Don't think you can afford one of those white tablecloth, candle-lit Valentine's Day dinners today? Think again. Metro-area Waffle House locations are still taking reservations for tonight.

 

For the fourth year running, the scattered, covered and chunked chain is reserving booths for customers who call in advance and make reservations. In return, you and your Valentine will be treated to a tablecloth, soft music  candle light and the entire Waffle House menu for your enjoyment.

 

And whether it's the ease on the wallet or the kitsch factor, Waffle House's 4th annual Valentine's promotion is the chain's biggest yet.

 

"Last year, we had 40 locations participating and this year we have 90," Waffle House spokesperson Kelly Thrasher told Dish Monday. "As of Friday, we had 44 reservations in Birmingham alone. We currently have 21 in the metro-Atlanta area. That's awesome."

 

Thrasher says a lot of Waffle House ...

At the end of last month, we changed the way we do our dining blog. It's still called Covered Dish, and it still has all the great content you've come to expect from us (weekly ATL Food Chatter posts, weekly posts from Deborah Geering). However, it now has a spiffier landing page, and the blog has since been broken up into two smaller blogs: Dining News (where you'll find ATL Food Chatter and more news-related food updates) and Local Foods (where you'll find Deborah Geering and more posts on local food). So check out the new set-up, and change your RSS feeds!

It's a weekday afternoon, inching toward two o'clock and customers are still clustered around the front door of Murphy's in Virginia Highland, anxiously anticipating lunch. In an economy where restaurant closings are an hourly occurrence in this city, owner Tom Murphy knows how fortunate he is.

 

"When you've been around as long as we have, there are no real sizable booms or busts," he tells Dish during a visit to our table. "Thankfully, our regulars regard us as an extension of their homes. They know they can come in here, get one of their favorite menu items at a good value and visit with old friends. We were lucky. When the economy went south, we had more than 25 years of goodwill already in the bank."

 

Murphy is paying that good will forward via Good Measure Meals, a healthy eating meal service Murphy provides in a partnership with ...

Last October, Asha Gomez began dazzling intimate groups with her culinary skills at a series of gatherings dubbed Spice Route Supper Club, featuring the unique cuisine of her native state in India, Kerala. The Spice Route Supper Club experience is part of the expanding supper club movement here in Atlanta that allows chefs to do some creative cooking outside the constraints of a restaurant setting. Ms. Gomez, who recently filmed a short video about the supper club, shared the origins of her concept and some her plans for its growth and development:

Q: Where did the idea for Spice Route Supper Club originate?

AG: I was in the spa industry for twenty years, here and in New York. At the Neem Tree Spa, which ...