Discovering that September 23 is National White Chocolate Day set our hearts melting for ways to work more White Hot White Chocolate into our week. The chameleon of the chocolate world gussies up popcorn for a snack in a flash. When there’s no time to bake, we’ll whip up no-bake lime cheesecake, Nutella bars, sugar cookie truffles or a batch of no-churn caramelized white chocolate and chocolate chip ice cream. Bark huggers, try your hand at new white chocolate combos of rose, strawberry and pistachio or matcha bark with coconut and raspberries. Tailgaters, don’t count on putting away any leftovers when you take sweet-salty peanut butter truffle bars…they’ll be gone long before kickoff.
Kicking off with the Atlanta Falcons versus the New Orleans Saints away game on September 26, 101 Steak will rent out The Board Room for “Monday Night Football” viewing. Timeout to review this perfect play for the “Monday Night” fan base in your office or circle of friends: score a private room, comfortably seating eight to nine guests for big-screen TV viewing; opt to huddle for cocktails and appetizers around 7:30-7:45 p.m. for 8:30 p.m. games; and partake in customizable or themed menu. Kind of like having your own private box at the game…in Vinings. Minimum $500 food and beverage required. Call (770) 805-8855 for more information or to reserve The Board Room.
The more mollusks the merrier during East Cobb’s newest tradition, oyster happy hours at Drift Fish House & Oyster Bar. Slurp away Monday-Friday from 5-7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 3-5 p.m. No need to dive deep into the wallet for these specials: buck-a-shuck ($1) oysters of the day, half-shell oysters at half price and oceans of house punch at $5 a glass. Oysters and punch smooth over a crabby day faster than you can crack into a briny bivalve. But then you won’t even have to do that because Drift does the handiwork for you. Aah, pearly perfection.
Atlanta Streets Alive closes streets to motorized vehicles and connects the city’s eastside neighborhoods (Virginia-Highland, Poncey Highland, Old Fourth Ward and Inman Park) for a pedestrian-friendly afternoon from 2-6 p.m. on Sunday, September 25. Afterward, stroll over to Hand in Hand at 752 North Highland Avenue for a fried chicken pop-up starting at 7 p.m. There’ll be no dilly-dallying if you want to partake of the limited “pop-up” supply of fried chicken because when it’s gone, it’s gone. Go-withs include healthy and not-so-healthy sides plus specials on drinks that pair well with fried chicken. For the record, Hand in Hand also will offer its usual beer and taco specials until 6 pm, including a choice of three chicken, fish or pork tacos for $5. Live music from 7-10 p.m. by Cold Heart Canyon, readers pick for Creative Loafing’s Best Local Bluegrass Act.
Fly into this chef throwdown, the inaugural Springer Mountain Farms Atlanta Wing Fest, presented by Taste of Atlanta, at The Foundry at Puritan Mill on Sunday, September 25. Chefs from Atlanta, Nashville, Charleston, Charlotte and Savannah are pulling in for one huge afternoon of wings, beer, Southern spirits and local music to benefit Atlanta-based charities Angel Flight Soars and Second Helpings Atlanta. General admission tickets, $25 each, include 1:30 p.m. event entry, wing tastes from 25 local and Southeastern restaurants, samples of Southern sides, eat and greet with the chefs, cash bar and live entertainment from Davin McCoy and Francisco Vidal. Buy tickets online. Don’t be chicken. Get ready to eat some wings by plucking up tickets today. Bring the chickees. Word has it, children 10 and under are free with a paid adult.
Party inside, party outside, party on both sides of the Perimeter at The Big Ketch Saltwater Grill this Sunday, September 25. The Big Ketch Buckhead celebrates six years on the coast by hosting an Anniversary Party from 1-9 p.m. The weeklong celebration began Monday, September 19 (think $6 appetizers and $6 drink specials). The big six shindig settles in this Sunday afternoon with more drink specials and live music from Jason Pomar and the Cothern Miracle Band. Dine here during the anniversary week for a chance to win a $500 gift card. Our blog toes the party line of details.
Across the mighty Chattahoochee in Roswell, The Big Ketch Canton Street unfurls a Front Lawn Party to celebrate fall’s moderate temperatures. Stoke autumnal appetites with $3 fish tacos, $1 grilled oysters, $3 local canned beer and $5 mojitos and margaritas. Don’t sit down – rock to live music, try your hand at lawn games and enjoy a casual afternoon packed with family fun.
Wow, what a mouthful! But this Sunday at 5Church Atlanta is too huge to miss. Two James Beard Award-winning chefs, 5Church executive chef RJ Cooper and “Big Bad Breakfast” cookbook author John Currence, are coming together for "Breakfast with the Beards" on Sunday, September 25 at 1:30 p.m. For $50 per person (cocktails included), guests will partake in a three-course family style brunch featuring recipes from “Big Bad Breakfast” such as banana-pecan coffee cake, shrimp and pickled onion crepes with Mornay, chorizo migas, apple cobblers and more. Amid all the brunching, buddies Cooper and Currence will discuss life as award-winning chefs and Currence’s sure-to-be-a-crowd-pleaser cookbook, which released on Friday, September 16. Books will be available for purchase ($30) and can be signed at the event. Seats are limited; call 404-400-3669 for reservations.
5Church fans opting to brunch in the main dining room, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., can still go the “Big Bad Breakfast” route by ordering the $18 three-course prix fix menu featuring a selection of dishes from the cookbook. Dubbed “The Hangover Helper,” this hefty breakfast is sure to tame I-was-out-too-late-last-night headaches and tummy grumbles. Menu highlights include creamed “chipped” mushrooms on toast ($8); crawfish cakes with Creole mustard aioli ($8); Hillbilly Eggs Hussarde with mushrooms, smoked ham, hollandaise and red-eye gravy ($12); oyster “potpie” ($12); duck fat beignets with rye whiskey caramel sauce ($7); sausage-cinnamon rolls with caramelized Vidalia onion ice cream ($8); and Decatur Street Gutter Punk with espresso, gin, cream, absinthe, brown sugar simple syrup, egg yolk, lemon juice and a lime twist ($8). Book sale and signing available at noon for brunch guests (prior to "Breakfast with the Beards" event). As always, 5Church guests enjoy validated parking in the Colony Square parking deck.
Four weekends to go until Taste of Atlanta, October 21-23. While waiting for the big weekend, enjoy a five-course appetizer…Taste of Atlanta’s Tuesday Dinner at Seven Lamps on Tuesday, September 27. Organizers behind Atlanta’s signature food fest, along with Tuesday Dinner Series sponsor Springer Mountain Farms, are offering this culinary amuse bouche to spotlight top talent in the city’s iconic neighborhoods. Chef Drew Van Leuvan at Seven Lamps in Buckhead shines in next Tuesday night’s tantalizing tasting paired with cocktails, wine and craft beer. As the evening unfolds, Van Leuvan will visit every table to discuss the flavor profiles he has created for the night’s menu. As guests arrive, they’ll munch on a gift from the kitchen, raw and pickled vegetables with crème fraîche. Once guests are seated, courses will progress through warm mozzarella, pickled cherries, smoked corn, black garlic salmoriglio and Marcona almonds; spicy escarole salad, marinated summer peas, fennel salami and puffed Parmesan with "rampch;" crespelle stuffed with Springer Mountain Farms chicken, wild arugula, goat cheese and Marsala; Bramlett Farms trout, tomato marmalade, endive, OJ fennel, toasted brioche and caper dressing; and a finale of chocolate and hazelnut doughnuts, espresso pastry crème and bourbon chocolate sauce. Seats are limited, reserve yours today. $85 per person (plus online service fee; includes tax and gratuity). The last two dinners in the series will be held at Tom Tom in Virginia-Highland on October 4 and White Oak Kitchen & Cocktails in downtown Atlanta on October 18.
Join Revival executive chef Andreas Müller at Decatur’s Dinner Party and dine on farm-raised food and local produce in the company of some of Decatur’s legendary citizens at the historic Decatur Cemetery. Organized by the City of Decatur and Global Growers Network, Decatur’s Dinner Party has put down roots at the cemetery over the past four years and sprouts up again this fall on Saturday, September 24 from 6-10 p.m. Müller and other talented Decatur chefs are fixing the victuals for guests to savor along with a flow of craft cocktails, local beer and superb wine. This dinner party is all about the food – Atlanta Community Food Bank director Bill Bolling is honorary chair and the event benefits the Global Growers Network and Decatur’s Kitchen Garden. Silent and live auction proceeds add to the kitty. Buy tickets at www.globalgrowers.org, $150 each (plus online service fee).
Pull into the historic Georgia Freight Depot for a delicious case of sensory overload at the Creative Loafing Best of Atlanta party on Thursday, September 22. Seek out 5Church Atlanta, one of Atlanta’s newest and most-talked-about restaurants, amid the #CLBestofATL sights, sounds and tastes that make Atlanta a Southern gem. All ticket holders will enjoy samples from 10 winning Best of Atlanta restaurants, a reading by a fortune teller, live entertainment encompassing music, comedy and spoken word poetry, as well as a black light art tunnel and more than a dozen works from some of Atlanta’s most talented artists. VIPs gain early entry, unlimited samples from 20+ Best of Atlanta award-winning restaurants, two free drinks, access to the exclusive VIP room and an official Best of Atlanta gift bag. Buy tickets at Xorbia through September 22; $25 general admission; $75 VIP. Want more tastes? Purchase additional tasting tickets onsite.
Tara O’Brady of Ontario, Canada, began blogging back in ’05 as a way to catalog her recipes. A decade later, she has a website, numerous food articles, a “Seven Spoons” cookbook to her credit…and a husband and two sons. Follow her world through Instagram @taraobrady.
More hot-off-the-press news this week. Creative Loafing’s Best of Atlanta 2016 list is out, and we’re proud to tout our faves. A hefty serving of thanks goes out to all of the CL readers who voted @AtlantaDish into the “Best Local Twitter Feed” spot! Be sure to follow us for the best restaurant scoop and more.
Receiving Critics Picks as visionaries in the “Oral Pleasures” category are Revival for Best Cornbread, “cooked in cast-iron skillets...from a recipe passed down by chef Kevin Gillespie’s great-grandmother,” and white-tableclothed Aria, decorated with the Best Restaurant Face-lift after its “sexy new reboot...soft gray walls, leather banquettes and buttery yellow curtains.”
CL readers speak out as well, handing “Best of” Readers Picks in the “After Dark” category to Johnny’s Hideaway asBest Cougar Den and a duo of titles to Ormsby’s as the Best Bar with Games and recognizing Chewie as Best Bouncer. When seeking “Oral Pleasures,” CL readers pick Gunshow as Best Overall Restaurant; Willy’s Mexicana Grill locations for the Best Nachos; Seed in Marietta for Best OTP Restaurant; and they roll into Sublime Doughnuts for Atlanta’s Best Doughnut...or maybe two or three.
We’re building a culinary Taj Mahal of Indian Delights Straight from the Tandoor that anyone can make right here in the U.S.A. Find baked veggie samosas and other Indian appetizers, a flurry of curries and butter chicken recipes, spinach or cashew paneer, tandoori chicken, shrimp or tofu -- and green mint and coriander chutney to cool fired-up tongues. Go naan-stop by making the versatile flat bread then using it as a foundation for grilled spicy naan with goat cheese, breakfast pizza, saucy Indian-spiced chicken, warm dal-dipping or just unabashedly ripping into a piece of garlic naan to eat on its own. Hmmm...tandoori tailgate, anyone?
Before the weekend kickoffs, kick back over cocktails at Ray’s Rio Bravo and chillax to live music at Sounds & Sips on the patio. Your new Thursday night calling begins September 22 and continues each week through October 27, capturing the 6-9 p.m. time slot. Ray’s Rio Bravo is well known for its fiesta of margaritas, specialty margaritas, margarita enhancements and stock of more than 50 different tequilas. Sounds & Sips is a fantastic time to sip any of those or to meet the cocktail crew partying hearty on the “Booze” menu-- Caipirita Colada, Burdette’s Banditos, Passionate Paloma, Rifle & Pony, Sangrita or the tequila Old Fashioned. Drizzle won’t stop the swizzle on this partially covered patio.
