Wow, what a mouthful! But this Sunday at 5Church Atlanta is too huge to miss. Two James Beard Award-winning chefs, 5Church executive chef RJ Cooper and “Big Bad Breakfast” cookbook author John Currence, are coming together for "Breakfast with the Beards" on Sunday, September 25 at 1:30 p.m. For $50 per person (cocktails included), guests will partake in a three-course family style brunch featuring recipes from “Big Bad Breakfast” such as banana-pecan coffee cake, shrimp and pickled onion crepes with Mornay, chorizo migas, apple cobblers and more. Amid all the brunching, buddies Cooper and Currence will discuss life as award-winning chefs and Currence’s sure-to-be-a-crowd-pleaser cookbook, which released on Friday, September 16. Books will be available for purchase ($30) and can be signed at the event. Seats are limited; call 404-400-3669 for reservations.
5Church fans opting to brunch in the main dining room, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., can still go the “Big Bad Breakfast” route by ordering the $18 three-course prix fix menu featuring a selection of dishes from the cookbook. Dubbed “The Hangover Helper,” this hefty breakfast is sure to tame I-was-out-too-late-last-night headaches and tummy grumbles. Menu highlights include creamed “chipped” mushrooms on toast ($8); crawfish cakes with Creole mustard aioli ($8); Hillbilly Eggs Hussarde with mushrooms, smoked ham, hollandaise and red-eye gravy ($12); oyster “potpie” ($12); duck fat beignets with rye whiskey caramel sauce ($7); sausage-cinnamon rolls with caramelized Vidalia onion ice cream ($8); and Decatur Street Gutter Punk with espresso, gin, cream, absinthe, brown sugar simple syrup, egg yolk, lemon juice and a lime twist ($8). Book sale and signing available at noon for brunch guests (prior to "Breakfast with the Beards" event). As always, 5Church guests enjoy validated parking in the Colony Square parking deck.
“Big Bad Chef” John Currence of City Grocery Restaurant Group in Oxford, Mississippi is inbound for the May 28-31Atlanta Food & Wine Festival, and he’s spending the evening of Friday, May 29 with fellow chef and restaurateur Shaun Doty. The two chefs are throwing Big Bad Pop-Up dinners that night at Doty’s Bantam + Biddy on Crescent Avenue in Midtown. In high-energy and quick-serve fashion over the night’s four casual dinner seatings, Currence, Doty and visiting chefs Vishwesh Bhatt, Kelly English and Duane Nutter will delight guests with chef-inspired street food and cocktails with menu items ranging from $5-$15. Currence launched the Big Bad Pop-Up dinner series three years ago as a “rad” way for chefs and guests to meld and help out local charities such as The Giving Kitchen and The Piedmont School, beneficiaries of the Bantam + Biddy pop-up. $20 reservation fee holds a seat and will be credited to the night’s bill. Buy tickets online.
On July 15-16, John Currence of City Grocery in Oxford, Miss., is heating up the Gunshow kitchen as visiting chef for Kevin Gillespie’s Hired Guns Southern chef series. Currence, originally from New Orleans, grew up in a family that loved to cook and was inspired by Louisiana living and global travels. His Hired Guns dishes include: gumbo z’herbes, German sweet potato salad, mushroom tamales, and Szechuan catfish with stir-fried rice and summer vegetables. Currence opened City Grocery in 1992 and he has since then been honored with many accolades, including the James Beard Foundation award for Best Chef. Last year, he completed his first cookbook – “Pickles, Pigs & Whiskey: Recipes from My Three Favorite Food Groups and Then Some” – and will sell copies during his time at Gunshow. Reserve your seat today: 404-380-1886.
