloin in fact - three 1/2" pieces.  Cooked to a perfect medium rare, but it was the slightest bit tough.  The au-gratin-ish potatoes served on the side were underwhelming at best and overly salty.  Mason had the halibut, which was served with a curry cabbage... his reaction to it was so-so.


Dessert redeemed a few of the entree shortcomings.  Banana fritters with banana bavarian creme, milk chocolate mousse, salted caramel sauce and candied bacon was heavenly.


One interesting option offered by Woodfire is the 3 or 5 course blind chef's tasting.  I think the next time we go, we might have to go in that direction.


Verdict - definitely worth the trip, there are some impressive qualities to the restaurant.  I'd like to give it another try.

Canoe Review

Stop #3 on our BVAMRT (Bon Voyage Atlanta Mini-Restaurant Tour) was Canoe in Vinings, GA.  We got there just in the nick of time before the great flood of 2009 hit the restaurant.  The good news is, the restoration is in full swing and they should be back up and running soon.  


Canoe is situated right on the banks of the Chattahoochee River and boasts some absolutely lovely gardens that are perfectly suited for an outdoor reception, rehearsal dinner or other fancy-pants party.  The interior of the restaurant is warm, with lots of wood and brick.  A very comfortable environment overall.

Executive Chef Carvel Grant Gould is careful in selecting the items that go on her menu, and many of the proteins and veggies are locally sourced.  I always like to see the Executive Chef when we go to a restaurant, and Chef Gould was spot on, managing the kitchen and walking throughout the restaurant while we were there to make sure everything was humming.

Canoe's wine list was huge.  We started with an 2006 Anne Amie Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley of Oregon that was outstanding.  When dinner came, we ordered the 2006 JC Cellars Syrah - and much to our delight they had a 2004 that they presented instead.  The JC Cellars was incredibly rich for a Syrah - almost more like a Cab or a Zinfandel.  

For starters I began with the carrot and pistachio soup, which was topped with tempura snow peas and pistachio oil.  Thick, creamy and delicious.  For dinner, I opted for their swordfish special, which was seared and then finished in the oven and served with a bacon and leek risotto.  I wish I could remember exactly what else came with it... but it's been a few days and I'm a bad blogger... oops.  I'm also not one of those food bloggers that takes pictures of the food... maybe that makes me a REALLY bad blogger but eh.  Either way, it was fresh and delicious!

For dessert I also went with their special which was a watermelon and lime sorbet.  The lime was great - the watermelon lacked flavor.  Presentation was good.  We also had a warm ricotta cheesecake with meyer lemon that was quite the treat.

Canoe is on my 10 best list for a reason - definitely worth the trip!

10 Best Atlanta Restaurants

Considering that a good portion of this blog has been devoted to Atlanta area restaurants, I thought it proper to post a top 10 list (another one!) before we depart in a few days. So here they are folks, Blog Soup's A-town favorites. I will note that this list is more or less off the cuff... I didn't deliberate on my choices for too long. These are the restaurants that came to mind first.

Most of these are centrally located - so if you're visiting Atlanta, they're easy to find.

10. Two Urban Licks. Great place to take out-of-towners with a hip, urban vibe. I like this place for the environment more than the food. Quintessentially Atlanta.

9. Canoe. Focus on local, fresh, in season. Comfortable dining in a gorgeous setting right by the Chattahoochee. Admirable wine list. Good seafood selections.

8. JCT Kitchen. Deliciousness in every course. Fantastic bread from The Bread Garden, upscale Southern comfort food. Fried chicken and angry mussels are to die for. Great bar upstairs!

7. Alon's Bakery & Market. Fabulous cheese and olive selection, great grab & go entrees, delectable soups and sandwiches.

6. The Colonnade. An ATL favorite since the late 1920's, this is my favorite meat & three in town. I wake up at 3am craving their yeast rolls and butter on a regular basis.

5. Hal's for Steaks. Skip the snootiness of Bones and/or Chops and head for a place that will give better service and phenomenal steaks in a hard-to-find laid back environment. The piano player and regulars in the bar add to the charm.

4. Varasano's Pizza. Only been there once, but the pizza was better than any other pie I've had in the ATL. Hot, thin and crispy.

3. One Midtown Kitchen. Another Concentrics creation, this is also a goodie for the out of town crowd. Reasonable prices, consistent quality and innovation are among One's best traits.

2. Sotto Sotto. My choice in town for Italian. Superb lemon chicken in the best neighborhood in ATL - Inman Park.

1. Rathbun's. Definitely my favorite restaurant in Atlanta. Only wish I'd had more chances to visit!

Floataway Cafe

The first stop on our BVAMRT (that's the Bon Voyage Atlanta Mini-Restaurant Tour, for the uninformed) was Floataway Cafe. Owned by the Bacchanalia folks, this place had been on our hit list for awhile. In a sentence - I enjoyed the meal but wasn't completely enamored with the experience overall.

The environment is completely charming, kind of airy and beachy and ethereal. Some bright pops of orange in the lounge area give a nice modern vibe. The menu has a huge variety of choices - literally everyone should be able to find something they like. Our friends brought their darling and very well behaved 10 year old twins and they had no problem selecting something off the menu that was suited for a decade-old palate.

Quick rundown: we started with the roasted peppers, anchovies on the side. Overall the peppers lacked flavor - like they hadn't been roasted long enough to bring that depth and sugar out. Mason had the bibb lettuce salad with green goddess dressing, bacon, maytag and tomatoes -- a great salad that's hard to mess up. We also had an order of gougeres for the table. The outside was perfectly flaky and light. The cheese inside was a bit too runny for my tastes.

Both husband and I had the quail for our entree which I have to say was cooked perfectly. The wood grill gave the outside a beautiful char and carmelization. It was advertised with roasted figs and balsamic - however nary a fig was to be found on my plate. Disappointing since they're in season right now.

Dessert was a toffee pudding cake with vanilla ice cream as well as a fig brown butter tart with buttermilk sorbet. The pudding cake was tops and the tart honorable as well; however the buttermilk sorbet tasted much more like citrusy lemon than it did buttermilk.

Service was just so-so. Kind of slow.

The verdict: Hard to judge after just one visit. I feel like I'd need to give it another chance.

Restaurant Weekend

We're hitting up a few places this weekend with both some local and out of town friends - I can't wait!

Friday will be Floataway Cafe. I'm eyeing the marinated roasted peppers, ellijay apple and endive salad, warm cheese gougeres, local fig pizza with maytag and prosciutto, and the wood grilled quail. How's a girl to decide.... We're going to bring our bottle of Caymus Zinfandel with us. Hell to the yeah.

Tomorrow night will be the much anticipated Rathbun's with a good friend of mine from Philly who's coming in from out of town. I'm semi-embarrassed we haven't made it down there yet, seeing as the chef is semi famous and the restaurant has received so much praise. I didn't know Chef Kevin Rathbun himself was born and raised in good ole Kansas City... a man after my own heart to say the least! Eggplant steak fries with confectioner's sugar, coriander roasted pork belly, roasted bone marrow (Bourdain's fave and a curiosity of mine), and the Maine Lobster and roasted chile soft taco are all looking pretty tasty.

Maybe I should just commit myself to gaining 15# this weekend.

I'd really like to get to Woodfire Grill before we leave but not sure if it will be happening. Stay tuned for reviews!

Pura Vida

We hit up Pura Vida last week. This has been a restaurant I've been wanting to try since we lived in the Highlands, but we just never got around to it. Luckily Ali & Byron were game for it... plus we wanted to give it a try because Chef Hector Santiago is one of the competitors on the newest season of Top Chef. Proudly, Atlanta has three chefs on this season!

When we got there at 7ish it was pretty empty, but it filled up as we got through dinner. The cocktails were inventive, and I particularly enjoyed a hibiscus number... can't quite remember what was in it, but it was light, fresh and fruity. The mojitos were also quite good.

I love the tapas style of eating because when it comes down to it, I really prefer snacking over a full meal. To hit a few highlights, we loved the malanga root chips with cremini mushroom dip, the bone in short rib with orange chipotle bbq sauce, and the steamed coconut buns with the dreamiest protein ever, pork belly. Quite delish across the board! Unfortunately the mussels were very fishy, and the chicken barbacoa burrito smacked of Taco Bell. We tried a few desserts - the first was a sheep's milk ice cream with blackberry caviar (basically just the little rounds of blackberry) and a salted caramel sauce. Interesting taste - a little bit of a dry texture - didn't love it, didn't hate it. Glad we tried it. The second was a chocolate chile flan brulee which was delicious. I loved the combination of heat & sweet.

The verdict: Go!!

Varasano's Pizza

We had the pleasure of trying Varasano's Pizza this past week with a friend. In a word (or two): quite tasty. I'll give you a quick rundown:

Drink Menu: versatile, inventive.

Bar Service: attentive.

Table Service: Par for the course, annoyingly suggestive. I want to order what I'd like to order, not what the server wants me to order. If you don't want to serve it, don't put it on the menu.

Appetizer Selection: limited, decent salumi.

Pizza: Some of the best I've had in Atlanta. Super thin, hot, bubbly slightly charred crust. Crisp, not floppy.

What we ordered: Nana's with sausage & roasted red pepper, white clam, and finally the caramelized onion with emmenthaler cheese and mushrooms.

Wine: Stephen Vincent Crimson for $6/$28. A great glass of full-bodied wine for the price, I'll be seeking it out in my local wine store.

Promo: Tweet or update your Facebook from the table and show your server - get a free slice of cake. Genius.... nearly free exposure for the cost of - literally - a piece of cake.

The cake itself: Skip the boozy Italian Cream Cake and go for the chocolate.

Three Dollar Cafe - Roswell Road

I challenge you to name a better hangover cure than salty bar food after a night of debauchery! Hard to do, isn't it? I sure could go for some right about now...

Lucky for us we have some of the best pub fare in Atlanta right down the street from us. Three Dollar Cafe on Roswell Road has a great menu full of homemade goodies and the best hot wings I have ever had. Extra crispy and served with homemade blue cheese dressing, these wings will knock Buffalo on it's behind. The teryaki ones are hard to beat as well. I've been a fan of Locos for a pretty long time, but since being introduced to Three Dollar by chums Ali & Byron, my loyalties have changed!

Although the Roswell Road location doesn't have a website, the menu at the Norcross location is about the same. Click here for details.

What we've had and loved:

Wings - either the hot or teryaki with the homemade blue cheese dressing

Cheeseburger with bacon

Reuben Sandwich

Fried Chicken Salad

Mozzarella sticks - awesome

Jerk wrap with black beans

Buffalo Chicken Sandwich

Fries -- yummy thick cut steak fries

Skip for something else:

Onion rings - these are good but they're more breaded than battered and I like a nice beer batter on my onion rings.

Hearth Pizza - Sandy Springs

My heart always sinks when I walk into a restaurant only to see tables full of dirty dishes. It's a dead giveaway that the restaurant is either understaffed, or that they have little to no skill when it comes to time management. Unfortunately, this was the case when we walked into Hearth Pizza Tavern in Sandy Springs last night. We probably should have just turned around and gone to Canton Cooks next door, but something compelled us to stay.

Had driven by the place several times, so hubs and I decided that next time we wanted some pizza we'd give them a try. Having looked at their menu online, the place looked promising. I'm a lover of the hearth fired pizza, so I was excited to try a new little neighborhood place. The hostess cleaned off a table for us, and we were seated. Immediately I began feeling my seat vibrate because the music was so damn loud. When our waiter finally came around (10 minutes later), he was happy to turn it down for us. We ordered our drinks, and after another 8 minutes or so, those arrived. 1 water, 1 beer. The whole time we were amusedly watching the bartender make key lime martinis with little tubs of coffee creamer, as apparently they had run out a decent sized container of cream. We ordered an appetizer, two salads and pizza. At this point, hubs sarcastically commented on how great it would be if everything came out at once. I was hoping this wouldn't happen.

Anoter 15 minutes pass by, and voila... salads and app show up at the same time. 45 seconds later, pizza comes out. GREAT.

Overall quality of the food was just so-so. The eggplant chips we ordered as our app were just ok - lacking salt and flavor overall. But it's eggplant, so what can you expect. The salads were a nice size and had some good extra veggies -- cukes, red pepper, onion, carrot, etc... not just lettuce which I appreciated. The salads also came with their "hearth bread" which to me looked like it had just come out of the oven at Subway. Meh. Hubs had the chicken/pesto/goat cheese pizza which was better than my meatball pizza with caramelized onions and roasted red peppers.

Our waiter never came back to check on us, however the manager did stop by to refill our waters. We mentioned the timing to him, and he just gave an excuse that we came in during the busy time. Nice. He offered to buy us dessert, but we declined... however when he brought the check he did include a few cards for free 8" pizzas. After we paid the bill and were walking out, I noticed more dirty tables and what looked like some chicken on the floor. Free pizzas or not, I'm not sure we'll go back.

Rosa Mexicano

Headed over to Rosa Mexicano in Atlantic Station this past Friday night. I love Mexican so I was excited to try a new place. Rosa goes for the upscale Mexican vibe. The decor is nice - nothing special. We ordered a pitcher of sangria as well as some tableside guac (a must have). I will say the size of the sangria pitcher was quite generous, which was a welcome suprise. The tableside guac is probably their most popular item and for good reason. It was fresh, had nice pieces of avocado and was made well. We asked for medium spiciness but I really didn't detect any heat at all. There were two salsas served on the side-- a green salsa that had lots of heat (yummy) as well as a red salsa that was way too smoky.

The service was attentive for the most part, except towards the end when we were trying to get our check. More on that later. For dinner, I ordered the appetizer sized rolled chicken tacos to share with my sister in law. They were pretty basic -- came with a queso fresco as well as some crema and some nice green salsa. Mason got the Chamorro, which was a pork shank that was touted as "crispy and marinated". The flavor was just ok -- there was really no "crisp" on the outside, but it was very tender. Julie, my sister in law, had the pork tacos. They came with some nice pickled onions, but overall, they were very meh.

We had to feed a meter before we went into the restaurant, so hubs set a reminder on his phone to go back out and feed it before it expired. He ran over to where our car was parked to find a meter maid just waiting to write him a ticket with one minute left on the meter. UGH. He pumped some more change into the meter, bought us another 15 minutes, and headed back to the restaurant. That's one thing to note -- change does not buy you a lot of time in Atlantic Station. We probably would have stayed longer, but with only 15 minutes left on the meter, we were ready to head out. It was difficult to find our server, but we finally got our check and headed out. With all the other choices for Mexican in Atlanta, I'd probably try a few more places before going back to Rosa Mexicano.

Get Your Food Coma on at Fogo

I can't imagine my life without red meat, which is why I will never become a vegetarian. Just can't do it. That being said, it's hard for me not to like Fogo de Chao. I am a diner that loves to have lots of choices, and Fogo is just perfect for that. You don't have to settle on just one thing, and samples of everything are ripe for the taking. Though I'm sure most of you are familiar, Fogo de Chao is a Brazilian steakhouse featuring many different fire-roasted meats, lots of fresh veggies, some traditional and non-traditional sides, as well as a fairly admirable wine list.

Let's start with the salad bar. I love that it's not your standard lettuce/tomato/cucumber kind of place. I'm a huge fan of the parmesan wheel, the endive and butter lettuces, the fat asparagus, fresh mozzarella and the homemade dressings. The ranch is cool and creamy and the parmesan peppercorn has a nice sharp flavor. The basil dressing is to die for as well. The bar is always fresh and is presented quite well. With the many servers they have walking around the place, it is well tended to to say the very least. I also must make mention of the parmesan brioche rolls served at the table. O...M...G. These are flippin fantastic. The bread is so light and airy and the parmesan is perfectly melted within. I could eat like 17 of them.

Now on to the meat. Oh, meat. Fogo serves over 15 varieties of chicken, sausage, pork, lamb and beef. There is truly something for everyone. Personally, I like beef the best so that's what I concentrate on. My attitude is that you might as well get your money's worth. As for the non-beef choices, I prefer the lambchops and the pork tenderloin. I have found the sausage, chicken, and pork rib dishes to be a little less than satisfying... and with so many other choices, I would just rather move on. The top sirloin is a favorite, but nothing, and I mean absolutely NOTHING tops the beef ancho ribeye. I love a little crust on the outside of my red meat, and the ribeye's is mouthwatering. Absolutely nothing could add to it -- it is perfection in itself. Love love love it. The only beef I would really pass on is the bacon wrapped filet... it comes in small chunks and every time I've had it, it's usually overcooked and dry. Not one of their strong points unfortunately. For me it's all ribeye, all the way.

Lunch and dinner menus are the same. We've been for both... personally I say go for lunch -- it's $29.50 per person vs. the $48.50 per person charge for dinner. Eat your big meal during the day... maybe when you don't have to go back to work... and save yourself the $20 and spend it on some nice wine. Hubs and I had a half bottle of the J. Lohr Cab with our lunch... nothing super outstanding, but a nice addition to the meal nonetheless.

Best Place To Blow your Low Carb Diet

The fries at Five Guys are my absolute favorite. I love me a potato, and the best way to eat it, in my opinion, is hand cut and french fried. There are probably 20+ locations in Atlanta now, so there's one right around the corner from you. If you've never been, definitely stop in and order a custom burger as well as a sack of these fab fries. A small (pictured) will easily serve two people and you also have the option of having them cajun seasoned.

I think the UrbanSpoon rating says it all!

Eclipse di Luna - Dunwoody

I tried Eclipse di Luna - Dunwoody this past Saturday night with friends new and old. We had tried to make a last minute reservation on Open Table, but it seems they don't take weekend reservations after 5p on the same day. Oh well, cocktail time! The decor in the space is pretty granola; the ceiling has several Pier1-esque hanging lanters and I think I spotted a few Christmas ornaments too. My favorite part was the large wooden tables - I like that farmhouse feel. For a Saturday night, this place was definitely hoppin' and vibrant -- people were everywhere. Tapas is probably one of my favorite ways of eating. I love all the small plates and just having little nibbles and noshes here and there. There were three of us, and all in all I think we ordered about 8 tapas which ended up being a perfectly sized meal. I'll go through all of them quickly here: Queso Frito con Miel: Fried goat cheese with honey. I think I'm the only foodie in the world who doesn't love goat cheese, but this was good. I liked the bit of caramelized crispiness on the outside. Aceitunas y Almendras: Assorted spanish olives and marcona almonds. Loved the almonds. The olives were a bit salty for me - I prefer a fresher less salty olive. Quesos Espanoles: Spanish cheese tasting served with dates and a chili honey. The machego was fantastic and the chili honey.... omg. I will be making it at home. Elote al Fuego: Fire roasted corn salad in endive. Light and slightly creamy... it had a fresh summer flavor. The sun dried tomatoes were a nice addition. Ejotes Crujientes Peixinhos da Horta: Sherry battered flash fried green beans with sea salt. Good, but kind of bland. Needed a dipping sauce. Empanaditas: Black Bean & Banana filled Savory Pastries with Spiced Caramel. Lovely. Great for the salty/sweet fan. This was one of my favorite dishes. Costillas Espanolas: Spanish-style Ribs in Aged Balsamic Vinegar. The aged balsamic was perfect; it made the dish. I am really loving aged balsamics on meat lately. Brocheta de Bistec: Beef Tenders with Chimichuri. Tender but nothing out of this world. I would have preferred the chimichuri with a bit more spice. Service Overall: The service was a B overall. Not too bad but not stellar. Our waiter had on a Georgia Bulldogs t-shirt, untucked with a pair of jeans and he was another profuse sweater. Not my fave, but he did take good care of us. Price-wise, this place is hard to beat. We each got out of there for around $25 including wine. I love tapas and it's nice to have several tapas restaurants to choose from in Atlanta. I'll definitely be going back to try more nibbles... especially one of their paellas.

Dolce Enoteca e Ristorante

We took a particularly picky out of town guest to Dolce seeing as they offer quite a few vanilla selections on their menu. I had visited Dolce once in the past for happy hour where I had sampled the bruschetta...It was below average, and to be honest I wasn't expecting too much more from the full meal. However, being Italian food, I figured it couldn't be too bad, right? Even though my expectations weren't high, I had to lower them considerably when we were barely greeted by the less-than-friendly hostesses. We arrived for our 6:30 reservation right on time to find the restaurant less than half full. In a situation like this, I think it's reasonable to be seated within 5 minutes of arrival. Apparently this was quite the difficult task for the hostesses, as they sat and pondered over the restaurant layout for nearly 15 minutes while the crowd at the door grew. We were finally seated around 6:45. There is nothing more annoying to me -- and to most diners I know -- than this situation. At this point I was in need of a large glass of wine. Dolce's design is sexy and plush. I do like the round leather booths; however the bar area leaves something to be desired. Most of the seating in the bar area is on one long large leather bench, so you can't really circle up to talk to your friends. The noise level on our Tuesday night visit was WAY out of the ballpark and I wished they would have turned it down 50 decibels or so. They did have a nice crooner there, however... voice as clear as a bell but he needs to learn how to turn that amp down a notch. We started out with a fritti misto which had some shrimp, calamari, zucchini and sweet potatoes. The mix was a nice change, however the same old sweet asian and italian red sauces were a bit of a bore. The foccacia bread served with oil and vinegar was quite lovely though. My husband and I split the chopped salad, which was advertised as lettuce, tomato, mozzarella, salami and avocado with a balsamic dressing. Our salad arrived sans avocado, and was just meh. Nothing special at all. For my entree, my guest and I both had the lobster ravioli, one of the house specials. It had a nice light cream sauce and good size pieces of lobster on top and inside the pasta. Spinach was added for color. The sauce was noted as a saffron champagne however I didn't get the taste of either. Okay dish, but again nothing special. I'd say about a 5 out of 10. My husband had the duck tagliatelle which arrived grossly undercooked and undersauced. The pasta was sticking together in huge clumps and really was quite unappetizing. It's a rarity, but we decided to order dessert this time as the waiter mentioned they had a chocolate creme brulee made with chevre. I was so excited for this as I love chocolate creme brulee and most restaurants only serve the vanilla kind. Welllllll, this was probably the biggest disappointment of the night as our brulee arrived vanilla and not chocolate. We still managed to have a few spoonfuls, but since I was anticipating chocolate it was less than satisfying. Overall I would give Dolce a D+. It is a chain restaurant - that much is evident in the food. The Hollywood ownership and interior decor gives the restaurant a nice sugarcoating... but once you get below that it's pretty darn bitter.

Sala Closed, Reacquired by Fifth Group

I was disappointed to hear today that Sala in Virginia Highlands has permanently closed. It was right down the street from our old apartment, so hubs and I were known to make semi-regular visits there, one of which was reviewed here. The restaurant was sold in mid-2007 by Fifth Group, and now has been reacquired by them. Looks like Shaun Doty of Shaun's in Inman Park and the aforementioned Fifth Group will be opening up The Original El Taco in the space, so it should be interesting to see how that turns out. Read my friend Steakhead's full account of the latest and greatest here. Well done. (ahem). I'm hearing that Sala was doing lots of those half price gift certificates. If you're stuck with one, Fifth Group Marketing Director Michael Erickson says, "Fifth Group Restaurants has taken the property back and is in the process of reconcepting it to open under a new name in the coming weeks. If you have purchased a certificate, please contact Stuart Fierman at 678.302.3207 for further instructions on how to redeem them."

Where are you going for Restaurant Week?

Midtown Restaurant Week is August 23-30... what restaurants are you going to? Husbanator and I are taking full advantage of the 3 courses for $25 deals seeing as we are stretching our restaurant buck these days. We are slated for:

I'm most excited about Park 75 and Repast. We're taking a friend from out of town to Dolce -- she is somewhat of a picky eater -- so I think it should be a pretty good fit with some foodie-oriented options for us as well as a few more vanilla options for her. Full updates coming on those after Labor Day!

FAB was totally un-FAB

Nearly a month ago, we went out with some of our best friends in Atlanta for what we all thought would be a lovely evening and outstanding meal at French American Brasserie. Known to many a local as FAB, it is the follow up to the ill-fated Brasserie Le Coze, which used to occupy a space in Lenox Mall. FAB had been on my list of must-try restaurants since we moved to Atlanta in the summer of 2007. Situated at Ivan Allen Plaza in the middle of a resurging downtown Atlanta, the location is perfect for convention-goers and Atlanta foodies alike. It's a quick hop from the Civic Center Marta station as well. The space is huge, with two dining floors as well as an outdoor patio on the third. Though I don't claim to be an expert in brasserie fare or decor by any means, the space definitely felt very French, although it was a bit too big, as is the case with many an Atlanta restaurant. Diners are greeted by a friendly looking bar upon walking in, complete with stained glass tiles and the like. There are some nice details, such as fancy chandeliers and hand-painted ceilings complete the look. The wine list is well rounded and unintimidating, a welcome surprise for a French restaurant. It's been a few weeks since we were there, but I think we went with a Malbec. I don't remember it being particularly outstanding, but it got the job done. Though there were four of us, we started out with the Le Plateau for two which had chilled oysters, clams, mussels, king crab and lobster with accompanying sauces. It was plenty for all of us -- I can't imagine how big the plateau for four would have been. It was quite good, probably the highlight of the evening. At this point, the restaurant started to get very busy... we were getting on 8:30-9:00 on a Saturday night. We placed our order with the waiter and didn't see him for another 20 minutes of so. I noticed several beads of sweat forming on his face when we were ordering -- it seemed he was very short on time. Wonderful. I was very excited for the receipt of my duck confit. Having seen the delicacy on Iron Chef many a time, you can imagine how anxious I was to actually try it for the first time. Confit is a method of cooking in which a duck leg is cured for up to 36 hours and then poached in its own fat. Being a very fatty bird, duck of course makes the perfect candidate for a confit. Prior to cooking, the salt is of course brushed off. The meat is slowly poached until done, for as little as 90 minutes or up to 10 hours. (Thank you Wikipedia!) Mason ordered the veal sweetbreads (another delicacy I was happy to try), while our dining mates ordered the lambchops and the coq au vin. We ordered another bottle of wine and received our entrees. I'm pretty sure our waiter, Flash Gordon, was at our table a grand total of 18.3 seconds to deliver our food. Everything looked sumptuous, but the first bite of my duck was a huge let down. It was entirely too salty to the point of being inedible. I know salt is a key in confit, but I probably would have needed a 2-gallon container of water to finish just one leg. It came with garlic fries on the side... and who doesn't love a fabulous, hand cut, authentic french fry? I certainly do! But, unfortunately these fries tasted like they were fresh out of the Sysco freezer bag. What an utter disappointment. I haven't done this in years, but I actually sent the dish back and ordered the lambchops instead. While I was waiting, our friend was nice enough to give me one of his chops, which I will say, was quite excellent. It's probably one of the better lambchops I've ever had. Mason says the sweetbreads tasted kind of liver-y... which makes sense since a sweetbread is, in fact, a thymus gland. Draw your own conclusions here. When my lambchop order had not arrived 35 minutes later, we were all at the end of our respective ropes. Our server was nowhere to be found, and it just so happened the host/manager walked by our table as we were getting ready to request our check. The manager brought the check, and the lambchops arrived not 30 seconds later. We promptly had them boxed up and I was glad to leave after that. All in all, the experience was a let down because of the quality of my entree as well as the service. The seafood and the chops were great, so FAB won some points back there... but overall, the meal was completely not worth the price tag. On to the next one.

JCT Kitchen

Nearly a month ago now, some of our very good friends from Kansas City had a long layover in Atlanta on their way back from an overly family-ish family trip to Mexico. We had a little less than four hours to show off the town and slug a few drinks. I had been wanting to try JCT Kitchen for some time now, and although I don't like to take out of town guests to restaurants I've never visited, we took the gamble this warm Saturday night. I loved the look of this place the minute we walked in. Light and breezy, the interior looked like upscale diner combined seaside eatery. The restaurant has added some room dividers in the form of curtains since this picture was taken. But you get the idea. We arrived pretty early, before 7:00. I was happy with our early reservation time because I've heard that it's not uncommon for the restaurant to run out of their famed fried chicken. Luckily we made it in time to order. I was really happy with the selection on the menu - lots to choose from. Everything we had was fantastic, so instead of letting this post turn into War & Peace Vol. II, I'll try to keep it as concise as possible for you, my valued readers. First, the bread was some of the best I've had in Atlanta. Perfectly crisp and crusty on the outside and complete with a soft and chewy middle - it was so yum. They serve it with a cinnamon butter which I thought lacked cinnamon. Truthfully though, I prefer plain salted. Our server, who had the personality of a commentator on CSPAN, told us they get it from The Bread Garden. Being the carb fanatic I am, I'll have to make a visit one of these days. Looks like it's located in Amsterdam Walk. For starters, we had an order of the best parmesan truffle fries ever. Truffle is a delight, but sometimes the chefs get a little too heavy handed for my tastes (ahem Richard Blais Home Mac & Cheese cough cough.) The truffle was flavorful but just subtle enough to let the earthy taste of the potatoes shine through. I'll definitely be ordering these again. I also had a nice wedge salad with some tasty thin onions on top. For dinner I had seared scallops with summer corn risotto. That combines at least three of my favorite ingredients on one plate. The scallops were huge and had a nice sear on them. The risotto was a little bland, but still a nice addition to the dish. My friend Emily had the fried chicken at my recommendation. Oh lordy. It was quite good, definitely ranks in the top 3 I've had in Atlanta so far. I will also give MAJOR props to the mac & cheese, which was perfectly velvety in it's white cheddar cream sauce. It doesn't look like this particular mac was baked, which is my preference. The more mac I have, the more I think baking dries it out too much. This one was great though, and it made for a superb Sunday morning breakfast of champions. Even though we were all busting at the seams, we had to try the doughnuts for dessert with coffee flavored ice cream. Made fresh, these little babies were the perfect end to our meal. Well wait, I take that back. The cocktails upstairs at the JCT bar were the perfect end to our meal. I had a Chivas and water and my best friend Emily had a Manhattan. Our dudes both commented on what manly drinks we were enjoying while they sipped their Zimas and filed their nails. Overall, JCT is some of the best Southern I've found in Atlanta. It trumps South City Kitchen in my book. We will definitely be going back... and taking out of town guests!

Dinner at Home

When I heard Richard Blais would be taking over the kitchen at Posh, I made a reservation within the same minute. I thought it would be the perfect place to celebrate my birthday. It was announced that the name of the restaurant would be changing to Home and that it would be a modern, southern farm to table concept... which is quite popular these days if you ask me. I have been a Top Chef addict this season and have had Richard on my list of favorites since episode one, so needless to say I was very excited to go. Our fab neighbor Holly came with us to celebrate the occasion. In all my excitement I forgot my camera, so if you would like to see some great pictures of Richard's fare, please go here. The ambiance of the restaurant was surprising. Nestled in a cute little house, I was expecting a bit more of a casual cozy environment. Instead, I kind of felt like I was sitting in someone's rich aunt's dining room. I will say the draperies were beautiful and the lighting was very well done. Just not quite what I was expecting. Most of the diners were much older than us, kind of the Buckhead Baby Boomer see-and-be-seen set. They stuck us younguns in a corner though, as not to disturb the other diners. ;) Service was a little slow at first. It seems they have a beverage steward as well as a regular waiter for each table. I'm pretty sure the GM was our waiter that night. Holly and I each had a blackberry vodka lemonade to begin and hubster had a mint julep. Not usually the whiskey fan, I will say that this mint julep was delicious. I totally had drink envy at this point. We began our meal with two starters: the fried green tomatoes and the pimento cheese on crackers. Much to my surprise, our dining companion was born and raised in Atlanta and had never had FGT's or pimento cheese. She's played it pretty safe in the food arena, so of course we could not leave without sampling these two southern specialties. I love fried green tomatoes and was expecting the best from Richard. Sadly I was very disappointed, as was our first time FGT eater. The tomatoes were small pieces or chunks really, not the nice slices I normally like. The breading was very thick and not very crispy, although the color was a nice golden brown. The 'maters were served with a light creamy sauce and also a cool chive ice cream which was a nice change. Overall though, the dish was a big let down. The pimento cheese was a delight though. Perfectly punchy and topped with thinly sliced celery, I truly enjoyed this dish. For my second course, hubs and I both had a butter lettuce salad with green apple, black walnuts and blue cheese. This is a fairly standard restaurant salad and is difficult to screw up. The salad was light and refreshing and I liked the sweetened nuts along with the pungent blue cheese. If we do go back, I'll probably opt for the tomato soup and grilled cheese course... it looked very good. I was just worried about having too much heavy food. I was very excited about the main course being that fried chicken is pretty much on my top 3 list of favorite foods. Holly and I both ordered the fried chicken with macaroni and cheese and honey vinaigrette. Mason had the brisket. Vegetables are served family style, with each table receiving small portions of four kinds of veggies. Ours were carrots in a creamy thyme-ish/oregano sauce, brussels sprouts, collard greens, and creamy mashed potatoes. I loved all of the veggies except for the collards... those are just too bitter for me and I can't get myself to like them no matter how they are prepared. The mashers were perfectly velvety and quite delicious. Entree wise, I had very high hopes for my chicken...all of which were crushed by the end of the first bite. The honey vinaigrette made the chicken entirely too sweet and ruined the dish in my opinion. I don't mind a bit of sweet with my savory, but this was over the top. Needless to say, I was quite bummed. The macaroni and cheese had a lovely bechamel sauce and the bread crumbs on top were toasty and crisp. The chef was just a bit heavy handed with the truffle oil though. I know many of you are probably thinking that this is a physical impossibility, but I'm just a traditionalist like that... I'd rather taste the cheese in mac and cheese rather than mushrooms. On to dessert. Red velvet cake with cream cheese icing AND cream cheese ice cream. Hello gorgeous.....or so I thought. One bite into the cake and we were looking at a dry, crumbly mess. At first glance the cake looked nice and dense and perfectly moist, but unfortunately the bite revealed something entirely different. Definitely a less than satisfying way to end our meal. I heard from the valet that Richard had not even been at the restaurant for more than a week, so maybe some of these shortcomings were just sous chef oversights. Some other friends paid Home a visit a few weeks back, and said that the celebrity chef actually came out and sat with them for 15 minutes or so. Had that happened to us, I probably would have forgotten about how let down I was by our meal. Maybe next time.

Atlanta Botanical Garden and South City Kitchen

My aunt from Chicago was on her way down to a wedding in Florida last week. She purposefully took a long layover in Atlanta to come see me! It was a beautiful day, so I decided to drive her around some of Atlanta's finer neighborhoods and then make a stop at the Botanical Garden. I figured it would be just beautiful at this time of year and I was correct-a-mundo. Here are some pics of what's in bloom. The ATL Botanical Garden is a spring day bargain at the $12 ticket price. Gorgeous white tulips, falling over one another: Close Up: Thought this was hydrangea, but it is actually viburnum.... the largest one I've ever seen at that! I like this closeup and the colors of the leaves in the background. Friendly freaky fellow in the Japanese Garden. Fun modern reflective sculpture: I love these, I think they look like paper. Obviously what I'm saying here is very important because it is underlined. (No really, Blogger is just being a PITA and I'm not too great with HTML.) We ended our day by having a homey dinner at South City Kitchen. This is a fantastic place to bring out of town guests, especially if they're looking for a nibble of Southern food. It's not my favorite Southern in town, ::cough cough Mary Mac's cough cough:: but it certainly has a cozy atmosphere suitable for a classy dinner with visitors. I had the sauteed shrimp & scallops on cheese grits, and my Aunt had the trout with mashed potatoes and green beans. Both were delicious and comforting. I will also add that the service was top notch, some of the best I've had in awhile.