Appetizing Aperture

Fried green tomato fiends, Ray’s at Killer Creek in Alpharetta should be on your radar. Ray’s crispy fried green heirloom tomatoes emerge from the kitchen with creamy homemade fresh mozzarella and pickled Vidalia spring onions ($11). Spring and summer love.

Moxie Kitchen + Cocktails Welcomes Sbraga & Company for Two-Chef Collaborative Dinner in Jacksonville, Fla. August 29

Moxie Kitchen + Cocktails chef Tom Gray and chef Kevin Sbraga of soon-to-open restaurant Sbraga & Company – both in Jacksonville, Florida -- are uniting to co-host a collaborative dinner on Saturday, August 29.  A welcome cocktail greets guests as they mingle before sitting down to a three-course family style meal with cocktail pairings. Each chef will prepare a dish for each course enabling guests to sample fare from the two distinct restaurants. Cheddar biscuits and BBQ butter grace the table and make way for a first course of kale salad with benne and blue cheese; falafel with pimento yogurt; and heirloom tomato and ricotta tart. Second course features dry-aged beef with smoked onion, carrots and pesto along with wood-fired local fish with BBQ glaze, plus four sides. Dessert delves into peanut butter banana pudding and Mississippi mud milkshake with toasted marshmallow. Two seatings -- 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. -- in Moxie’s Coast to Coast room. Buy tickets online; $99 per person (including tax and gratuity).

Did you know it was tomato season?

You'd have to be living under a rock not to know that now's the time to eat tomatoes! Everyone is blogging about them, putting photos of juicy blt's on their Facebook pages, and all the restaurants are doing tomato events. Is this the best time of the year or what?

LaTavola has been doing TomatoFeast for several years now. Chef Craig Richards always gets creative with the menu and it really should not be missed. But speaking of missing it, the specials end on Saturday, August 8.

They have a 3-course menu (with choices) that is $29 (a deal!) or you can just order what you want a la carte. I took a look and made my selections:

• Crispy Pig's Trotter, frisee and plum tomato preserve
• Bucatini, tomatoes, anchovies, mint, Parmesan, black pepper
• Vanilla Panna Cotta, tomato-pineapple jam

If only every week were tomato week!

A Killer Dish

Gerry Klaskala of Aria will be one of the many well-known chefs creating a delicious tomato dish for JCT. Kitchen & Bar's Attack of the Killer Tomato Festival this Sunday. Here is a tasty sneak peek at what Klaskala will be whipping up:
Pan con tomate--oak grilled country bread rubbed with garlic, smashed with heirloom tomatoes slathered with freshly made ricotta with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkled with a handful of Ambergris Cay sea salt.

It's Tomato Time at JCT. Kitchen & Bar!

It’s prime time for tomatoes, and they'll be dangerously good this Sunday, August 9 at the first annual “Attack of the Killer Tomato Festival” at JCT. Kitchen & Bar. From 1 - 6 p.m., some of Atlanta’s best chefs and mixologists will pair up with local farmers to turn tomato varieties into tasty dishes and cocktails to benefit Georgia Organics. Guests will get to sample these tomato creations and see how their palates compare with those of the high-profile judges in attendance, including Andrew Knowlton of Bon Appetit, Donna Florio of Southern Living and Kate Krader of Food + Wine, who will be choosing a winning dish. Cold beer from 5 Seasons Brewing and free Bionade organic soda from Germany will also be available, along with live music from The Spazmatics.

JCT. Kitchen & Bar's Chef/Owner Ford Fry organized the event and gave us a sneak preview of the festivities this morning on WAGA-TV's Good Day Atlanta. Check out the video below to see how he takes tomatoes to the next level at JCT.


Tickets can be purchased at www.georgiaorganics.org ($50 per person/$45 for Georgia Organics’ members/$90 VIP package includes entry and access to an expanded open bar). Buy yours today!

JCT. Kitchen & Bar is located in Atlanta’s Westside Urban Market at 1198 Howell Mill Road, Suite 18; 404-355-2252.

The Time is Ripe for Tomatoes

As I wrote yesterday, I recently prepared a dinner celebrating the tomato. This week a couple of Atlanta restaurants will be hosting their annual dinners honoring the apple of love as well.

Chef Michael Tuohy will feature a rich variety of some of the state's best tomatoes for Woodfire Grill's 6th Annual Tomato Dinner on Wednesday, July 30. The four-course tomato menu, complete with wine pairings, runs $65 per person excluding tax and gratuity. Come join Chef Tuohy at his last tomato dinner in Atlanta. He's California-bound in August, moving west to open Grange in the Citizen Hotel, a boutique hotel near the state capitol in Sacramento. Tomato Dinner spaces are limited so call now to reserve your spot: 404-347- 9055. Woodfire Grill is located at 1782 Cheshire Bridge Road.

La Tavola Trattoria's Tomatofest runs from July 30 through August 9 with a special menu put together by Executive Chef Craig Richards with heirloom tomatoes from Dillwood Farms in Loganville. The Tomatofest menu is available à la carte ($6 - $21) or for the prix fixe cost of $39 per person. Drool over the menu offerings online. The video below features Richards making the heirloom tomato, peach and fennel salad from the menu. Enjoy Tomatofest dishes nightly at La Tavola Trattoria, 992 Virginia Avenue, NE; 404-873-5430.




Photos from La Tavola Heirloom Tasting 2008 by Alli Royce

Local Tomatoes Make For A Sweet Ending

To end the week of eating local, my roommate and I decided on a menu with a theme of tomatoes. First let me say that the reason I had breakfast for dinner at the beginning of the challenge was because my roommate was out of town. She is the cook in the apartment and I am helpless without her (thanks, Sara!). We hit up the neighborhood Whole Foods Market after a long Sunday at the pool. Since the sun had drained most of our energy, we decided on something simple.

Caprese salad with heirloom tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, fresh basil topped with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Via Elisa ricotta & spinach ravioli with tomato sauce.

The dinner table (aka our coffee table) spread includes fresh sundried tomato and basil bread from Whole Foods Market.

Vanilla Gelato Mio for our dessert!

Whole Foods Market angel food cake with vanilla Gelato Mio and fresh strawberries - yum!

For more photos of our team taking the Eat Local Challenge, visit our flickr page.