Restaurants

White Oak Kitchen & Cocktails quietly opened its doors Monday night for dinner service. The downtown restaurant, located in the 270 Peachtree building, is the latest to jump on the Southern chic, farm-to-table bandwagon. The menu offers the expected pimento cheese and deviled eggs but also ventures out with dishes like caramel fried chicken, trout ravioli, and a stew with roasted prawns.

Last week Asha Gomez surprised Atlanta when she announced that she would be closing Cardamom Hill after dinner service tonight. Cardamom Hill had been named among Bon Appétit magazine's Top 50 Best New Restaurants in 2012, and the restaurant later became a James Beard semi-finalist. But even after tonight, Gomez will still be hard at work; she plans to open an Indian patisserie called Spice to Table in Studioplex Friday.

In what is the first step to a major legal victory for Atlanta food trucks, Atlanta City Council passed an amendment Monday allowing vendors to operate on certain public streets around the city. That means that as soon as Mayor Kasim Reed signs the bill (or seven days from now when the bill becomes law immediately), you could be in line to buy tacos from a truck parked in a metered space. Previously, trucks could only obtain permits to vend on private property.

Ticonderoga Club's Greg Best discusses New Orleans, a cocktail trend he's over, and his favorite dive bar.

Empire State South chef Hugh Acheson reveals the one dish he wishes he knew how to cook, his favorite cookbooks, and why he hates Jell-O.

The arrival of Decatur's Chai Pani, an Indian restaurant that originated in Asheville, seems to have spurred a citywide craving for Mumbai-style street food snacks. But for those unfamiliar with the specifics of this trend, we spoke with Chai Pani owner and chef Meherwan Irani. Below, he compares traditional Indian street food dishes to common American eats:

Come September, Buckhead Atlanta, the massive mixed-use development, will add two more restaurants to its burgeoning dining scene. Backed by JP Piemonte and Chris Hadermann—the duo behind Tin Lizzy’s, the Big Ketch, and Milton's Cuisine and Cocktails—Gypsy Kitchen and the Southern Gentleman will share a 10,000-square-foot space and an executive chef, Randy Lewis, who comes from California where he worked as a culinary director at various wineries. “I was looking to get back to the South—my parents are here,” he says. “I love what’s going on here with the food scene.”

You might be familiar with chef Suzanne Vizethann but, if you're like many Atlantans, you haven't had a chance to taste her food yet. Vizethann made a splash on television, winning the Food Network's 2011 season of Chopped, and she's been running a small lunch counter, The Hungry Peach, inside the until-very-recently private design center ADAC. So, unless you've been a television food judge or a design professional, Vietzthann's food has been out of reach. Today that changes, as Vietzthann's new restaurant, Buttermilk Kitchen, opens today at 4225 Roswell Road.

Tickets are still available for next Monday's four-course dinner at Gunshow with Kevin Gillespie, Angie Mosier, and South Carolina barbecue fiend Rodney Scott.

The reimagined Polaris opens to the public June 10. The iconic revolving restaurant that first opened in 1967 now houses two living room spaces, a bar, and a small restaurant. There's a definite emphasis on cocktails and socializing over dining.