Atlanta Food Bloggers Bake Sale Whips Up Treats For A Good Cause

Why not get your cupcake and cookie fix a little earlier this weekend? Join us for the Food Bloggers Bake Sale tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in lovely Cabbagetown at the Cabbagetown Market! There will be quite an assortment of tasty treats from your favorite Atlanta food bloggers!

Every dollar goes towards helping Share Our Strength. Atlanta Dish will be representin’ with some treats of our own – namely some tasty rosemary shortbread cookies that are a perfect partner for your morning coffee or tea. We’ve posted the recipe below and can’t wait for the event tomorrow!

Rosemary Shortbread Cookies (adapted from Gourmet)
Ingredients: 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, ¾ tsp salt, ½ tsp baking powder, 1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary, 1.5 sticks (3/4 cup) softened unsalted butter, 2 tbsp mild local honey, ½ cup confectioners’ sugar, 1 tbsp granulated sugar
Directions: Preheat oven to 300°F. Whisk flour, salt, baking powder, & rosemary in a bowl. Mix together butter, honey, & conf. sugar with an electric mixer, then add flour mixture and mix until dough resembles coarse meal. Gather dough into 2 balls, wrap in saran wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 mins. Roll dough out on floured surface and cut out shapes. Transfer shapes to baking sheet and sprinkle with granulated sugar and finely chopped rosemary to garnish. Bake until golden brown, around 15 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes.

It’s Follow Friday! Meet our Tweep of the Week – Atlanta Foursquare Day

In case you haven’t heard, TODAY is Atlanta Foursquare Day! Lots of great businesses around the city are celebrating by offering special discounts when you flash your Foursquare check-in.

Follow on Twitter to get the latest updates! There are so many fantastic offers – free beer at Ormsby’s, Atkins Park, and Thirsty Dog Tavern, free dessert at Shaun’s, free margarita at The Original El Taco, discounted bento box at Spice Market, free tent event at the new Pinkberry location this afternoon and lots more! Thanks to the organizers of this special one day event – check out their website for full details for each deal.

Saturday Brunch at Shaun's for Half the Price

As if we weren't already jonesing for Shaun's bistro fare for brunch on Saturdays, the Inman Park restaurant is offering brunch-goers 50 percent off their meal (excluding alcohol) on Saturday, April 17. Executive Chef/Owner Shaun Doty's brunch menu includes items like cheddar waffles, ricotta beignets with chocolate sauce, Maryland-style jumbo lump crab cakes and Sea Island red pea soup with Tabasco cream that will have you licking the bowl (which I had to restrain myself from doing last week). If you are a mimosa drinker, I highly recommend the Mistral Mimosa with lavender, honey, lemon and prosecco. It's a light and refreshing cocktail that is perfect for any time of day.

Weekend brunch is served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday.

Shaun's: 1029 Edgewood Avenue, NE: 404-577-4358.

“SOME PIG” leads our Hog Haiku poet winner to “SOME PORK”

Thanks to everyone who pulled on their thinking caps for our Hog Haiku contest for a chance to win Cochon 555 Atlanta tickets! Now one lucky poet will have a chance to take off the thinking cap and put on the bib for the delectable event this Sunday. Drum roll please… our lucky winner is whodigsben with this “terrific” entry!

As a kid, I learned
that Wilbur was terrific.
But he's tasty too!

Get ready for the smorgasbord, whodigsben! Email us at atlantadish@gmail.com to claim your big prize!
We couldn’t let the runner-up slip past without a single oink, so we have to give props to AtlantaDude for this entry:

Tigger, Piglet, Pooh
Closest Friends Til Hunger Strikes
Piglet on the Spit

AtlantaDude, shoot us an email and we will mail you your very own Atlanta Dish t-shirt!

Taste the Flavors of Atlanta discount

Please raise your hand if you like good food. Now raise your other hand if you enjoy a discounted price to get that food. Of course, you and I like both of those things and it's okay if you didn't actually raise your hand; I know you at least thought about it.

Flavors of Atlanta is one week from today on Wednesday, April 21, so the time to get your tickets is dwindling. Tickets are $250 each for the 6 - 10 p.m. event and may be purchased online. As a special for Dish readers, you may purchase tickets for $225 by calling 404-633-9169 and mentioning The Dish. The discounted price cannot be applied to online ticket purchases. All proceeds go to the American Liver Foundation and its mission to promote education, support and research for the prevention, treatment and cure of liver disease.

Flavors of Atlanta will have what I like to call "chef roulette." There will be 25 chefs, with the likes of Gerry Klaskala of Aria, Todd Annis of Bold American Catering, Shaun Doty of Shaun's, Ian Winslade of Spice Market and Kevin Gillespie of Woodfire Grill, to name a few. The catch is you won't know which chef will be paired with which table until that night. So don't miss out on a discounted opportunity for suspense and great food!

For more information, contact Katherine Cline, 404-633-9169.

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.

Lucky Atlanta Dish Winner Could Pig Out With The Best at Cochon 555 Atlanta

There are some things that are innate to being a Southerner. Drinking sweet tea, calling every soda a “Coke”, complaining about pollen and of course, our passion for our tasty friend, Mr. Pig.

Come celebrate your love at Cochon 555 Atlanta this Sunday as a talented group of chefs will prepare 140 pounds of heritage breed hog for guests and professional judges to savor and pronounce the best dishes based on presentation, utilization and best flavor! Five winemakers will also be selected to showcase their wines at the event.

Drooling yet? Grab some paper and get your brain churning, because Atlanta Dish has a PAIR of tickets to give away! Leave us your best Hog Haiku in the comments below and we will select a lucky winner to live on the high hog this Sunday.  Winners will be selected on Wednesday, so better hurry and start channeling your inner Haiku Master!

(If you skipped that day in school, refresh your brain on haikus here!)

Freebies for Ray’s Facebook Fans

This is a no-brainer. While you're already looking, booking, tagging and poking on Facebook, just visit one of Ray's Restaurants' pages, become a fan and go to the “offers” tab at the top of the page. This simple process gets you access to an offer for a free appetizer or dessert at your favorite Ray’s location. We are making it even easier by posting Ray's Facebook links here for you!

Ray's Restaurants

Ray's in the City

Ray's on the River

Ray's Killer Creek

Ray's on the River: 6700 Powers Ferry Road, Sandy Springs; 770-955-1187. Ray's Killer Creek: 1700 Mansell Road, Alpharetta; 770-649-0064. Ray's in the City: 240 Peachtree Street: 404-524-9224

Thirsty Dog Updates!

We've been barking for weeks over how great Thirsty Dog Tavern is and now it has gotten even better! The tavern is now also open for lunch during the week and brunch every Saturday and Sunday. A brunch menu is offered every weekend from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with breakfast favorites like omelets, French toast and spinach frittatas. The highlight of brunch is surely going to be the $5 Bloody Mary bar or the $6 Bellinis though!

The patio has also been finished with brand new furniture. Since the restaurant is also canine-friendly, Thirsty Dog offers a spacious lower patio where pups can prance around and enjoy a man’s best friend menu of Milk Bones, Kibble, a hot dog, burger and filet. Outside the patio is a designated dog walking area complete with fire hydrant, and during doggie happy hour, weekdays at 5 p.m., canines can enjoy free Milk Bones.