“Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like,” advises The Southern Gentleman. When Southern-inspired food is your love but you find yourself drawn to lighter selections, especially during summer, culinary conflict arises. The Southern Gentleman diplomatically diffuses the mealtime dilemma with new selections that lean deliciously toward the light side. The gracious gastropub in The Shops Buckhead Atlanta is adding refreshing, modern renditions of traditional Southern fare, including smoked Carolina mountain trout, Georgia peach and heirloom tomato salad and wine-poached calamari. As on the regular menus, executive chef Matthew Ridgway draws upon local sources for garden-fresh produce and farm-fresh ingredients to compose lush green and chopped salads with fresh herbs and vinaigrettes, along with sides of marinated, grilled or charred vegetables. Items carry light price points, falling in the $6-$12 range so guests can simply order a salad or easily combine several sides for a veggie-laden lunch or supper. Strongholds like the “chicken fried” chicken salad sandwich, shrimp and grits and Dixie bacon carbonara unabashedly rule the menu. And because Ridgway’s motto is “everything in moderation,” he’s dishing out his version of a tried-and-true Southern specialty: buttermilk-marinated fried chicken and sawmill gravy.
Award-winning chef RJ Cooper has stirred fine dining scenes in Atlanta, NYC, Miami, Anchorage and Washington, D.C. He’s choosing to hang his toque back in the South at 5Church Atlanta, opening late spring/early summer at the corner of 14th and Peachtree streets in Midtown. Cooper will drive a modern American menu tailor-made for Atlanta while collaborating with 5Church partner and chef Jamie Lynch, who oversees the menus at locations in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Charleston, South Carolina. A Detroit native, Cooper began his culinary career working under Guenter Seeger at The Dining Room at The Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead and Gilbert Le Coze at Brasserie Le Coze in Atlanta. NYC’s Le Bernardin, Brasserie Le Coze in Miami and The Crow’s Nest Restaurant at Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage further stocked his pot of experiences. In Washington, D.C., Cooper won accolades as executive chef at New Heights Restaurant as well as the 2006 Chefs Rising Star Award and 2007 James Beard Award for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic for his work at Vidalia. He moved on to open two of his own restaurants in the D.C. area -- Rogue 24 and Gypsy Soul. This chef knows his way around culinary landscapes, in Atlanta and beyond, and he is thrilled to further his Southern-inspired fare in our city. Follow 5Church Atlanta on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Two more Southern traditions unfold at Revival: patio dining and Sunday dinner (that’s the noon meal on Sunday, for those not raised in the South). With the completion and opening of the patio, Revival can now accommodate more walk-in dining guests and give diners the option of indoor or outdoor seating. By offering the dinner menu beginning at 11 a.m. on Sunday, Kevin Gillespie and staff uphold another Gillespie friends-and-family tradition, gathering at grandma’s house for a big meal around noontime on Sunday. Some might come with friends after church, some might sit down for a real meal with delicious conversation before the time-crunched weekday schedule rears its head. Evening diners, no worries. Sunday’s evening meal, whether you want to call it supper or dinner, is on as usual.
Join Ray's at Killer Creek executive chef Mike Fuller for a midday foray into Big Green Egg cooking on Saturday, August 8 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Fuller's special tasting menu features smoked, locally foraged wild mushroom flatbread with Capra Gia chevre, arugula pesto and charred lemon oil; low-and-slow smoked pork butt tacos with crunchy slaw, cilantro and lime; prime beef short rib with salsa verde and smoked Gruyere mac and cheese; and grilled Georgia peach sweet biscuit with freshly whipped cream and bourbon Coca-Cola reduction. $35 per person or $60 per couple (includes tax and gratuity) covers cooking demo, Big Green Egg tasting menu and beverage of iced tea, soda or coffee. Reservations required; call 770-649-0064. A credit card will be necessary to confirm the reservation and will be charged prior to the event.
Atlanta-based chef, restaurateur and cookbook author Kevin Gillespie is gathering family ‘round to bring Revival to Decatur in July. The new restaurant will serve elevated Southern fare and family style dining evolving from Gillespie’s own Georgia upbringing--with the help of a family oriented team including executive chef Andreas Müller and general manager Christy Lee Faircloth. Gillespie and Müller have worked together for a long time and share a penchant for preparing traditional meals with farm-fresh ingredients. Geographically, Müller and Gillespie grew up worlds apart -- Müller in a small town in Sweden and Gillespie in Georgia. Miles aside, the two chefs are close in experiences and interests. Both were reared amid multi-generational families, eating rustic dishes at home and fancier fare when visiting family in larger towns. Müller has worked alongside Gillespie at Woodfire Grill and Gunshow. Faircloth, who’ll oversee the front-of-house team, already has close ties within the Decatur community from her previous years in Decatur restaurants and serving on the management teams of Rocket Farm Restaurants’ No. 246, St. Cecilia and The El Felix. Large families are up her alley—she grew up with seven siblings and is mother to four children and two stepchildren. Follow Revival, located at 129 Church Street, on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Tangy sauce and twangy tunes are coming to Milton’s Cuisine & Cocktails in Crabapple on the Sunday between Father’s Day and the July 4th weekend. The farmhouse-turned-restaurant throws summer’s first BBQ & Blues evening on Sunday, June 28, ushering in lazy evenings with live music, cornhole, craft brews and cocktails. Eats? Right on cue, chef Derek Dollar presents a choice of three meats basking in the glory of distinctly different sauces: sweet tea-smoked chicken with Carolina gold BBQ sauce and cheddar corn muffins ($18), pulled BBQ pork shoulder with Crabapple BBQ sauce and Texas toast ($17) or a half rack of ribs with Georgia red BBQ sauce and cheddar corn muffins ($20). Choose two of these Southern sides to round out your entrée -- white cheddar-and-bacon mac, creamed Silver Queen corn, garden potato salad or cracked mustard coleslaw. Feel free to make a meal of sides ($4 each) or order them alongside a bowl of thick Brunswick stew ($7). Shindig runs 5-9 p.m. Pull your phone out and call 770-817-0161 for reservations, then flag the remaining three BBQ & Blues 2015 dates: July 26, August 30 and September 27.
Lunch with Mark Twain. The Southern Gentleman is his usual Atlanta lunch spot -- his larger-than-life portrait watches over the lunch crowd at the gastropub on Buckhead Atlanta’s top floor. Bet he’s wishing he could jump out of the canvas for modern versions of Southern beloveds such as this Low Country shrimp boil with spiced andouille sausage, corn on the cob, sweet onions and fingerling potatoes ($16). He’s so jealous of y’all, sipping classic Southern cocktails by the seersucker-curtained windows and lunching there Monday through Sunday on pimento beer cheese and cracklings, field lettuces with crispy black-eyed peas and grilled peaches, lacquered Virginia duck breast or crispy fried shrimp and oysters on a baguette with house-made hot sauce. Fiction? No, siree. Delicious reality, every day.
Fried chicken is one of those feel-good Southern foods, especially when chomping into crispy-tender pieces of regionally raised poultry generates multiple rewards, i.e. your personal comfort food tank and assisting homeless families move toward more stable lives. Give Back Night at Bantam + Biddy Avalon on Monday, May 18 is such an occasion. After 5 p.m. that evening, 10 percent of all proceeds move on to The Drake House. This North Fulton County nonprofit helps homeless mothers and their children work toward self-sufficiency through short-term crisis housing, education and empowerment programs. Fried chicken is just the start. Bantam + Biddy offers rotisserie chicken, pork loin, pork schnitzel, sautéed Maine salmon, Southern Breakfast All Day, salads, sandwiches and snacks such as pimento cheese, crispy wings and Jb Farm deviled eggs. Browse the complete menu here.
