Antico is open all day … with seating
This just in from Antico’s owner/chief pizzaiolo Giovanni Di Palma: Antico is now officially open from 11:30 a.m. until “the dough runs out." According to Di Palma, dough production has been expanded so the pizza is hopefully available until at least 9 p.m. Who knows with the runaway success of this place, though. I went back early this week for dinner, and the pizza was even better than my first experience—a little thinner and crispier, and, appropriately, a little less cheese. Customers stood around the communal table with slices in hand, eyes rolling and jaws revving, looking at each other like, "Can you believe we're eating pizza like this in Atlanta?" The calzone was a glossy thing of beauty, too.
Q&A with Pano Karatassos
ATL Food Chatter: October 12, 2009
(To receive the Chatter and other culinary tidbits directly in your inbox, sign up for our weekly dining newsletter)Last week, I sat down with Pano Karatassos, whom I consider the Renaissance man of Atlanta’s dining scene. We discussed his views on the current state of Buckhead's dining scene and the ways his company, Buckhead Life Restaurant Group, is coping with the economic climate. It seemed particularly appropriate to check in with Karatassos this year, when he’s celebrating his company’s thirtieth year in business.
A last meal at the Ritz, in pictures
Tonight is the final night of business for the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead, which opened in 1986. I went for a final meal last evening, and, as many endings do, it felt bittersweet and rather unreal. Sometimes, while reminiscing, I watched servers fight back tears.
Early Antics at Antico Pizza Napoletana
This may sound familiar to some of you: I sat down at my desk yesterday, began clicking through my daily round of the local food blogs, and—hello—saw that Ms. Jennifer Zyman had done found herself (via meta-Yelper Kit Fenton) a new obsession-worthy destination: Antico Pizza Napoletana in west midtown (1093 Hemphill Ave., 404-724-2333). God, I love good pizza. I experienced my awakening in the mid-90s when I went to Totanno’s on Neptune Avenue in Brooklyn, and while kicking around the country a year later, I stayed in Phoenix for two months and practically lived at the original location of Pizzeria Bianco on Camelback.
Woodfire Grill to throw a benefit for flood-damaged Love Is Love farm on Oct. 11
This just in from the press release files: Kevin Gillespie and the other partners of Woodfire Grill will throw a wine dinner benefit to help Love Is Love Farm, run by dedicated local food advocates Judith Winfrey and Joe Reynolds. Their farm sustained heavy damage during last week's floods.
Buckhead Ritz Dining Room closing
A heartbreaking wallop to Atlanta’s fine dining offerings: The Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead is closing October 1. With news that the restaurant’s current executive chef, Arnaud Berthelier, was resigning, the company simultaneously decided to close the restaurant, with no immediate plans to open a different concept in its place.
Fall Preview: Five Promising Restaurants
ATL Food Chatter: August 31, 2009
(To receive the Chatter and other culinary tidbits directly in your inbox, sign up for our weekly dining newsletter)After a slow summer for restaurant openings, and in defiance of the economic times, Atlanta’s entrepreneurs continue to press forward with plans for a surprising number of restaurant projects. This fall there are five new restaurants coming on line that stand out from the crowd: They promise to not only add some great new options to our dining scene but also generate some national attention as well with their kitchen talent and visionary design.
Farm-To-Bagel: Bakeshop to open in Midtown
ATL Food Chatter: August 24, 2009
(To receive the Chatter and other culinary tidbits directly in your inbox, sign up for our weekly dining newsletter)Jonathan St. Hilaire, one of Atlanta’s foremost pastry chefs, is emerging from behind the scenes at Concentrics Restaurants to open a Midtown restaurant this fall called Bakeshop. Hilaire describes it as a “local, neighborhood bakery shop” that will feature an array of pastries, sandwiches, soups and salads made with organic and locally sourced ingredients. In addition to offering an exciting menu, the ai3-designed space will feature an open kitchen that will allow patrons and passers by to observe the chefs and bakers as they work.
Empty chairs at empty tables …
ATL Food Chatter August 17, 2009
(To receive the Chatter and other culinary tidbits directly in your inbox, sign up for our weekly dining newsletter)Summer is always a slow time for restaurant openings, particularly for ambitious, independent projects. But this year—no surprise—feels particularly slow. And, in another sign that the economy of our dining scene remains sluggish, spaces vacated by prominent restaurants don’t seem to have fast takers moving in.
Farewell Post: A Year of Eating Atlanta
The backstory: I moved to Atlanta twelve months ago, having enrolled in the year-long culinary arts program at Le Cordon Bleu in Tucker. When I decided to leave my magazine job in Washington D.C. for this culinary adventure, my choice of location had some personal motivation behind it. My boyfriend, Zack, was starting his final year of law school at Emory, and we’d spent the past two years shuttling between Atlanta and D.C. to visit each other. When I found an Atlanta outpost of Le Cordon Bleu, it was an easy sell.
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