Restaurants

Kevin Gillespie discusses fried chicken, hunting, and the weirdest thing about being on Top Chef.

I’m studying the drink section of the carnival-meets-deli menu at Pallookaville Fine Foods, wrapping my head around the list of over thirty soda fountain syrup flavors. Some options sound like death by sweetness (butterscotch, marshmallow), others intrigue (including papaya and especially tiger’s blood, which combines watermelon, strawberry, and coconut). But finally I fall back on a favorite treat from the rare soda fountains—already a dying breed in the 1980s—that I encountered in my youth.

In addition to his weekday sports talk co-hosting gig as part of Mayhem in the AM on 790 The Zone, Steak Shapiro is adding a tasty new venture to his plate this fall: "Atlanta Eats." Shapiro tells us the new food-focused multi-media concept was inspired by our city's obsession with eating. A 30-minute TV show will debut this fall (while Shapiro is remaining mum as he waits for the ink to dry on the contracts, we're hearing Peachtree TV and CBS 46 are both hungry to air the show and Shapiro is already part of the CBS 46 family, having presided over the station's Sportsline segments). "Atlanta Eats'" weekly radio component, meanwhile, will roll out Tuesday morning on Star 94. Video segments and other interactive content will post exclusively at AtlantaEats.com. Shapiro's partner in the venture is former 790 The Zone marketing and sales guy Cody Hicks, whose "Atlanta Eats" business card reads "Co-Founder and Chief Brisket Officer."

Today at 11:30 a.m., Watershed on Peachtree will serve its lauded fried chicken to a lunch crowd for the first time. The saltwater and buttermilk-brined bird has previously only been available on Wednesdays at dinner, often selling out before 7:30 p.m. Now, executive chef Joe Truex is broadening this window to include Wednesday lunch service.

This week, as longtime employees stopped by to pick up their final checks and his phone continued to ring off the hook, a full week after Dante’s Down the Hatch officially closed, the landmark Buckhead fondue and jazz emporium’s owner Dante Stephensen faced some difficult decisions. With a wrecking ball tentatively set to begin swinging at his 43-year-old business at 3380 Peachtree Road on October 31 and representatives at Ahlers & Ogletree Auction Gallery eager to auction off everything from the vintage autos parked out back to the last Dante’s daiquiri cocktail glass on September 21, the 77-year-old restaurateur has to figure out his future — and fast.

Effective immediately, Rob Alexander—the mastermind behind Holeman & Finch’s bread program and most recently Alon’s Bakery & Market—has joined forces with chef Todd Ginsberg and the General Muir team. He will now be baking all of the restaurant's breads in-house, including challah (egg bread), rye, ciabatta, and cranberry-walnut.

Smoke Ring, a new barbecue joint, is scheduled to open in Castleberry Hill at the end of September. The latest from 101 Concepts (they also operate Cibo e Beve, Food 101, and Meehan’s Public House), this “gastrocue” will be led by Jordan Wakefield, former executive chef at Meehan’s downtown, and his wife Erin. It occupies the space previously home to J.R. Crickets. Smoke Ring will serve traditional barbecue, as well as sliders, small plates, soups, and salads, with sides such as cotija corn on the cob, bacon, and jalapeno cornbread. Below, Wakefield shares details on the restaurant.