#Foodgram: Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

Coloring books are all the rage to center, focus and regain calm after a stressful day. For caffeinated artistry, connect the dots and visit Baristart where celebrity coffee artist Michael Breach shows off his steady-handed “coffee art.” Breach has dabbled on “Good Morning America,” “Today,” “Rachael Ray,” Food Network, “Nightline” and more. Wake up and smell the coffee because these masterpieces are too good looking to sip. See more “cuppa Joe” art at www.baristart.com.

Salute Independence Day over the July 4 Holiday Weekend at Atlanta-Area Restaurants

Have your picnic, but eat out, too – and sport that new star-spangled top and sunglasses! Atlanta restaurants are fired up for the holiday weekend and stoked with celebrations, barbecues, bands, spirited beverages and all-American food faves – from our shores and beyond.

Get red, white and bluesin’ at Bellina Alimentari. The Ponce City Market favorite hosts a live music series the first Sunday of each month from 4-7 p.m. and that means loads of food, libations and tunes on July 3.

Oh say, you must see the Fourth of July BBQ blowout occurring when Terminus City takes command of Communion, the beer garden-inspired backyard behind Revival, Kevin Gillespie’s family-style restaurant in Decatur. The all-ages event packs in barbecue, beer, family-friendly entertainment and games (darts, cornhole, horseshoes) plus live music by Dave Lockwood on Monday, July 4 from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Purchase food, drinks and play games using tokens, $5 each, with prices ranging from one to four tokens (tax and gratuity included). Gillespie's Terminus City will offer a chopped whole hog barbecue sandwich plate with Brunswick stew, potato salad, coleslaw and fried pie, purchasable for four tokens (tax and gratuity included). Drinks and cold beer hit the spot. Mingle around communal picnic tables and on the front and side porches of Revival (the restaurant itself will be closed). All proceeds from the day benefit Emory Healthcare Veterans Program, which helps post-9/11 veterans.

Gypsy Kitchen, in The Shops Buckhead Atlanta, puts a Spanish spin on the holiday weekend. “Basque in the Sun” begins at 4 p.m. on Sunday, July 3 and features paella on the open-air patio along with drink specials such as $4 tinto de verano, $5 rosé and half-off select bottles of wine. A flamenco guitarist and a DJ set toes tapping.

Newly opened 5Church in Midtown hosts a Whole Hog Roast on July 4. The celebration takes place during the Peachtree Road Race from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Guests will partake in a whole hog roast and beers from SweetWater Brewing Company while enjoying music outside along the sidewalk and on the rooftop patio. 5ChurchAtlanta.com

HOBNOB is open for regular business hours and serving its popular brunch menu Saturday, July 2 through Monday, July 4. Also on Monday, $17 bottomless mimosas and the neighborhood tavern’s Monday Date Night special -- a three-course dinner for two for $22.95. Post Peachtree takers?

A pre-Independence Day bash at Johnny’s Hideawayjumpstarts the revelry on Sunday, July 3. Food and drink specials fuel the celebration, and live music from Band X beginning at 8:30 p.m. and DJ Spin keep the party on pace into the late-night hours. Johnny’s will be open and ready to keep the party going on Monday, July 4.

Hooray for the Red, White and Brew Burger at Marlow’s Tavern, a patriotic palate pleaser offered Saturday, July 2 through Monday, July 4 at all Marlow’s locations. The $12.50 burger tops a perfectly seasoned beef patty with blue cheese, seared red peppers, caramelized onion and crisp romaine on a sesame bun for a flavor explosion.

From 11 a.m.-9 p.m. on July 4, three of Ray’s Restaurantsare offering a sea-to-shining-sea special surf and turf prix fixe menu for lunch and dinner. The two-course meal includes a choice of salad, six-ounce filet mignon, four-ounce lobster tail and Yukon Gold whipped potatoes for $24.95. Available at Ray’s on the River, Ray’s at Killer Creek andRay’s in the City.

The Southern Gentleman is serving its creative take on contemporary Southern cuisine for brunch on Sunday, July 3. For sparkle, add the $5 mimosa special or a $10 seasonal mimosa that includes seasonal fruit, orange juice and Champagne.

Love That Southern Summer Harvest with Matthew Ridgway at Morningside Farmers Market on July 2

Atlanta, NYC, Philadelphia, Paris, Morningside Farmers Market. Matthew Ridgway has cheffed in all these places. The verdict for the executive chef of Southern Proper Hospitality’s Gypsy Kitchen and The Southern Gentleman?  “I love the people and the ingredients in the South, as well as the longer growing season,” confides Ridgway. Agree! His enthusiasm, along with loads of farm-fresh produce, is ripe for the picking at Saturday’s Morningside Farmers Market. Stop by and gather ideas at his chef demo, 9 a.m.-ish on July 2.

Appetizing Aperture: $5 Mimosas for Sunday Brunch at The Southern Gentleman

Have you seen the feathery pink flowers blooming on mimosa trees around town? One variety in particular outshines the rest -- the Sunday $5 mimosa special blooming during Sunday Brunch at The Southern Gentleman gastropub in The Shops Buckhead Atlanta. Reconnaissance reveals a bodacious sibling of orange juice and Champagne that’s well endowed with seasonal fruits ($10 each).

New 101 Steak Carves Top-Notch Steak and Seafood Niche in Vinings

Simple name, simply wonderful dining experience. In Vinings, 101 Steak is the first place to go to seek out high-quality steaks cut from Prime beef, seafood, a raw bar experience and a selection of more than 100 wines by the glass. The newest restaurant from 101 Concepts (Food 101, Meehan’s Public House and Cibo e Beve) is now open, and owners Steve Buero, Chris Segal and Phil Roness are excited to be a part of the Vinings community. Helming the 101 Steak kitchen is chef/partner Joe Ahn, whose double decades in Atlanta’s culinary scene have won followers at some of the city’s top restaurants. His seasonal menu showcases a multitude of global influences from Asia to Italy to our own Southern food scape -- crispy seafood misto, house-made burrata and heirloom tomatoes with kale pesto and a Big Green Egg-smoked pork chop served with pimento mac-n-cheese, collards and Coca-Cola gastrique. More examples of appetizers, raw bar items, steaks, chops and specialties on the menu include:

• Selection of East and West Coast oysters, sour orange cocktail, pickled ginger mignonette
• Parmesan-crusted roasted marrow bones, onion marmalade, fresh sage, artisan bread
• Caribbean seafood cocktail tossed with diced tomato, red onion, cilantro, avocado, blue corn tortilla and fried plantains
• 32-ounce tomahawk chop – 50-day dry-aged Prime
• Spicy “frutti de mare” with Maine lobster, Georgia shrimp, clams, Spanish octopus and squid ink linguine
• 101 wagyu beef burger, Gruyère, thick smoked bacon, house-made pickles, onion jam and fries

A copper-top raw bar shows off the daily catch of fresh seafood. Beyond the menu, 101 Steak pours a strong beverage program of craft cocktails and beers and a carefully curated list of wines, including 50 properly stored reserve selections by the glass. Wine sippers will appreciate the wine pairing guide with two price points for each dish. Seating options spread from the main dining room, bar and lounge areas to the outdoor patio and multiple private dining rooms.

Terminus BBQ Pops Up at Peachtree Road Farmers Market June 29

Satisfy your midweek veggie fix at the Peachtree Road Farmers Market and grab some mouthwatering pork barbecue amid the cukes, beans and tomatoes. Terminus City, the smokin’ good barbecue arm of chef Kevin Gillespie’s Red Beard Restaurants family (Gunshow, Revival), pops up for dinner at the Wednesday, June 29 market at The Cathedral of St. Philip. Addicting pork barbecue sandwiches, $6 each, stave off suppertime hunger pangs so you can shop the market without listening to a growling stomach. Beers from Three Taverns Brewery will be available to wash down the ‘cue. Think forward toward Thursday’s dinner and purchase barbecue to go, priced at $16 a pound. Awesome solo, sauced on a bun or scooped on a salad. Sooey! Wednesday night market hours are 4:30-8 p.m.

Appetizing Aperture:HOBNOB's Sampler Platter

Reach for chicken tenders, fish and chips, warm pretzels with beer cheese dip, fried green tomatoes, Southern spring rolls and a sampler of house-made sauces. Meant for sharing, the Sampler Platter ($29.95) at HOBNOB Neighborhood Tavern satisfies Midtown’s “In” crowd…those in a group looking for an easy way to order a crowd-pleasing platter for the table and those indecisive guests eager to try some of HOBNOB’s popular appetizers…but agonizing over which ones to order. Are you in? Drop in and order a platter today.

Chris Hadermann of Southern Proper Hospitality Named “Man of the Year” by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Chris Hadermann of Southern Proper Hospitality was named Atlanta’s “Man of the Year” by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) at a gala at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta on June 11. Hadermann, a founding partner of the Atlanta-based restaurant group, raised $191,595 during the LLS Man & Woman of the Year fundraising competition. Monies raised in the competition go toward the LLS mission of eradicating leukemia, lymphoma and other life-threatening blood cancers. Hadermann competed in honor of his grandfather, who lost his life to leukemia, as well as local blood cancer survivors Emory and Norah, LLS’s Boy & Girl of the Year. Southern Proper Hospitality restaurants pitched in to Hadermann’s fundraising efforts in a number of creative ways. Gypsy Kitchen, The Southern Gentleman, Smokebelly BBQ, The Big Ketch, The Blind Pig Parlour Bar and Milton’s Cuisine & Cocktails staged special cocktail promotions, donating $1 to LLS for every drink sold -- matched dollar for dollar by Tito’s Handmade Vodka. Other efforts included a Great Gatsby-themed dinner and party at The Blind Pig; a garden dinner hosted by Milton’s; a golf tournament at the Polo Golf & Country Club; and a “Sip & Savor” fundraiser at The Shops Buckhead Atlanta. Hadermann also raised funds via his Facebook page and his personal MWOY page. He is now competing for LLS Man of the Year, which the winner will be announced in July.

Picnic Basket Alert: Bellina Alimentari Salumeria Sells Antipasti, Salads and Local Meats and Cheeses by the Pound

Let Bellina Alimentari pound out your plans for outdoor concert supping, a romantic picnic in the park or an authentic Italian aperitivo on your patio. The salumeria section of The Market in this Ponce City Market Italian mainstay houses a huge selection of local meats and cheeses in addition to a mouthwatering variety of house-made salads and antipasti. Cheese offerings include Pecorino Toscano, Pecorino Romano, Parmesan Reggiano, Fontina, Taleggio, Decimal Place Farm goat feta, Rivertown sheep milk cheese and Garretts Ferry crotin-style cheeses from Many Fold Farm plus Sweet Grass Dairy Asher Blue and Thomasville tomme ($10-$24 per pound). Build a charcuterie platter from Buckhead Beef prosciutto di Parma; Spotted Trotter sweet hot Italian sausage, finocchiona and nduja; rolled pancetta Americana; cured and sliced Blackberry Farms guanciale, bresaola; coppa; pepperoni; and tuna confit ($11-$32 per pound). No Italian spread is complete without antipasti or salads. Pick up house-made bean, farro, peach or quinoa salads, pasta misto insalata or arrange an antipasti of olives, artichokes, giardiniera, agrodolce onions or roasted peppers ($10-$13). Add some fresh bread and you’re all set. Shop Monday-Thursday 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m.-10 p.m. and Sunday 12 p.m.–8 p.m. Call 404-330-9933 for more information.