Aim for Gunshow Shotgun Beer Dinner October 25

Set the scope on this Sunday’s Shotgun Beer Dinner at Gunshow for a night loaded with 10 brews from Athens-based Creature Comforts Brewing Co. and Decatur’s Three Taverns Craft Brewery complemented by six wow-some dishes whipped up by executive chef Joey Ward and his culinary sharpshooters. Only 60 guests are privy to the rounds of rolling carts and communal-table dining plus brewery glassware and other swanky swag. $100 per person covers food, beer, tax and gratuity. Xorbia is your target for tickets to the October 25, 6-9 p.m. brew-ser. More on our blog. 

Respect the Pig at Revival Bacon Explosion October 24, Take Monday Off

Watch out! When two porcine buffs get together, a Bacon Explosion may result. So be it when chef Kevin Gillespie and BBQ Addict’s Jason Day bond over bacon at Revival on Saturday, October 24. Day makes his original Bacon Explosion, weaving a pound of bacon around two pounds of juicy sausage that encases a pound of fried bacon crumbles then grills the whole piggy parcel. Gillespie chimes in with additional snacks and well-matched craft beers from nearby Wild Heaven Brewery. Angry Orchard hard ciders also will be served at the noon-3 p.m. party for 100 guests. Live music by George Norman & Friends. Buy tickets on Xorbia: $30 price includes food and two drinks; $50 option throws in a copy of Gillespie’s “Pure Pork Awesomeness” cookbook.

Revival is turning off the fryer and cooling the ovens on Mondays to give the hardworking staff a day of rest each week. Fried chicken fans need not panic about missing out on a day of crisp-tender goodness and Southern trimmings. The Decatur restaurant now serves dinner on Saturdays beginning at 11 a.m. instead of 5 p.m. Raise a toast to Saturday with a selection from the updated wine and cocktail lists. Make reservations online or call 470-225-6770.

Gunshow Triggers New Shotgun Beer Dinner Series on October 25, Closes Out 2015 Hired Guns Series with a Bang November 17-18

Pursue true hoppiness at Gunshow by scoping out craft beers from two local breweries during the nationally acclaimed restaurant’s first “Shotgun” Beer Dinner. Chef Kevin Gillespie’s Glenwood Park restaurant fires off its new quarterly brew-ser series on Sunday, October 25 by partnering with Athens-based Creature Comforts Brewing Co. and Decatur’s Three Taverns Craft Brewery. Executive chef Joey Ward says the dinner will feature 10 beers representing the two breweries’ wide range of flavors, complemented by six dishes created by his sharpshooting culinary team. Dinner rolls out to the communal-style dining tables on the restaurant’s signature rolling carts. Shotgun guests head home with glassware and other goodies from the breweries. Limited to 60 guests, tickets are $100 per person and cover tastes of all the night’s dishes and beers as well as tax and gratuity. Buy tickets online through Xorbia.

Those hunting for another dynamic blast of top talent can set sights on the final Gunshow Hired Guns dinner of the 2015 season, on target for a 6 p.m. start on November 17 and 18. Guest chef Joe Kindred, chef and co-owner of hometown namesake Kindred in Davidson, North Carolina, hits the bull’s-eye with his award-winning, contemporary take on Southern cuisine. Chef Kevin Gillespie considers Kindred a “chef’s chef.” Training at Johnson and Wales in Charleston, South Carolina and gleaning experience at well-known restaurants in Chicago, San Francisco and Charlotte already filled Kindred’s apron pocket when he and wife Katy opened their Davidson restaurant in February 2015. Kindred quickly climbed the chart to be one of Bon Appetit magazine’s top 10 new restaurants of the year. Don’t miss a shot at reservations to this high-demand event. Make phone reservations now at 404-380-1886. Online reservations open up October 17.

The Attack is Back! Tickets Now on Sale!

The weather is warming up and pollen is in the air, so that means that JCT. Kitchen & Bar is anticipating a killer tomato harvest come Sunday, July 21 when Chef Ford Fry hosts the 5^th Annual JCT. Kitchen Attack of the Killer Tomato Festival to benefit Georgia Organics. Local farmers and 33 featured chefs pair up to create tomato dishes, 14 mixologists shake up vine-tingling tomato cocktails, and high-profile judges choose favorites while about 1,400 guests nosh and drink up all of that fruit-of-the-vine goodness. Live entertainment comes by way of the Spazmatics and local chef band Five Bone Rack. Purchase your tickets now for the 1-5 p.m. festival then relax until July's bountiful harvest. Tickets cost $55 per person and $50 for Georgia Organics members until June 30 and then increase to $70 per person on July 1.

The Plot Thickens This Week As JCT. Kitchen Attack Of The Killer Tomato Festival Strikes On July 22

Such a juicy storyline: bushels of real tomatoes give in to the hands of a united front of 37 star Southern chefs, 12 maniacal mixologists and 30+ farmers whose toiling enables the whole coup. The victors? Georgia Organics, beneficiary of the fourth annual JCT. Kitchen Attack of the Killer Tomato Festival, and tomato devotees. 

The event will spill out of headquarters at JCT. Kitchen & Bar and into the Westside Provisions District complex on Sunday, July 22 from 1-5 p.m. Purchase tickets online through Xorbia for $70 per person. 

Last year’s event raised almost $40,000 for Georgia Organics, and Ford Fry, owner/chef of JCT. Kitchen & Bar, No. 246 and The Optimist, hopes this year’s event will grow even more greens for the group. 

The festival is ripe for people watching as judges include Garden & Gun Deputy Editor Dave Mezz, Esquire Restaurant Features Writer John Mariani, Food & Wine Associate Food Editor Daniel Gritzer and actor David Miller, who played Mason Dixon in the original “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” movie. Co-masters of ceremonies are Angie Mosier, food writer, stylist and photographer, and Carolyn O’Neil, registered dietician, author and food journalist. Jump to live entertainment from The Spazmatics and local chef band Five Bone Rack. 

Get more juice on participating chefs, etc. at www.killertomatofest.com!