A Final Supper with Spice Route Supper Club

There are only 50 seats available for the final Spice Route Supper Club event filling Café Jonah on Saturday, October 22 at 7 p.m. No crying over onions or spice during the Kerala, India meal served family style. It may be the last “Supper Club” event; however, the menu will be a slice of what to expect when Asha Gomez opens Cardamom Hill restaurant in Midtown later this year. Two things to do when reserving your seat at spiceroutesupperclub@gmail.com:  prepay $150/person and give a heads up if you’re vegetarian. 

Vote for Your Favorite Chefs So Their Face Can Grace a Street Banner!

Hurry! Every vote counts as Taste of Atlanta selects its top 12 chefs according to Facebook polling. We're campaigning for some of our favorites: Andrew Smith of Atkins Park Tavern in Virginia Highland, Asha Gomez of Spice Route Supper Club and Cardamom Hill, Drew Belline of no. 246, Ford Fry of JCT. Kitchen & Bar and John Coley of Double Zero Napoletana. The only "voter registration" required is to "Like" the Taste of Atlanta Facebook page so you can participate in the vote count. Voting ends September 9. The 12 top vote recipients will be listed on festival banners. This year's fill-the-streets-with-eats festival takes place the weekend of October 23 - 24. Get to voting and tasting!

Kerala on Our Minds: Spice Route Supper Club Dinner on July 23

We're dreaming of traveling to India this Saturday...with Asha Gomez of Spice Route Supper Club. The supper club chef is hosting one of her tantalizing dinners at 8 p.m. on July 23, and you'll definitely want to hop on board for the five-course culinary passage.

The dinner tours the flavors of Kerala, which is in southwetern India's spice route. You'll begin with a Keralan trio of vegetables: green beans and carrots thoren (stir-fry with freshly grated coconut), beetroot pachadi (a creamy yogurt-based dish) and sweet potato verrakku (traditional sauté with mustard seeds and curry leaves). Delicate fish cakes follow, seasoned with ginger and green chile and served with green papaya pickle. Third course is a savory duck roast with pan-roasted potatoes served with Gomez's fresh mango chutney. Kerala beef curry, redolent with ginger, cinnamon and curry leaf served with coconut rice, comes next. Finally, when you think you've covered all the spices, out comes vattayapam, a steamed cake, light in texture like angel food cake, with a custard-like pudding of ripe plantains, coconut milk and cardamom. Speaking of cardamom, Gomez is opening a restaurant called Cardamom Hill on Northside Drive this fall so think of this supper as a sneak peek! Seats at the Spice Route Supper Club table are $85 per person, which includes unique wine and beer pairings. There are only 20 spots, so email spiceroutesupperclub@gmail.com for reservations. The supper club location is in northwest Atlanta off I-285; guests will receive directions two days prior to the dinner.

Passport to the Spice Route with Asha Gomez

We couldn't get enough of her Kerala fried chicken and waffles at the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival so you can imagine how excited we were to learn that Spice Route Supper Club Creator and Chef Asha Gomez is hosting a cooking class at Salud! in Harry's Farmers Market-Alpharetta.

No, she isn't sharing that amazing chicken recipe, but in her "Passport to the Spice Route" cooking class, Asha will showing us how to prepare Kerala-style curried shrimp with mustard seeds, chili powder, curry leaves and coconut oil; green bean and carrot thoren; and Kerala beef curry with ginger, cinnamon and curry leaf.

Class is on Thursday, June 16 from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. and costs $39 per person. Register online. To sign up to receive future Spice Route Supper Club invitations, email spiceroutesupperclub@gmail.com.

She's a Real Spice Girl

Take a couple of hours out of your 3-day weekend to learn about the spices of India's southern coast. They don't call it the spice route for nothing, you know. Join Asha Gomez, the kitchen guru behind the monthly Spice Route Supper Club dinners, as she filters through the exotica to simplify things for us regular folk at Williams-Sonoma in Lenox Square from 1 - 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 28. Spending the afternoon with Gomez could lead to a tastefully memorable Memorial Day weekend and many meals to come.

Want to get on the invitation list for future Spice Route Supper Club events? Email spiceroutesupperclub@gmail.com.

Spice Route Supper Club joins Our Libatious Nature to pair Poultry Dishes from Kerala, India with Specialty Cocktails

The South isn’t the only region known for crazing over chicken … along the spice-rich coastline of Kerala in southern India, they are just as obsessed! On April 30 at 8 p.m., Asha Gomez, the Kerala and India native who prepares Spice Route Supper Club meals, has planned a luscious dinner around Kerala's poultry specialties. Nicky and Katruska of Our Libatious Nature, a blog dedicated to exploring and enjoying handcrafted cocktails, are partnering with Asha to incorporate specialty cocktails with the same spices used for centuries in Kerala cuisine.

The threesome have planned a five-course meal with cocktail pairings that includes: Asha's signature chicken stew with silky coconut broth and savory vattayappam steamed cake served with Pineapple Sour made with bourbon, almond syrup, Triple Sec, lemon juice, muddled pineapple, egg and a pinch of saffron; braised quail curry with classic Kerala flavors of red chiles, coconut oil, curry leaves and mustard seeds served with coconut rice and Cucumber Lassi made of gin, Thatcher's cucumber liqueur, milk, cilantro syrup, muddled cucumbers; Kerala fried squab served with freshly made griddle bread and Mad Mango made with muddled fresh mango, vanilla bean, ghost pepper-infused dark rum, light coconut milk, orange bitters and orange juice; Tellicherry pepper-crusted duck with guava chutney and kale thoren paired with Smoked Figs created with Old Monk rum, ghost pepper-infused vodka, Licor 43 vanilla liqueur, homemade fig preserves and star anise. The meal concludes with dessert of vanilla bean custard with mango and Asha's chai.

The dinner with drinks is $85 per person plus gratuity. Sign up and find out the exact northwest Atlanta location of this supper club. To receive invites to future Spice Route Supper Club events, send an email to spiceroutesupperclub@gmail.com.