Getting Delicious with Jim Stacy

1181

ATL Food Chatter: March 8, 2010
(To receive the Chatter and other culinary tidbits directly in your inbox, sign up for our weekly dining newsletter)

Jim Stacy is a colorful Atlanta character whose full-bearded face is well known among Atlanta’s timeless independent restaurants such as the Colonnade and the Beautiful Restaurant in Cascade Heights. Last year, he filmed Get Delicious: Atlanta’s Hidden Restaurant Treasures, which aired on WPBA. And because of the public’s response to the initial project, there may be an opportunity to have more episodes of the program produced.

Get Delicious, which debuted last November 15 and was repeated with some additional footage on February 26, attracted attention for its humorous but informative approach, which was part Monty Python and part 1950s newsreel mixed in with some great onsite interviews by Stacy with chefs, owners, and customers. The program’s co-producers, WPBA’s Jack Walsh and Gordon Ray, directed, shot, designed the graphics and edited the show. Other highlighted restaurants include the Silver Skillet, Nick’s Food to Go, Alfredo’s, and the Red Snapper.

Stacy, who lives with his wife on the grounds of the Starlight Drive-In Theater, which he manages (among many other endeavors, including a gourmet corn dog wagon he operates), characterizes his brainchild as his quest to “talk to the proprietors, the staff, regulars and some of my favorite dinner guests…to find [out] what makes these damn places tick.” The secret to these restaurants, Stacy made clear, is that they understand what customers want—a pretension-less dining experience attuned to the neighborhood where the attention stays on the food.

You can keep an eye on WPBA’s online schedule for the show’s next airing, which is scheduled for May. In the meantime, Stacy is encouraging people to contact the station if they want to see additional episodes of Get Delicious.  And there is some good news on that point: according to Nancy Hoddinott, Director of Communications for WPBA, because of the “overwhelming community response, plans are already in the works for the next special.”

NEWS AND NOTES:

Inman Park Restaurant Week, featuring thirteen local restaurants—from Pure Taqueria and the Albert to Rathbun’s and Sotto Sotto—offering three-course menus from $15 to $35, runs from today, March 8, until Sunday, March 14th. 

Alton Brown has been named as one of three co-hosts for the May 3 James Beard Awards.

Chris Gaither of Restaurant Eugene, Eric Crane of Empire Distributors, and Matthew Olson of Eric Solomon Selections have advanced to the championship round of the Top/Somm sommelier championship competition. The competition recognizes excellence and encourages mastery of wine and spirit knowledge and service and allows wine service professionals to fine tune their skills and compete for the title each year in the United States.

Downtown
. Tomorrow’s News Today is reporting that Goodfella’s Pizza & Wings is opening their third metro Atlanta location this spring on Peachtree Street, next to Hooters.

What Now Atlanta
is reporting that the former Parish Market (not to be confused with Parish in Inman Park) has re-opened as Creole Nouvelle.

As we first reported on Twitter (thanks to a tip from Christiane Lauterbach), the Top Flr folks are opening a restaurant-music club concept on Edgewood Avenue called the Sound Table. Top Flr’s Shane Devereux will oversee the kitchen, creating food that has only thus far been described as “street to table.”

Grant Park. Besha Rodell reported that Grant Park Coffeehouse has opened at 753-A Cherokee Avenue.

Marietta
. Bay Breeze Seafood Restaurant has opened at 2418 Canton Road.

Poncey Highland
Pura Vida is now open on Sundays from 5 to 9 pm.

Question of the Week:
What two Atlanta restaurants were named to Opentables.com’s 2010 Top 50 Restaurants for Service list?

PS. The answer to last week’s QOTW—What local restaurant public relations firm is rumored to be opening an office in Charleston, South Carolina?—is the Reynolds Group, which has just moved their Atlanta office to 400 Trabert Avenue on the Westside.

Advertisement