Tag: David Sweeney

Few chefs have had as big an influence on the way I eat as David Sweeney. His innovative Edgewood Avenue restaurant, Dynamic Dish, may have lasted a scant three years—from 2007 to 2010—but it earned a place in the city’s pantheon of meaningful dining experiences.

There are health benefits to varying your poultry routine throughout the year. Turkey could almost be considered a superfood: It’s packed with protein, low in fat, and contains iron, vitamins B6 and B12, niacin, and zinc. But the market for turkey that’s not ground is slim after the holidays.

Quiet dining rooms are pretty much out of vogue. How many times have you crossed the threshold of a restaurant only to be assaulted by a racket resembling that of a colony of monkeys at the zoo?

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.

I worry the classic Manhattan is going the way of the martini: another opportunity for barkeeps to futz around with annoying techniques and show-offish ingredients. Plus: In previous decades, chefs had to be Japanese if they wanted customers to take their sushi seriously. They had to be born in Spain to attempt paella. This attitude seems quaint in an era when scholarly approach trumps birthright.

David Sweeney is a pop-up legend and wherever the former Dynamic Dish chef goes, his fans follow. But are his fans ready to follow him to North Georgia?

Baristas aren’t the only talented hands at Octane Westside. Since 2011, chef Julia Schneider has managed Octane’s food program and catering business, bringing unexpected zeal to the soups, salads, and sandwiches she crafts throughout the week.

Paper Plane’s Paul Calvert, David Sweeney (previously of the Bakery at Cakes & Ale and Dynamic Dish), and the Little Tart Bakeshop’s Sarah O’Brien are hosting a Thankful Harvest Dinner at Octane Coffee in Grant Park November 16. Benefiting the Grant Park Farmers Market, the event will be a German-themed four-course meal with beverage pairings.

Starting next week, former Bakery at Cakes & Ale chef David Sweeney will prepare a special bar menu downstairs at the Sound Table every Wednesday. The five-item menu focuses on Mediterranean, Eastern, and Arabic influences. With items such as Turkey Doner Yurum and Lamb Toasted Millet Kibbeh, it’s no wonder Sweeney is providing an abbreviated dictionary to explain his dishes.

As the saying goes, you win some, and you lose some. This year we saw famed mixologists leave their longtime outposts, award-winning chefs open new “it” spots, and the restaurant community band together to help one of their own. As we welcome in the new year, we pause to take a look back at what happened in 2013.