Question. If Atlantans devour The Philly at FLIP burger boutique, will the Atlanta Falcons devour the Philadelphia Eagles’ defense on Monday night? The Philly, FLIP’s burger of the month, piles sliced Philly beef, caramelized onions, sautéed mushrooms, peppers and white American cheese on a baguette smeared with FLIP’s own smoked mayo. This big-and-beefy-as-a-linebacker sandwich sacks the hungries for $11.
The new Wood Stone pizza oven is a hot item at Kaleidoscope Bistro & Pub, and the Brookhaven restaurant is turning out gourmet pizzas with the blessings of pie-passionate diners (and the safety-certifying fire marshal). Co-owner and executive chef Joey Riley tosses nine 12-inch specialty pizzas onto the dinner menu seven nights a week. Choices range from the classic margherita to charred leek and mushroom to the Lando, meaty with pepperoni, fennel sausage, salami, mozzarella, pecorino and basil over a red sauce. Dinner dabblers, choose the Picasso and turn culinary visions into reality by creating a personal-sized masterpiece from a selection of sauces, meats, cheeses and veggies. Order one of Kaleidoscope’s draft beer offerings such as Monday Night Brewing’s Serrano Eye Patch Ale or Wild Heaven’s Ode to Mercy to cuddle while pizzas are crisping in the oven. Anticipating the popularity of pizza and beer, Riley has already added 1,200 square feet of gorgeous new space to the Village Place Brookhaven eatery. Call 404-474-9600 for more information.
Louisiana-born and reared chef Michelle Matlock is mum on the secret to the gumbo she’s prepared and doled out from New Orleans to Hollywood. Not so good at keeping secrets,Communitas Hospitality is spilling the beans that Matlock will be serving up her savory version as executive chef for 10th & Piedmont. From toddlerhood on, family matriarchs had much to do with Matlock’s kitchen schooling, and her fisherman father instilled rod-and-reel skills. She completed her formal culinary education through the American Culinary Federation Apprenticeship Program at Delgado Community College followed by an apprenticeship under French master chef René Bajeux at New Orleans’ renowned Windsor Court Hotel Grill Room. NOLA welcomed Matlock to the kitchens of some of its finest restaurants, including the Royal Café, Acme Oyster House and Cobalt, a trendy restaurant she opened in the Hotel Monaco for famed chef Susan Spicer. Hollywood called Matlock to pack up her pans and head west to become executive chef for Element Film’s restaurant division. Now, Matlock brings her piscatorial passion for fresh and sustainable seafood, the intrigue of international tapas and borderless cuisine, and bounty from local farms to the menus of 10th & Piedmont. She enjoys tinkering with Communitas’ new smoker to turn out delights from well-respected barbecue to the unexpected smoked caprese salad. Perhaps her greatest joy is training and encouraging her staff and teaching them what she knows. That is, except for the seven-generation gumbo secret.
Fine food and friendly competition pair up on the golf course when Sterling Spoon Culinary Management and Marlow’s Tavern host their 17th annual Golf Classic benefitting Special Olympics Georgia on Monday, September 21. The much-anticipated event tees off a day of contests on the links of the Country Club of Roswell, prizes and plenty of gourmet tavern fare. After the last hole is conquered, players will bogie over to Aqua blue for the after-party featuring an awards dinner and silent auction. The restaurants have raised more than a half million dollars for Special Olympics of Georgia since 1999 and aim to strike a new goal of $600,000 through this year’s tourney. To sign up or obtain more information, contact Susan at 770-414-9390 ext. 111 orSusan.Skolnick@specialolympicsga.org.
Sante Fe steak tacos, lobster cakes, baby back ribs and fried chicken and waffles pave the way to Walt Disney World for children with chronic or terminal illnesses during the inaugural Bert’s Big Adventure Restaurant Week, Monday, September 14 through Saturday, September 19. Tin Lizzy’s Cantina, The Big Ketch Saltwater Grill, Smokebelly BBQ and Bantam + Biddy are among the Atlanta eateries contributing 10 percent of sales toward the charity’s annual trip -- an all-expenses-paid, five-day journey to Walt Disney World to add joy and laughter to the lives of these children and their families. Skip a home-cooked meal for a magic teacup ride? Do it.
Aqua blue stars on the Monday night football “A” team, leading the pack in Roswell with better-than-sideline views, a menu of mouthwatering specialties and drinks unrivaled by stadium fare as well as, upon occasion, football players themselves. Former Falcons wide receiver Terance Mathis has invited some of his NFL friends to watch the Atlanta Falcons vs. Philadelphia Eagles game at Aqua blue on Monday night, September 14 to cap their day on the links in the Terance Mathis Celebrity Golf Classic fundraiser for the Emory ALS Center.
Sunday, September 13 holds the last chance this year to dine at Milton’s Farmyard Chowdown before the historic Crabapple restaurant herds the summer chowdowns back into the barn, so to speak. From 6-9 p.m., join Milton’s Cuisine & Cocktails chef Derek Dollar for a casual evening of Low Country seafood boil, fried chicken, oysters, Southern side dishes, live music and lawn games. Guests sit down to family style dining at long, communal tables sprawling across Milton’s Acre, the restaurant’s ever-essential garden. Buy tickets here, $35 each (excluding tax, gratuity, alcoholic beverages).
September has an “R” in it, and Ray’s on the River has three. Know what that means? According to folk wisdom, prime oyster feasting season is here. Come aboard Oysterfest 2015 at the Chattahoochee riverside restaurant the afternoon of Saturday, September 12 from noon-3 p.m. Pile fresh Gulf, East Coast and pilsner-roasted oysters on the plate, being sure to save room for buffet sides of jalapeño coleslaw, fingerling potato salad, roasted andouille sausage, corn on the cob, homemade sauces, rolls plus Key lime pie cups for dessert. Includes iced tea and sodas to wash everything down; buy more spirited adult beverages at the cash bar. $40 per person plus tax and gratuity. Reservations, with credit card, required: 770-955-1187. Ray’s at Killer Creek is hosting their Oysterfest on Saturday, September 19 from noon-3 p.m. Good to know in case you can’t dive in this weekend or if you live to slurp oysters!
Slider Night took Midtown by storm when Bantam + Biddy Ansley Mall introduced the gourmet, fist-sized sandwiches back in 2013, and Slider Night is still a Monday night tradition there. Starting this week, those in Atlanta’s northern ‘burbs can wrap hands around the same $3 delicious sliders every Tuesday night from 5-9 p.m. at Bantam + Biddy Avalon. The chef’s inventive array of sliders varies each week. Share a plateful with friends when dining in or take a carry-out bag of sliders along to Cornhole ATL’s fall league or whatever the night’s agenda holds. For a sip-and-slider experience, Bantam + Biddy Avalon offers $2 Big Creek Kolsch from Alpharetta’s Jekyll Brewing, which can be sipped while strolling and window shopping thanks to Avalon’s to-go drink policy.
The name John C. Portman, Jr. has been synonymous with Atlanta’s cosmopolitan flair since the visionary first put his stamp on the cityscape in the 1960s. This December, Portman continues his legacy of transforming downtown with the opening of JP Atlanta, a luxury dining experience in central city landmark 230 Peachtree. Almost 50 years ago, the celebrated Midnight Sun opened in Peachtree Center under Portman’s watch. The sophisticated restaurant elevated the mid-century standard for Atlanta fine dining with its haute Danish cuisine and dramatic design. JP Atlanta brings a modern interpretation of the Midnight Sun experience to another Atlanta icon undergoing a resurgence. 230 Peachtree, the building Portman designed and developed as part of the Peachtree Center complex in 1965, is being reborn under the direction of John Portman & Associates as an adaptive reuse development that will house JP Atlanta, Hotel Indigo and office space. Anticipate attentive service and tremendous execution of new American cuisine, be it for business breakfasts, quick lunches, world-class dinners or late night cocktails and nibbles. Remember we’re talking Portman. Exquisite design is a given. Photo credit: (c) HBA
After pondering portraits by Jessie Bearden, ordinary oils and acrylics will seem so stale. Bearden uses intense shades of mustard, catsup red and dark brown sugar to style celebrity portraits. Not from an art store. Her edible palette pulls from the pantry and fridge.
The Southern Gentleman’s Grit and Grace cocktail ($10) stands tall with a strong countenance of rye gentled by lemon, apricot liqueur and mint. If you’re raised in the South, or even if not, do declare, “I’ll have one, please and thank you.”
Gunshow, chef Kevin Gillespie’s nationally acclaimed Glenwood Park restaurant, taps Jean-Paul Bourgeois, executive chef of Blue Smoke in New York City, for the “Hired Guns” visiting chef series on Tuesday, September 29 and Wednesday, September 30. Louisiana roots and a passion for locally sourcing ingredients flow in Bourgeois’ Southern soul-style kitchen. Bourgeois grew up where living off the land was the norm. He continued his education at John Folse Culinary Institute at Nicholls State University before honing his personal style at Étoile restaurant at the Domaine Chandon winery in Napa, EPIC Roasthouse in San Francisco, and on the island of St. Thomas. The two dishes on Bourgeois’ agenda are barbecue Gulf shrimp with beer butter, grilled garlic toast and green onions and “Duck, Duck, Duck” featuring Blue Smoke duck ham, soft-boiled duck eggs, duck skin cracklings sided by mustard greens and Creole mustard vinaigrette. The annual “Hired Guns” series enables chefs from around the country to share their dedication and talents in Gunshow’s open kitchen. Visiting chefs work alongside the restaurant’s crew and share stories with dining room guests. The final "Hired Guns" dinner event of the year will take place November 17-18 with Joe Kindred of Kindred in Davidson, North Carolina. Space goes quickly, so make reservations ASAP by calling 404-380-1886.
Stem Wine Bar owner/chef Doug Turbush and general manager/sommelier Jason Raymond are planning a fabulous evening of food and Argentinian Chakana wine for the Marietta wine bar’s Chakana Wine Dinner on Monday, September 21 from 6:30-9:30 p.m. The five-course dinner with wine pairings treats guests to crab toast with lemon aioli served with Cueva de las Manos white blend; crispy oysters and beef tartare paired with Cueva de las Manos red blend; Riverview Farms pork with late summer field peas and potlikker joined by Chakana Estate Collection red blend; spiced rubbed venison with sweet potato pavé and fried chicken-of-the-woods mushrooms and muscadine jus paired with Ayni malbec; and French silk pie closes with Maipe Reserve cabernet sauvignon. As a bonus, Chakana’s manager for all the Americas Gonzalo Pérez Cerini will join dinner guests at this deliciously informative event. Buy tickets in advance online, $119 per person (including tax and gratuity).
