2014 James Beard Finalists announced
Early this morning, the James Beard Foundation, known as the Oscars of food, announced its award finalists 2014. Five Atlanta names graced the list.
Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint opens Downtown
ATL Food Chatter: February 22, 2011
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Last week the multi-million-dollar Downtown location of Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint opened with a party that drew a crowd to its lush layout, musical offerings, and Southern cuisine. The new venture—part restaurant, part music venue—is the first non-airport endeavor for Global Concessions, Inc., an Atlanta-based company that operates food and beverage concessions in airports across the nation.
Prep underway for People’s Fest at Atlantic Station
People’s Fest, this Saturday’s benefit for City of Refuge at Atlantic Station, combines four elements Atlantans love: live music, local chefs, food trucks and a good cause. Soul infused singers Marc Broussard, Sonia Leigh, Ben Deignan and Jameson Elder will supply the original tunes, The Optimist’s Ford Fry will curate the People’s food truck menu and City of Refuge will introduce Atlantans to its nonprofit supplying food, clothing, shelter and job training to those in need plus COR will be debuting the launch of the People’s Food Truck, a four-wheeled nonprofit fundraiser bringing “feel good food” to Atlanta’s food truck loving population.
The Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead reopens for Valentine’s weekend
The Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead, once the only restaurant in the Southeast to receive the prestigious Mobil Five Star Award, is reopening for a Valentine’s pop-up February 14 through February 16.
Starting Saturday, more oysters for Roswell
Hugo’s Oyster Bar, a new concept from C&S Seafood & Oyster Bar’s Rich Clark and chef Jon Schwenk, opens Saturday in Roswell. The restaurant will serve only seafood indigenous to Southern waters, from the Carolinas to New Orleans, with the exception of oysters, which will come from the Northeast due to the high quality there.
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.
New review: Bocado
In the January issue of the print magazine, I review Bocado on the Westside. My take in a nutshell: “Bocado, which launched in October, may be the Westside’s first true neighborhood restaurant, bearing all the strengths and imperfections that label implies.”
Q&A with design firm ai3
ATL Food Chatter: March 8, 2011
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Westside design firm ai3 has envisioned many interiors of Atlanta’s current generation of vanguard restaurants, including Holeman and Finch, Miller Union, Bocado, Flip Burger Boutique, 4th and Swift, and recently, Local Three. We gave a shout-out to principals Dan Maas, Joe Remling, and husband-wife team Lucy Aiken-Johnson and Patrick Johnson in December's Best of Atlanta issue, but I wanted to get some insight about their approach with clients and the spaces they transform into modern, inviting dining rooms.
Cypress Street raises cash for clean water
This holiday season at Cypress Street Pint and Plate, husband-and-wife team Jenn and Bill Streck are spearheading donations to Charity: Water, a non-profit that provides clean drinking water wells to communities in need throughout the world.
Watershed fried chicken still elusive after all these years
The new Watershed on Peachtree is, in many ways, an entirely new restaurant from the one that once anchored the dining scene in Decatur. With executive chef Joe Truex and chef de cuisine Julia LeRoy at the helm and wide-open dining rooms laden with bare wood and muted colors, the renovated garage and bright quilts that defined the previous space seem to be a faint memory. The legacy of Scott Peacock and Edna Lewis might not even cast a shadow were it not for fried chicken night.
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