Tag: Paul Calvert

My heart always beats faster in a restaurant when I see something I have never seen before. It isn’t as if I’ve never spotted a chef expediting his own food at the kitchen pass, checking that everything on each plate is how and where it should be, moving a little sprig of greenery by a sixteenth of an inch or calling for his crew to redo an entire dish. But a chef, let alone one who is the size of a giant, standing in the dining room at a long table and quietly fixing all that needs fixing in plain view of his customers is pretty much new to me.

Chef Duane Nutter and restaurateur Reggie Washington will bring their Mobile, Alabama, restaurant Southern National to Summerhill on June 29. This time, the duo—who originated One Flew South in Hartsfield-Jackson airport—will bring with them a pair of seasoned, award-winning mixologists as partners. Ticonderoga Club’s Greg Best and Paul Calvert are designing the new Southern National beverage program, focusing on a sophisticated, refined experience that emphasizes Champagne, Old World-style red wines, and riffs on classic cocktails.

Five metro Atlanta couples spoke with us about how they’re surviving, adapting, and keeping one another afloat.

While co-owner Greg Best maintains, “We’re not a bar,” one of the principal reasons to visit this whimsical Krog Street Market establishment—besides the celebrated clam roll—is the chance to tipple James Beard–nominated cocktails.

In this endearingly dark little room in the corner of Krog Street Market, Greg Best and Paul Calvert—two of the city’s most ingenious bartenders—mix and stir and shake and dazzle.

For the first time ever, Atlanta has not one but two local establishments on the shortlist of five finalists for the James Beard Outstanding Beverage Program award: Ticonderoga Club and Kimball House. Paul Calvert and Miles Macquarrie take us on a tour of their backbars.

Ten years ago, barkeep Greg Best couldn’t even get his hands on a reliable supply of decent vermouth. In 2008, the craft cocktail renaissance that started in New York City started to make its way to Atlanta. Now, cocktail culture has proliferated with such fervor that you can find almost any creation in Atlanta.

Ticonderoga Club's Paul Calvert and Little Tart Bakeshop's Sarah O'Brien are working to rally Atlanta restaurateurs to support the efforts of those trying to help children who have been detained and separated from their families at the U.S. border.

Along with three days of tasting tents, the festival features a wide variety of dinners, parties, and learning sessions and hands-on workshops, with notable chefs, restaurateurs, and mixologists such as Justin Anthony (Yebo Beach Haus), Meherwan Irani (Chai Pani), John Castellucci (Castellucci Hospitality Group), Eddie Hernandez (Taqueria del Sol), and Paul Calvert and Greg Best (Ticonderoga Club) presenting.

With a team of all-star bartenders (hello, Paul Calvert!), quirky 1970s decor that’s reminiscent of a high-gloss Regal Beagle, and a kitchen that bests everything else in Krog Street Market, Ticonderoga Club has become the de facto hangout for food industry insiders.