Here’s a number to consider: Ten million people work in the United States restaurant industry. That’s one in ten of us. Now, more than ever, Americans are dining out, usually without knowing tipped workers earn a minimum wage of only $2.13 per hour in most states, including Georgia. Author and activist Saru Jayaraman wants diners to know the real cost of such low wages. Read More

Eight Atlanta bartenders competed in G’Vine Gin de France’s cocktail competition at Empire State South last night, but only one won a ticket to Cognac, France to test their skills on an international stage. Read More

At the New South Family Supper, held last night at work-in-progress Ponce City Market, a server brought over Memphis-based chef Kelly English’s gulf crabmeat and flasher fish crudo tossed in Greek yogurt and burnt butter—one of the dinner’s twenty-one dishes prepared by chefs from Atlanta and throughout the South. When we tried English’s dish, conversation blissfully stalled to allow for a moment of absolute pleasure. If this was a taste of the New South, everyone wanted more of it. Read More

Local beer drinkers have fallen for Monday Night Brewing’s trifecta: the Eye Patch Ale IPA, the Drafty Kilt Scotch Ale, and the Fu Manbrew Belgian-style Wit, and the same is true of the brewery itself. Located off Howell Mill Road on the Westside, the company founded by Jeff Heck, Joel Iverson, and Jonathan Baker is a great post-work hangout, just as it was when the trio began brewing beer about seven years ago in the garage. A self-described group of white-collar guys with ties, they eventually followed their hearts (and palates), trading in the buttoned-up collars for the business of brew. Read More

It’s been precisely one month since Angus Brown, chef at Octopus Bar, left Atlanta for a culinary adventure that started in Vietnam and will include stints in Japan and Cambodia. Nhan Le, Brown’s partner at Octopus Bar, has been holding down the fort since Brown’s departure. Brown lucked out with the connections—Le’s family has hosted him, along with the cousin of Lanie Vu, proprietor of Dumpling Girl stands at East Atlanta and Grant Park farmers markets. Read More