Moxie Kitchen + Cocktails chef Tom Gray and chef Kevin Sbraga of soon-to-open restaurant Sbraga & Company – both in Jacksonville, Florida -- are uniting to co-host a collaborative dinner on Saturday, August 29. A welcome cocktail greets guests as they mingle before sitting down to a three-course family style meal with cocktail pairings. Each chef will prepare a dish for each course enabling guests to sample fare from the two distinct restaurants. Cheddar biscuits and BBQ butter grace the table and make way for a first course of kale salad with benne and blue cheese; falafel with pimento yogurt; and heirloom tomato and ricotta tart. Second course features dry-aged beef with smoked onion, carrots and pesto along with wood-fired local fish with BBQ glaze, plus four sides. Dessert delves into peanut butter banana pudding and Mississippi mud milkshake with toasted marshmallow. Two seatings -- 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. -- in Moxie’s Coast to Coast room. Buy tickets online; $99 per person (including tax and gratuity).
Interesting tidbit. Schnitzel å la Holstein, the schnitzel of the month at Der Biergarten, has nothing to do with Holstein cows. Lore has it a Berlin restaurant dreamt up this version of schnitzel, combining appetizer and main course on one plate to appease time-strapped German diplomat Friedrich von Holstein. The lightly breaded pork is served with a fried egg and anchovies and topped with a caper cream sauce ($23). Spaten Marzen, a year-round Oktoberfest beer, pulls rank as August beer of the month for $9/liter at the authentic German beer garden in downtown’s Luckie Marietta district.
Chef Marco Serrano knows how to fold ‘em so Taco Night taco
lovers can hold ‘em. Tops a mean tostada, too. Serrano’s Mexico City-style
street food is the real deal, and like real street food, it’s here one week,
another locale the next. On Monday, August 24, his Taco Night Pop-up
lands a 6 p.m. spot at Last Word in the Old Fourth Ward to wake up sleepy taste
buds. Mamá Serrano is in town to prepare her speciality and a three generation
Serrano family recipe, mixiotes, with son Chef Marco. The agave leaves were flown
straight from México City for the August 24th Taco Night. Limited availability.
Who wants one?
Article 14, home court to “Atlanta’s most expensive cocktail” -- the $99 Barrel of Jewels, knows discerning tastes don’t always have fat wallets. To bridge the gap, the Midtown restaurant is initiating a more purse-friendly “Perfect Pour.” The program introduces guests to the highly sought-after cognac Louis XIII de Rémy Martin through half-ounce ($40), one-ounce ($80) or two-ounce ($150) pours. Well-respected in the heady world of politics, fashion and art, Louis XIII de Rémy Martin is crafted by three generations of cellar masters using only grapes from the exclusive Grande Champagne territory of Cognac, France. Fermentation and distillation yield an “eau de vie,” which is aged up to 100 years in centuries-old oak barrels and then stored in its own cellar. Can’t mess with perfection, but you can pour it.
Beat it to the patio for live music weekends at FLIP burger boutique in Buckhead. Musicians will entertain guests Friday and Saturday evenings from 7-11 p.m. and Sunday afternoons from 5-9 p.m. Click here for the complete music schedule. Unwind with a thick milkshake or a beer (local to global), wine or ingenious cocktail. Hungry for more? FLIP stacks its buns with boutique burgers pattied of Angus beef, tuna or beef tartare, shrimp, chorizo, “fauxlafel” and more, including a trio of sliders for the decision-impaired as well as starters to share, sides and salads.
Twenty years strong and still rolling along, Willy’s Mexicana Grill continues to spin out specials during its #SUMMEROFWILLYS summer-long 20th anniversary celebration. “Taco” 20 percent off the price of tacos and receive a free small cheese dip to go with your chips during Willy’s happy hour on Monday, August 24 from 2-5 p.m. Come on, there’s nacho one reason to miss this chipper treat!
Only one more week until the big dance party at Johnny’s Hideaway on Monday, August 24 from 7-10 p.m. Three hours of dancing to DJ tunes is more exhilarating than three hours of gym-bound cardio, and besides, the evening benefits The Giving Kitchen. Johnny’s owner Chris Dauria is passing 20 percent of the 7-10 p.m. party’s gross sales to The Giving Kitchen and its compassionate mission. Hospitality workers, this night’s for you as well since Buckhead’s nightclub for big kids offers $3 beer, $5 cocktails and half-priced appetizers to those in “the biz.” Toe tap over to the Atlanta Dish blog for more details.
Gather in the garden at Milton’s Cuisine & Cocktails and feast on executive chef Derek Dollar’s four-course menu with wine pairings on Sunday, August 23. Arrive at 7 p.m. for a reception featuring hors d’oeuvre and libations, then set off on a quick garden tour led by Milton’s Acre resident grower Peter Kohm. Milton’s Acre looks even more magical graced with stunning tablescapes and twinkling arbor lights as guests sit down for a family style dinner of modern-yet-rustic comfort food inspired by the garden harvest. Purchase tickets online, $125 per person (includes tax and gratuity). For those unable to “beet” it to this event in historic Crabapple, the last two Garden Dinners of the 2015 season on September 20 and October 11 are ripe for the picking. More information? Call 770-817-0161.
Atlanta bartenders hope Saturday evening’s Cocktails for Community cocktail fete at Decatur’s beautiful Love is Love Farm at Gaia Gardens yields a wellspring of funds for Community Farmers Markets’ Double SNAP outreach and education efforts. From 5-8 p.m. on August 22, mixologists will turn innovative seasonal flavors into highballs for guests to enjoy along with hors d’oeuvre and cheeses from Many Fold Farm. Tickets are $75 each and include cocktails, food and fun times; VIP tickets are $150 each and add in a swag bag worth more than $100 (additional online service fee applies). Community Farmers Markets -- encompassing Decatur, East Atlanta Village, Grant Park and Westside farmers markets -- strives to develop and strengthen farmers markets for long-term sustainability and meaningful community impact while building a stronger local food system family.
One last summer shindig unfolds at The Big Ketch Saltwater Grill on Thursday, August 20. Summer lingers on at the Buckhead Beach Party from 5-9 p.m. with live music, a special Low Country Boil dish ($9.50) and thirst-quenching drink specials including $15 beer buckets, $5 Deep Eddy cocktails, $3 Fireballs and $5 Absolut Moscow Mules. Don’t let summer slip away without one last bash at Atlanta’s favorite beach house.
MAX’s in Midtown is pleased as punch to be able to craft clever cocktails for its diners as well as wowing them with a wine-by-the-glass list and numerous locally brewed beers. On Thursday, August 20, MAX's kicks off "Celebrate the Spirits” by offering daily $4 well drinks all day long. For clock watchers, that’s 11 a.m. until 11 p.m....copious time to try out some of the new items on the chow side of the menu. What else are you going to do on a Thursday? Scroll through those “Throwback Thursday” posts?
The 90s are back this summer, temperature-wise, leading us to cry out for “Ice, Ice, Baby.” Settle in by the cold air vent, Pinterest-browsing device in hand, for a virtual ice bath of cocktail snow cones, flavored and melon ball ice cubes, ice sculptures, icy crafts and all things frozen. One cool hint -- freeze summer’s herbs before they wilt away.
MAX’s in Midtown advises: skip the fork, go with the fingers. MAX’s hand dips their andouille sausage corn dog, fries it to a crispy gold crust and parks it alongside a heap of hand-cut fries and a pot of zesty honey mustard. It’s the real Creole for $9.
White Oak Pastures gets right to the point of knife necessities at their Butchering Workshop -- in the butchering room -- on Saturday, August 22 from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Learn butchering techniques including how to keep knives properly sharpened to slice the best cuts, how to break down a side of beef, carve out five different cuts of meat and how to age beef cuts to obtain the best flavor. Meaty tidbit: White Oak Pastures is the only farm in the U.S. that pasture raises and hand-butchers 10 red meat and poultry species as well as produces pastured eggs and certified organic vegetables. Limited to 10 participants. Purchase your spot now for $100. Includes lunch in The Pavilion.
Luxury living meets delectable dining when Modern Luxury’s The Atlantan and Interiors Atlanta and ADAC, the Atlanta Decorative Arts Center, open the doors on the annual “To Live & Dine” design and dining event on Monday, August 17. Fifty stunning, custom-designed tablescapes are “ooh” and “aah” conversation starters for guests dining on adventurous cuisine from Gunshow, Gypsy Kitchen and 48 other elite Atlanta restaurants. Look for Gunshow executive chef Joey Ward in the mix, as well as executive chef Matthew Ridgway of Gypsy Kitchen and The Southern Gentleman. Buy tickets for the 6:30-9 p.m. event here, $40 each (plus $2.99 service fee). Tickets will not be available at the door. Must be 21+ to attend.
