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!

Have a Peachy Month!

Spice Route Supper Club's Peach Chutney

If you haven't bitten into a sweet, juicy Georgia peach yet this summer, then put down the mouse and head to your nearest farm stand or favorite restaurant. It's National Peach Month in the Peach State, for goodness sakes!

As you might have guessed, we even have a handy list for you, plus a recipe. Enjoy!

Spice Market in the W Atlanta-Midtown is incorporating the luscious fruit into a roasted peach financier with peach and shiso salad and ginger ice cream for a cool $7. (In the W Atlanta-Midtown, 188 14th Street, NE; 404-724-2550)

Smashburger crushes the juicy fruits into peach BBQ sauce for its Atlanta burger, which is dolled up with Wicked® Pimena cheese, grilled jalapeños and Vidalia coleslaw on an egg bun. Regular Smash is $5.99 and $6.99 for the Big Smash. Buckheaders are good to go at their Smashburger and things will be peachy for Johns Creek residents when their neighborhood Smashburger opens August 10. (Buckhead: 2625 Piedmont Road, NE; 404-237-2374. Johns Creek: 9775 Medlock Bridge Road; 770-497-6274.)

JCT. Kitchen & Bar dresses up the house-smoked pork chop with potato purée, Vidalia onion and grilled peaches for $26. (In Atlanta's Westside Urban Market at 1198 Howell Mill Road; 404-355-2252)

Asha Gomez of Spice Route Supper Club and soon-to-open Cardamom Hill embraces Georgia peaches and works them into her flavorful Kerala, India cuisine. One of her favorite ways to use them is to make peach chutney (inspired by the flavors of Kerala):

Serves: 6 to 8

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. fresh Georgia peaches (cored and cut into bite-size pieces)
• 20 white pearl onions
• 3 fresh bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon ginger (julienned)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 star anise
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 4 tablespoons coconut oil

Directions:

• Sauté pearl onions, ginger in the coconut oil until they are golden brown
• Add bay leaves, cinnamon, star anise, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, paprika, salt and sugar and cook for about 3 minutes.
• Add the peaches and cook for 5 minutes.
• Serve with grilled chicken or grilled fish.

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.

Asha Gomez Brings Touch of Kerala, India to the Piedmont Park Green Market Tomorrow

Tomorrow Chef Asha Gomez, the creator of the Spice Route Supper Club, will be demonstrating her expert use of fragrant spices from Kerala, India to amplify the tastes and finds at the Piedmont Park Green Market. Gomez will be host a free class tomorrow at 11 a.m. behind the demo counter.

The gates for the market open at 9 a.m. So come early to browse this open-air market, which features fresh produce and locally made goods.

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.

Atlanta Food & Wine Festival, You Had Me At Food

The upcoming Atlanta Food & Wine Festival is so heady and rich in flavor that we can hardly condense its essence to a simple paragraph or two. Offering close to 200 ways to "sip, savor and enjoy the South," the May 19-22 festival overflows with learning experiences, tasting tents, street carts and a connoisseur lounge. Events and themes are divided into three categories: Old Traditions, New Traditions and Imports & Inspirations. Lest we become the proverbial kids in a candy shop, we are honing in on a dozen chefs, restaurants and food experts in particular. We're focusing forks on Owner/Executive Chef Kevin Gillespie of Woodfire Grill, South City Kitchen Executive Chef Chip Ulbrich, Ecco Executive Chef Micah Willix, Fifth Group Restaurants Co-Founder Steve Simon, White Oak Pastures President Will Harris, JCT. Kitchen & Bar Owner/Executive Chef Ford Fry, Chef Nathan Lippy and his event at the W Atlanta-Midtown, Morelli's Gourmet Ice Cream & Desserts, Executive Chef Tracey Bloom of Ray's at Killer Creek, Executive Chef and Partner Drew Belline of No. 246 in Decatur, Spice Route Supper Club's Chef and Creator Asha Gomez, and Owner/Executive Chef Gerry Klaskala of Aria. Download the program schedule for complete event details. Tickets, ranging in price from $50 to $2500 per person, are available for purchase online.

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.

Spice Up Your Saturday and Your Email Inbox

Ban the bland by sitting down to a Spice Route Supper Club dinner where you can wake up your senses with the spice route flavors of Kerala, India. The Saturday, April 16 dinner is a traditional sadya -- a banquet that is a staple of Kerala celebrations. Asha Gomez will guide diners, seated on floor mats, through the history and ritual of this 21-dish vegetarian feast. Among the dishes are avial, the classic coconut-enriched Kerala vegetable curry; sambar, the classic tamarind-based vegetable stew of South India; ginger curry; beet pachadi, which is a yogurt-based curry; and thoren, made of stir-fried vegetables with grated coconut nut, mustard seeds and curry leaves.

Cost for the 7:30 p.m. dinner is minimum cash-only donation of $75 (payable at the end of the meal) and includes wine pairings, beer or tea. The secret northwest-Atlanta location will be revealed to guests once they sign up; however, you'll feel like you're in the tropical state of Kerala on India's southern coast by the time the evening's over!

Get on the invite list for future Spice Route Supper Club events by emailing spiceroutesupperclub@gmail.com. Upon receiving an invitation, reply promptly if you are interested in securing a place at the table. Spice Route Supper Club gatherings generally include approximately 20 people.

An Evening In Kerala

India has always been high on my list of places to visit, and, this Friday night, two Atlanta supper clubs, Spice Route Super Club and Dinner Party Atlanta, are coming together to bring a taste of India to us Atlantans. Specifically, An Evening in Kerala focuses on a traditional 21-dish vegetarian feast traditional in this part of the world. Comfortable clothes and easy-off shoes are a must for this evening of traditional music, dance, cuisine and unique cocktails.

Cocktail hour starts at 8 p.m. followed by dinner at 9 p.m. at the Grand Atrium at 200 Peachtree Street. Tickets are $100 each, and only a few seats are left so don't wait to buy your tickets. The event supports Raksha, a Georgia-based nonprofit organization that addresses social and protection issues within the metropolitan area's South Asian community.

It's Follow Friday; Meet our Tweep of the Week @spicerouteATL

Exploring other cultures is fascinating, and the Spice Route Supper Club (@spicerouteATL) is hot stuff when it comes to delving into the foods and cultures of Kerala and other Indian states.  We talked about their upcoming Kerala Supper Club event earlier this week. 

Follow their tweets and website to discover more fascinating opportunities and learn more!

Mark Your Calendars For An Evening in Kerala

Once known as the Malabar Coast, Kerala, India is better known for the harmony of diverse cultures and the treasure trove of spices grown there. Spice Route Supper Club and Dinner Party Atlanta are two supper clubs combining these intoxicating elements for An Evening in Kerala, featuring traditional music, dance, cuisine and unique cocktails on Friday, February 18. Dinner will be a 21-dish vegetarian feast usually experienced only on India's southern coast. Adding to mealtime authenticity, guests will sit on floor cushions and eat with their hands using traditional banana leaves. Wear comfortable clothes and easy-to-remove shoes! Cocktail hour starts at 8 p.m. followed by dinner at 9 p.m. The event is being held at the Grand Atrium at 200 Peachtree Street. Tickets are $100 each, and seating is limited so purchase now. The event supports Raksha, a Georgia-based nonprofit organization that addresses social and protection issues within the metropolitan area's South Asian community.