January 2017
Features
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9 Atlanta comfort food favorites you can order to-go
Our favorite take-out dishes from The General Muir, Gu’s Dumplings, Community Q BBQ, and more.
Our 13 favorite feel-good dishes in Atlanta
Tuck into the city’s best comfort food with these 13 favorite dishes, including Spice to Table’s Kerala Fried Chicken, Southern Sweets Bakery’s Caramel Cake, and more.
A Buford Highway guide to soup
When you’re looking for soup along Buford Highway, you’re looking for noodles and dumplings. My favorite? The stretchy noodles at New Lan Zhou Noodle at Atlanta Chinatown, off Buford on New Peachtree Road in Chamblee.
The making of Troubadour, Janece Shaffer and Kristian Bush’s 1950s country musical
As Shaffer began to flesh out her characters, she moved Nashville star Billy and son Joe’s estrangement center stage, along with Joe and songwriter Inez’s love story. There was just one problem: If you’re writing a play about country music, you’re going to need, well, country music. And Shaffer’s facility with words did not extend to scoring. Then a friend mentioned that she’d once sat next to Kristian Bush on a flight and came away with his email address
With Sunday supper, Erika Council carries on her family’s soul food traditions
For Erika Council, author of the hunger-stirring blog Southern Soufflé, one weekly meal embodies her lifelong love of comforting foods: Sunday supper. Picture a long, sturdy table where loved ones and visitors pass mismatched platters heavy with fried chicken, mashed potatoes, collards in their potlikker, cornbread with cane syrup butter, and Council’s personal obsession: biscuits.
Erika Council’s favorite comfort food recipes: Smothered pork chops and Granny’s stewed cabbage
Two of Council’s favorite comfort food recipes, smothered pork chops with rice and buttery stewed cabbage, are about succor, not glamour. They make a warming winter meal for a Sunday supper—or dinner any night of the week.
The case for comfort food
When I was coming up in West Virginia, all food was comfort food. Which is to say the food that graced our dinner table was entirely home cooked, from simple ingredients, made that day. Every dish was familiar. Every meal surprise free. This was less about style than economics.
Ellis Island South: Welcome to the most diverse square mile in America
Downtown Clarkston in DeKalb County extends westward from Rowland Street to Indian Creek Drive, with the old Georgia Railroad line running in between—a total of just three city blocks, give or take. And yet there may be no place in the country as kaleidoscopically, vibrantly, viscerally diverse.
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The Connector
5 things to know about The Kirkwood apartments
With thousands of apartments popping out of Atlanta’s red clay like multifamily moles, Avila Development (formerly Euramex Management Group) found what they believe is a burgeoning yet underserved market in historic Kirkwood.
Veterans with PTSD find relief swimming with whale sharks at the Georgia Aquarium
“Once you hit the water, it’s so relaxing; all anxiety is gone. You’re away from your PTSD. You’re away from any injuries you have. It’s just you and the aquarium.”
Atlanta’s airport has three new airlines. Here’s how they stack up against Delta
For decades, airlines have battled for a piece of the Atlanta market, where more than 75 percent of the airport’s traffic comes from Delta and its SkyTeam partners. Southwest nabs another 9.5 percent; the others just nibble at the edges. That said, a few arrivistes are looking to create some turbulence. How they stack up against the titan of the tarmac.
Resurrected Mims Park will offer a lesson in Atlanta race relations
In 2010 Rodney Mims Cook Sr., the aging patriarch of one of Atlanta’s most prominent families, was in poor health and seemingly fading. Fearing his father didn’t have much time left, Rodney Jr. moved him into his guest house. The elder Cook one day called his son to his side and delivered a final charge: You need to rebuild Mims Park.
The Agenda
Q&A: Legendary photojournalist Boyd Lewis on Atlanta in the 1970s
Through the lens of his camera, journalist and photographer Boyd Lewis watched as Atlanta transformed itself during the second half of the 20th century. Lewis donated more than 10,000 of his images to the Atlanta History Center, and through January 16, you can see 60 of those photos on display at the Margaret Mitchell House.
Janelle Monáe on her Hidden Figures role: “Mary and I both use the word ‘justice’ a lot.”
Atlanta singer-songwriter Janelle Monáe sure knows how to pick a movie script. Her first two forays into film are both considered Oscar contenders: the critically acclaimed indie drama Moonlight and Atlanta-filmed Hidden Figures, a new historical drama chronicling the untold stories of three black female mathematicians whose data allowed NASA astronaut John Glenn to obit the Earth.
For the first time, celebrated choreographer Alonzo King brings his ballet company to his home state
“When we see great works of art, we want to see transcendence,” says Georgia-born choreographer Alonzo King. With his internationally acclaimed San Francisco–based company, LINES Ballet, King has drawn inspiration from global cultural traditions, making classical ballet more pliant, expressive, and relevant worldwide.
A Message of Hope: Ebenezer Baptist Church marks MLK Day with a powerful service
Picture Martin Luther King Jr., and you likely imagine him leading marchers across Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, or speaking before a quarter million civil rights supporters on the mall in Washington D.C. But perhaps no place is more closely connected to King than Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta
The Bite
Atlanta Meal Prep is here to help you keep your New Year’s resolution
If you’re light on time but feeling heavy on pounds, Atlanta Meal Prep is a lifesaver. For $105 you’ll be delivered five days worth of flavorful, healthy lunches and dinners—including gluten-free, paleo, vegetarian, and vegan options—in microwavable containers.
Review: Spring offers minimalist charm in Marietta
Brian So, the chef and owner of Spring in Marietta, does not like clutter. Good thing, too, because his restaurant—a converted train depot—doesn’t have room for much more than tables and chairs. So’s minimalism extends to his menu, which rarely boasts more than five entrees.
How to make perfect guacamole, from Superica’s Kevin Maxey
“I always thought I liked my guacamole super limey because that’s how I ate it in Texas,” says Kevin Maxey, chef at Superica. “But since then I have found that it’s just as delicious even when it’s just avocado and salt. It’s all about texture.”
Local spotlight: Bone & Co. bone broth
Van Martin will be the first to tell you that making bone broth isn’t a pretty process. It involves boiling down the remains of an animal, and chicken feet are a star ingredient. But it’s worth it, he says, because of the health benefits
The Christiane Chronicles: Atlanta’s fermentation fad is great, but about that quinoa craze…
These days chefs are fans of fermentation, and I’m addicted to the natural fizziness of nonalcoholic fermented drinks such as doogh and Turkish ayran. But I’ve been cooking quinoa since the 1970s. And I don’t know what is going on in restaurant kitchens, but lately I have eaten more than enough hard quinoa, soggy quinoa, and smothered quinoa.
The Goods
Honeycomb Studio introduces its first tabletop collection
With each piece shaped by hand or cast from an original mold, Honeycomb Studio ceramics radiate an elegant simplicity. Courtney Hamill introduces her first tabletop collection, seen first in Atlanta magazine.
Big Boi’s dog shampoo will leave your pup so fresh and so clean, clean
Most Atlantans know Antwan Patton (stage name: Big Boi) as half of the beloved hip-hop duo Outkast. But lately the rapper—and bulldog enthusiast—has teamed up with Chicago-based pet grooming guru Bobbi Panter on a line of natural dog shampoos.
Room Envy: A kitchen in the Cotton Mill Lofts marries modern furnishings with historical bones
Nothing beats the patina of an authentic loft. John Cugasi’s condo in Fulton Cotton Mill Lofts (built in 1881) has 19-foot ceilings; 10-foot windows; and brick that has weathered a brush with the 2008 tornado, a dramatic fire in 1999, and decades of textile manufacturing. Kohl Sudnikovich, a design consultant with Cantoni, created a kitchen redo that marries modern furnishings with historical bones.
A guide to alternative healing in Atlanta
Feeling stressed this new year? Unconventional wellness remedies—crystal healing, cupping—have gone mainstream.
My Style: Nene Kisseih, store director at Billy Reid
Born in Ghana and raised in Atlanta, Kisseih’s style reflects both African and Southern influences. Since 2016 he’s been the store director of Billy Reid at Westside Provisions District—and even took a turn down the runway at the designer’s spring 2016 show in Florence, Alabama.
Destination: Austin, Texas
Austin’s twilight-lit purple hills prompted late 19th-century Texans to call it the Violet Crown. A booming music scene in the late 1960s and 1970s earned it the moniker Live Music Capital of the World. And a recent influx of young tech innovators (plus their disposable incomes) has shot it up the ranks in myriad best-places-to-live lists.
Miscellaneous
Fresh new gear for your fresh new year
Feel good and look great in this athletic gear from Patagonia, Varley, Allbirds, and more.
Where Atlanta’s fitness pros work out
Where do your fitness instructors get those six-pack abs? We asked 5 to tell us about their favorite workouts.
For Paralympian Cassie Mitchell, there are no limits
A research faculty member at Georgia Tech and Emory, Mitchell’s life is a study in adaptation. In 1999 she was headed to college on a track scholarship when, literally overnight, she lost use of her legs. It took two years for doctors to diagnose her with Devic’s disease, a condition that attacks the spinal cord and the optic nerve.
Atlanta photographer shows off girl power with book, Strong is the New Pretty
“This whole thing began because I was just a mom taking pictures of my daughters,” says Kate T. Parker, an Atlanta-based photographer. “They weren’t posing. They were just being themselves.”
Want to learn to swim in Atlanta? Here’s how.
Why you should learn to swim, how long it will take, and where you can take adult swim lessons in Atlanta.
Can you make yourself smarter? We asked one of the world’s leading intelligence researchers.
We recently spoke with Georgia Tech’s Dr. Randall Engle about intelligence and memory, why it declines as we age, and what we can do to help (or hurt) our brainpower.
4 unusual group workouts for Atlantans who hate the gym
Do you miss your cheerleading days? Want to paddle a big boat with a dragon’s head on it? Four unusual group workouts, for people who hate the gym or just want to make some friends.
Unsung Saviors: Decatur’s Task Force for Global Health is helping eliminate horrific diseases
Atlanta is a world capital for public health. But unlike some of the other big players based here, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Carter Center, the Task Force for Global Health has operated largely out of the public spotlight—and done so by design, since it was founded in 1984 by former CDC director Dr. William Foege with a mission to boost childhood immunization rates in the developing world.
