Appetizing Aperture: Milton's Chiffonade Collard Green Salad

Grammy boiled down those big bunches of collards to a nice shade of army green. There is another way. At Milton’s Cuisine & Cocktails in historic Crabapple, executive chef Derek Dollar takes a fresh approach. His chiffonade collard green salad mixes thin ribbons of tender collard greens with pickled grapes, red onion, Fuji apples, smoked pecans, blue cheese crumbles and spiced maple vinaigrette ($9). Pretty sure Grammy would love this seasonal and sensational salad!

Atkins Park Bites and Brews Fill Shoppers On “Shop Small” Saturday, Nov. 26

Put Black Friday’s big-box frenzy behind you. Spend a cheerful day of “Shop Small” retail therapy in Virginia-Highland on American Express Small Business Saturday. On Nov. 26, spend $60 in the small shops and restaurants of Virginia-Highland, including Atkins Park Restaurant & Bar, and show your wad of receipts at Tipple & Rose to enter a raffle for a basket filled with nifty-gifty items from neighborhood businesses. Winner will be announced on the Shop Small Facebook page on Monday, Nov. 28 and will be contacted by community event sponsor the Virginia-Highland Business Association.

What’s New on Pinterest: Leave Me the Leftovers

Fess up. How many of you are happily in love with the Thanksgiving dinner “hang overs,” a.k.a. leftovers? Leave Me the Leftovers might as well have your name emblazoned across the top. Turkey, cranberry and brie egg rolls and Thanksgiving leftovers stromboli encapsulate our purposeful vision. Turn out cheesy breakfast stuffing cakes and toasty croque madame sammies or fill sweet potato biscuits to sustain holiday shoppers. For brunch or an easy supper, pour a spinach and turkey frittata in the pan or press waffles from stuffing and top with turkey, gravy, sauce or the like. Game on in the background? Couch coaches will call time-out for soup when scents of simmering turkey and dumplings, chili or turkey barley soup waft their way.

Red Bearded Santa Sighting: Kevin Gillespie at Peachtree Road Farmers Market Holiday Artist Market

The Peachtree Road Farmers Market Holiday Artist Market on Nov. 26 further tips the scales toward shopping small and local. Thirty local artists will add their wares to the healthy array offered by steadfast farmers and food producers at the state’s largest producer-only farmers market. Grab your shopping bags and scour the market for deliciously unique and appreciated holiday gifts. Need a Christmas card photo? Tote the camera or smartphone to snap photos with Santa Kevin Gillespie and his elves. Good thing he’s not doling out barbecue and sauce or you would both have red beards.

Count Mini Blessings, Wednesday is Slider Night at HOBNOB Neighborhood Tavern

Hate to commit to one big burger when you just want a bite or two or four of a couple different combos? Find midweek nirvana at HOBNOB Neighborhood Tavern, the Midtown gathering spot known for serving refined tavern fare with a Southern flair. On Wednesday Slider Nights, HOBNOB’s menu sports three different sliders priced at $3.50 each. Sliders rotate weekly through yummy renditions like a lamb burger with cucumber relish and tomato, pulled pork in “BeerBQ” sauce with pimento cheese and bacon onion jam or the bacon cheddar burger with lettuce and tomato. Order a platter of hand-pattied sliders and some craft beers from HOBNOB’s wide selection and you’re over the hump.

Brine Seafood Shack, Chef Mark Taft’s Latest, Comes Ashore at Alpharetta’s Avalon in Spring 2017

Avalon, your ship is about to come in. Brine Seafood Shack sails into the super-hot Alpharetta retail complex this spring bearing boatloads of the finest fresh seafood for its 150-seat dining room. Brine is the latest from executive chef and restaurateur Marc Taft’s Southern Fried Hospitality, which planted the eggs-traordinarily successful farm-to-table restaurant Chicken and the Egg in Marietta in 2011. Brine bridges Santa Monica beach vibe and Cape Cod classic comforts through a menu swimming in healthy Southern California-style seafood. On the menu: think really good lobster rolls, fish stew, clam fritters, tuna poke, fresh oysters and fish tacos, all overseen by Taft and Brine chef de cuisine David Connolly, previously of Two Urban Licks and Tap in Atlanta and Michelin-starred Spiaggia in Chicago. Monterey Bay Seafood Watch sustainable practices will guide Brine’s seafood offerings, and sources will be geo-tagged so Brine chefs will know origins down to the fisherman’s name and boat. This seafood shack is like no other in the area, drawing the craft cocktail set up to a rooftop Tiki bar complete with seasonal fans and fire pits and pleasing pedestrians with a New England-y walk-up window for takeout, soft-serve ice cream, milkshakes and even cocktails, wine and beer to enjoy while strolling through Avalon.

Give Thanks for a Cornucopia of Dine In or Out Thanksgiving Options

Could be you’re working, working, working 24/7 and really want to sit down in a beautiful dining room and let out a sigh of relief that chefs are planning and preparing the Thanksgiving menu. Or, perhaps dining out on Thanksgiving is your family tradition. On the other hand, maybe the crew is descending on your house to gather round the fully expanded dining table or touch down on the sofa for marathon football viewing and a casual gobble and gridiron spread. Turn to our blog to see how Atlanta restaurants accommodate whatever works for you – dining out or taking away. So deliciously blessed. So gratefully full.

Merry Beardsmas, Everyone! Chef Kevin Gillespie’s Holiday Gifting Extravaganza Now Underway

Turn to the Santa sporting a red beard and apron for chef-inspired holiday gifts. Atlanta chef, restaurateur, speaker and cookbook author Kevin Gillespie’s Beardsmas is back for its second year, and the Beardsmas bag spills over with new delights and returning favorites. Head to Red Beard Merch for these gifts or other hats, t-shirts and Red Beard items that are the perfect additions to your holiday checklist.

What’s New:

• Gunshow Golden Ticket bidding begins Cyber Monday, Nov. 28 at redbeardmerch.com. Bid on a one-of-a-kind “golden ticket” redeemable for an immediate 7:30 p.m. reservation for four (private event nights excluded), glass of complimentary Champagne for each guest and a complimentary round of cocktails any time you dine at Gunshow through 2017. Bidding starts at $1 and lasts for 72 hours with a portion of the winning bid benefitting the nonprofit Share Our Strength: No Kid Hungry campaign. Sorry, dinner and additional drinks are not included.
• Shop the Peachtree Road Farmers Market with Kevin explores the state’s largest producer-only farmers market on May 13, 2017. Chef Kevin and a small group begin with a pre-opening tour followed by time to shop and meet the farmers and capped by a post-market cooking demo with Kevin (15 spots available; $99 each).
• Personalized Voicemail/Audio Greeting by Chef Kevin lets them think the chef is answering your phone. Keep it to a clean 30-second message ($25).
• Gunshow’s Joey Ward Chefs Dinner in Your Kitchen, a four-course dinner for 10 with wine to impress friends or business clients. (Three will be sold, $5,000 each).

Beardsmas Back by Demand:

• Go Hog Wild with Terminus City BBQ for 100 served up by Chef Kevin and a keg of Kevin’s favorite beer ($6,000)
• Pair of 2017 Hired Guns Season Tickets for Gunshow’s guest chef series ($1,000)
• Private Dinner with Kevin for you and 10 friends, with customized signed menus and autographed cookbooks ($10,000)
• Gunshow Cocktail Class ($75 per class)
• Red Beard Restaurants Stocking Stuffers – a few of Kevin’s Red Beard faves all packaged up in a company-branded bag ($40)

Red Beard Restaurants is the parent company for Gillespie’s restaurants Communion, Gunshow and Revival, his BBQ pop-up Terminus City and all of his merchandise.

What’s New on Pinterest: All the Fixins

This Thanksgiving, dress to impress. Um. Referring to the tabletop real estate around the turkey (or tofu turkey). Find All the Fixins you’ll need on one groaning board of appetizers, sides, salads and a caseload of cranberry condiments. Give green bean casserole a rest and fix green beans with caramelized pecans or slow cooker green beans. Autumn squash salad or shredded collard green salad with roasted sweet potatoes are beauties to behold and healthy, too. Toast roasted veggies – honey roasted Brussels sprouts, classy roasted domino potatoes (arranged in domino rows) or twice-baked butternut squash with Parmesan cream and candied bacon. Let’s be grateful for gratins of golden-brown vegetables, mashed potatoes and cauliflower or creamed corn with fried onion rings and bacon. Okay, so start fixin’!

#Foodgram: New York Times Food

See what’s cooking in The New York Times Food section @NYTFood. There’s a bit of everything delish here including trends, cozy-up foods, recipes from renowned chefs (Mark Bittman’s roasted Brussels sprouts) and gorgeous gourmet finds like a delicate Chinese tart at Violet’s Bake Shoppe in Queens.

Entertaining Dilemmas Cured by Bellina Alimentari Charcuterie and Cheese Boards

Fan an expertly curated array of artisanal cured meats and local and imported cheeses across a rustic wooden board and invite guests to partake of "la vita è bontà" (food as a way of life), the mouthwatering mantra of Tal Baum, owner of Bellina Alimentari at Ponce City Market. “The rich play of flavors, textures and colors makes a cheese and charcuterie board ideal for holiday entertaining,” Baum says. Bellina’s well-trained staff can help build a board of dry cured meats like prosciutto and soppressata or artisanal cured meats specially created for Bellina by Atlanta’s own Spotted Trotter. Incorporate soft and hard cheeses such as Sweet Grass Dairy’s Asher Blue (from Thomasville, Georgia), Conley’s Decimal Place crumbly feta or the Parmigiano-Reggiano Baum imports directly from small producers in Italy. Surround the spread with homemade Italian antipasti, freshly baked bread, Italian specialty crackers, house-marinated Mediterranean olives, seasonal pestos, Italian specialty spreads and organic jams and honeys -- all abundant options in Bellina’s Market. Former architect Baum, a stickler for details, has connected with local carpenter Koby Downs to create a line of sustainable wooden boards. Handcrafted bowls and ramekins for dips and antipasti render the smorgasbord complete.