Get a Taste of Mike Lata's Cuisine at JCT. Kitchen This Thursday!

Get ready to start smacking your lips over the menu for this year’s last “Farm to Table and Back” quarterly guest chef dinner at JCT. Kitchen & Bar. Mike Lata (pictured at right) of FIG in Charleston, S.C. will be Ford Fry’s guest chef for the Thursday, December 9 dinner that totally benefits Georgia Organics (not to mention your mouth).

The four-course prix fixe menu with wine pairings begins with an amuse-bouche of farro arancini with pimento cheese. The first course brings Caw Caw Creek pork “pozole,” a soup with fresh hominy, radish, cilantro and finger limes. Next comes sheep’s milk ricotta gnocchi with Charleston stone crab and white truffle. Lata continues with Low Country-inspired salt-crusted black grouper with pumpkin seed gremolata and butternut squash romesco before moving into a dessert of Carolina Gold rice pudding with citrus salad and vanilla. The featured dinner cost is $75 per person, and 100 percent of the proceeds are going to Georgia Organics.

To join in the fun, call JCT. Kitchen at 404-355-2252 and reserve the special “Farm to Table and Back” menu, which is available during regular 5 – 10p.m. dinner hours. Everyone at the table must order the special menu, so be sure to check with your dinner guests. JCT. Kitchen & Bar is located in Atlanta’s Westside Urban Market at 1198 Howell Mill Road, Suite 18; 404-355-2252.

Don't Miss the Last "Farm to Table and Back" Guest Chef Dinner of 2010 at JCT. Kitchen & Bar!

If you haven't already checked out a "Farm to Table and Back" dinner at JCT. Kitchen & Bar, now is the time! Regional cooking using locally sourced ingredients is the focus for Executive Chef Ford Fry's Westside restaurant, and these quarterly guest chef dinners are the icing on the cake. Top chefs around the Southeast, such as Hugh Acheson of Atlanta's Empire State South and Five and Ten in Athens and Chris Hastings of Hot and Hot Fish Club in Birmingham, have been joining forces with JCT each quarter to prepare a special menu offered for one evening only to benefit Georgia Organics. Mike Lata of FIG in Charleston will be the guest chef at the last dinner of the 2010 series on Thursday, December 9. The cost of his special four-course, prix fixe menu is $75 per person and includes wine pairings. As with all of the "Farm to Table and Back" dinners, Georgia Organics will receive 100 percent of the night's proceeds! December 9 will be here before you know it, so go ahead and reserve a spot by calling 404-355-2252 and mentioning you want the special "Farm to Table and Back" menu for everyone at your table. JCT. Kitchen & Bar is located in Atlanta's Westside Urban Market at 1198 Howell Mill Road, Suite 18; 404-355-2252.

It's Follow Friday: Meet Our Tweep of the Week FIG Chef @MikeLata

It's always nice to know a little bit about who you're having dinner with... and since FIG Chef Mike Lata is coming for JCT. Kitchen & Bar's "Farm To Table And Back" dinner on December 9, we thought we'd give you some background reads and point you toward his blog and tweets.  

Lata keeps it simple at unpretentious FIG, passionately working with Lowcountry farmers, growers and purveyors to capture the essence of the region and season.  His staff is well educated in food and wine culture and well versed in the art of hospitality.  

New England-native Lata is a self-taught chef who sharpened his restaurant focus on farm-to-table philosophies and European-style cooking using the highest quality seasonal ingredients while he honed his culinary skills in Boston, Martha's Vineyard, New Orleans, Atlanta and France before heading to Charleston.  The 2009 James Beard Award winner for "Best Chef in the Southeast" helps with several Charleston organizations, is an active member of the Southern Foodways Alliance and co-found the local Charleston convivium of Slow Food in 2004.  All that, and he cooks and tweets, too!

Perfectly Poached Eggs and Practical Dating Advice

We learned alot this morning on the set of FOX5's Good Day Atlanta. First, Chef/Owner Ford Fry of JCT. Kitchen & Bar talked about the restaurant's "Farm to Table and Back" guest chef dinners and demonstrated how to prepare a poached farm egg salad with black radishes and smoked bacon that had the entire station drooling and wishing for "smellevision," as Host Karen Graham so perfectly put it. Click here for a glimpse of Ford's cooking and call 404-355-2252 to make reservations for tomorrow night's guest chef dinner featuring Hugh Acheson of Five and Ten and The National in Athens. Hugh's menu (five courses paired with wine for $75) looks amazing and it will save you a drive up 316! Plus, all proceeds from the special menu benefit Georgia Organics.

As an added bonus, we got to hear Ford give great relationship advice along with Vincent McCant of Atlantahapps.com and John Gidding of HGTV's Curb Appeal for the male perspective on dating during Good Day Xtra's "The Male Bag." All the men out there who are hungry for a healthier relationship can get tips here.