Be Prepared For Father's Day (Even If Dad Is Not A Boy Scout)

If you missed last week's list of Father's Day ideas, don't waste time fishing around to find it. Click here to jump to our blog for our full list of restaurant specials and lip-smacking ways to celebrate with the coolest of dads, yours.  

Our Appetizing Aperture of the Week: Scallop Crudo at Lure

Sit tight and salivate over this highly photogenic and mega-flavorful scallop crudo. Net the real thing when Fifth Group Restaurants opens Lure on Crescent Avenue in Midtown on Tuesday, July 17. The seafood-centric sweet spot will serve simple, high-quality seafood in a unique and fun atmosphere. Lure? Count us hooked!

It's Follow Friday; Meet Our Tweep of the Week @mbuffardi

Music is not her forte, but Food Network Editor Michelle Buffardi is right in tune with the foodie circuit of yummy shop-spots, recipes, cocktails, food conferences and way more. Park yourself in a lounge chair with a tall tumbler of iced coffee or tea and your internet cruiser of choice to check out Buffardi's tweets (@mbuffardi) or the mothership of food links on FoodNework.com.

What's New On Pinterest: Ways to Show Your Pops He's Tops

We're appointing dad as Chairman of the Board -- our Pinterest board. This week, we're pinning ways to dote on dad. 

Market Street Café Fills New Thursday Happy Hour Menu With Mediterranean Small Plates

Turn the corner on the work week by capping Thursdays with happy hours starting at 4 p.m. on the patio at Market Street Café in Buckhead's Prominence Building. The new Mediterranean-inspired small plate menu is well suited to Atlanta's hot afternoons and warm evenings. 


Bruschetta selections change weekly. Antipasto brings an assortment of serrano ham, mortadella, chorizo, marinated olives and manchego cheese with herbed flatbread chips. More options include fried calamari, garlic prawns, albondigas (Spanish meatballs in a spicy tomato stew served with toasted baguettes), stuffed piquillo peppers filled with grilled summer veggies and goat cheese, bacon-wrapped dates and spanikopita. 


Prices range from $5-$12, so go ahead and bring a group and try them all. You know you want to!

RA Sushi Rolls Out New Menu Options and Celebrates International Sushi Day

Monday, June 18 marks the start of the new mouthwatering menu selections at RA Sushi Bar Restaurant in Midtown. Executive Chef Tai Obata is adding clam udon, sake-steamed clams served over udon noodles in a sake cream broth ($13.25) and edamame and spinach dip served warm with wonton chips ($5.25). Five new plates have been added especially for sharing ($9.25-$12.75). Holy Shishito Chicken is Asian-breaded chicken lightly fried and sautéed in a chili-sesame sauce, tossed with fried shishito peppers, onions, and green and red peppers. Drunken Clams ($12.75) and Drunken Black Mussels ($9.25) are steamed in sake and sautéed in garlic and seasoned soy sauce. Bonfire Shrimp pack heat, tossed in a chili sauce with fried shishito peppers ($11.75) while grilled salmon with garlicky green beans provides a lighter option, drizzled with spicy yuzu sauce. Always popular Asian chicken wings ($7.25) now come in three flavor options: sesame garlic, black pepper teriyaki and chili ponzu. New crispy Asian tacos come in five different flavors including spicy tuna, steamed chicken with Asian veggies, spicy salmon, "RA"ckin' shrimp and crispy white fish ($7.50-$9.25).

RA Sushi is also serving up five new drinks ($8-$9). Strawberry purée comes together with Svedka Citron and Nigori sake in the Strawberry Saketini, and the Coconut Moshi Mojito muddles Cruzan Estate Light Rum with summer's fresh lime, fresh mint and coconut flavors. Waist watchers can sip three new skinny cocktails: the Cucumber Collins, Kiwi-berry Kiss and Lycheetini.

International Sushi Day was designated as June 18 in 2009 and was officially entered into Chase's Calendar of Events in 2010. Sushi lovers mark the day by eating more sushi. Anyone who "likes" RA Sushi on Facebook that day can print a special offer good for one complimentary Tootsy Maki between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. on June 18. Get those chopsticks ready!

Salute the "Red, White & Brew" Menu at Marlow's Tavern

  

Marlow's Tavern is heralding the return of summer by offering its popular "Red, White & Brew" menu through July 23. All eight locations of the neighborhood tavern are serving up dishes and filling glasses with beverages that conjure up memories of summers spent grilling in the backyard. Start things off with a light beer and cheese soup, Firecracker deviled eggs or a watermelon, feta and arugula salad ($3-$9). Patriotic proteins include the Red, White and Bleu burger decorated with red pepper, Vidalia onion and Maytag blue cheese and served with American fries; Backyard blackened swordfish with Red, White and Blue potato salad; honey-glazed grilled chicken with chili-slathered corn-on-the-cob; and grilled skirt steak "hot-off-the-grill" with summer squash and jumbo Vidalia onion rings ($11-$18). Banana cream pie in a glass with house-made bourbon caramel is an all-star ending ($6). The "Brew" menu plays it cool with a "Summertime" watermelon margarita or Tommy's Favorite Sangria ($8) or a "red" Rogue American Ale, "white" Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy or "blue" Sweetwater Blue ($5-$5.50).

If you fancy yourself handy with the tongs, consider entering the third annual Marlow's Tavern Grilling Recipe Contest running concurrently with the "Red, White and Brew" menu through July 23. Enter your favorite recipe online or at one of the tavern locations. Executive Chef John C. Metz will review all entries and announce a winner in August. First prize wins a Big Green Egg. Second prize wins a $50 Marlow's Tavern gift card and third prize is a Marlow's Tavern "Red, White and Brew" limited-edition t-shirt. 

Heads up! Ticket prices increase for Attack of the Killer Tomato Festival on June 15

Purchase your tickets for the July 22 Attack of the Killer Tomato Festival, $50 for Georgia Organics members and $60 for non-members, before the price rises to $70 for all on June 15. JCT. Kitchen & Bar hosts this annual "war" between the chefs as they partner with local farmers to put their best tomato dishes forward. Mixologists will also be competing with signature cocktails. This year, Garden & Gun Deputy Editor Dave Mezz, Esquire restaurant features writer John Mariani and actor David Miller, who played Mason Dixon in the original "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" movie, will serve as judges. Don’t miss out on this killer event—get your tickets now!  

No Fowl Play Here! It's Pastured Poultry Week in Georgia

The omnivore chicken's dilemma:  seed, bug, plant or all of the above? A chicken feed diet nixes such decisions for factory farmed birds. While pastured poultry commute across pasture land each day, factory farms allot each bird about as much space as a sheet of notebook paper. Georgians for Pastured Poultry (GPP) is crying "fowl" and taking action! It's Pastured Poultry Week -- an opportune week to feather your cap with pastured poultry facts gathered by GPP and taste the difference in dishes featuring pastured poultry at Ecco, JCT. Kitchen & Bar, No. 246, Woodfire Grill and others. The sustainable method of raising poultry yields better tasting birds, and Atlanta chefs are leading farmers market demos this summer to show you how to use the whole bird. At this Saturday's Morningside Farmers Market, Shaun Doty will be sure shoppers learn where and how their chickens were raised. Take notes as he passes on kitchen tips he'll use at his own soon-to-open Bantam & Biddy restaurant where free-range and pastured poultry will rule the roost. White Oak Pastures, already a leader in the pastured poultry profession, is providing most of the chickens for restaurants and summer farmers market demos; purchase your own bird at Atlanta-area Whole Foods Markets. As Chef Doty explains, these birds have a slower growth period than factory farm-raised chickens (12 weeks versus six weeks), which leads to richer flavor and a higher cost. Doty feels each bite is worth it, and he's posted a YouTube video (above) showing how to roast them, make chicken stock and an easy chicken miso soup so you'll savor every morsel.

Start Crowing For #PasturedPoultryWeek - And Lots More - In This Week's Dish

It's a beautiful morning in Atlanta and boy, do we have your culinary scoop this week in The Dish! Spread a little deliciousness into your life every Tuesday in your inbox; you can sign up either here on our blog or on our Facebook page. Thanks for reading!

Atlanta’s Rising Stars Shine At StarChefs.com Rising Stars Revue

This Wednesday, June 13, you can acquaint yourself with Atlanta’s culinary up-and-comers by attending the 38thStarChefs.com Rising Stars Revue. The tasting gala and awards ceremony will be from 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. at The Goat Farm Arts Center. Chef Chad Clevenger of Alma Cocina will be one of the event host chefs. For the tasting you will be able to enjoy wood-fired Virginia clams with crispy pork belly and croutons prepared by Rising star recipient Adam Evans of JCT Kitchen & Bar and now of The Optimist. Two other culinary up-and-comers, Woodfire Grill Pastry Chef Chrysta Poulus and Taria Camerino, owner of Sugar-Coated Radical and Pastry Chef at The Optimist, will be honored as Rising Stars. In addition to the tasting and awards, guests will be able to enjoy the work of acclaimed local artist David Baerwalde. Tickets are $85 each but when you purchase your tickets online and use the discount code RSATL12 at checkout, you will shave $10 off that ticket price. StarChefs.com is “the magazine for industry insiders” covering chefs, recipes, jobs and more.

Feeling Porky? Follow Chef Kevin Gillespie to H. Harper Station for Head-to-Tail Dinner on Wednesday

H. Harper Station has invited Woodfire Grill Executive Chef Kevin Gillespie to create a menu using the most pig parts as possible for the first of three special Head-to-Tail Dinners at the Reynoldstown restaurant. Chef Gillespie's collaboration with H. Harper Station's Chef Joseph Ward will take place this Wednesday, June 13 at 7 p.m. and is sure to satisfy guests who are pining for pork. If you haven't already seen Gillespie's wild boar tattoo - an homage to growing up in the South on his left arm - we can assure you that it speaks volumes about his commitment to farm-to-table eating. A portion of this dinner's proceeds will be donated to Wholesome Wave Georgia to increase access to fresh, healthy, locally grown food at producer-only farmers markets in Georgia. Cost is $100 per person and includes the meal paired with wines chosen by H. Harper Station Owner and Mixologist Jerry Slater. For reservations, call 678-732-0415.