Coming Soon-Marlow's Duluth

I drove to Duluth on Monday to check out the newest Marlow’s Tavern location. The new space looks fabulous! The walls are adorned with flat screen TV’s and framed black and white photographs. The booths and tables are installed and ready for the first diners. The open kitchen sparkles in the back of the space, and the lengthy bar is ready for its first patrons. So get ready for Tuesday January 20th when the new Marlow’s opens its doors!
Marlow's Duluth:
1950 Satellite Blvd, Duluth, GA 30097
www.marlowstavern.com

We've Lots Up Our Sleeves For a Fun New Year's Eve!

Raise a glass of bubbly and say "So long!" to 2008. Here's to Atlanta's fabulous restaurants for offering plenty of ways to wine and dine while ushering in 2009! Make your way to one of these dining destinations for a fabulous New Year's Eve celebration!

Aqua blue at 1564 Holcomb Bridge Road; 770-643-8886

Dogwood in the Reynolds Condominium Building at 565 Peachtree Street, NE; 404-835-1410.

Eclipse di Luna Miami Circle at 764 Miami Circle;
404-846-0449.

South City Kitchen Midtown and Vinings: Visit the Midtown location at 1144 Crescent Avenue; make reservations at 404-873-7358 or the Vinings location at 1675 Cumberland Parkway. Make reservations at 770-435-0700.

La Tavola at 992 Virginia Avenue, NE. Make reservations at 404-873-5430.

Marlow's Tavern: There are five locations in the Atlanta area: Alpharetta at 3719 Old Alabama Road, 770-475-1800; Kennesaw at 745 Chastain Road, NW, 770-425-8777; Midtown at 950 West Peachtree Street, 404-815-0323; Vinings at 2355 Cumberland Parkway, 770-432-2526; and Northlake at 4156 LaVista Road; 678-987-1197

Morton's Steakhouse - There are two locations in the Atlanta area: Morton's in Buckhead is located in the Peachtree Lenox Building at 3379 Peachtree Road, NE,
404-816-6535 and downtown in the SunTrust Plaza Building at 303 Peachtree Center Avenue,404-577-4366.

Toulouse at 2293 Peachtree Road, NE; 404-351-9533.

Woodfire Grill at 1782 Cheshire Bridge Road, NE;
404-347-9055.

DailyCandy Definition

The Tasty De-Lie perches precariously on the scale of justice, between the common little white and the sink-your-teeth-into whopper. One more bite and the scale will tilt, and not in your favor! You can’t hide a calorie from The DailyCandy Lexicon.

Tasty De-Lie: n. The false belief that Tasti D-Lite is healthy.

All I Want for Christmas is an Urban Composter

So, I set out to buy my master gardener mother some goodies for her Christmas stocking and I end up adding an urban composter to my own Santa list. That's what a trip to Farmer D's brand new store will do for you. It's like when you go to Michael's and you start imagining yourself as an artist and get all inspired to create some beautiful things. At Farmer D's you'll get excited about gardening, creating a sustainable environment in your own little world.

The store is located on North Druid Hills at Briarcliff, sharing a door with Avril's car wash. When I walked up, Farmer D was there proudly showing a lady a large barrel of worms squirming around in some very rich, dark brown soil. She seemed duly impressed so I oohed and aahed too. Inside is a beautiful store with tons of merchandise - all organic. You can stock up on Farmer D's own brand of biodynamic fertilizer, buy gardening tools, browse the book section, and check out cool products that you never knew existed - like an urban composter. This thing is small for us city dwellers and pretty much does the work for you - automatically churning your waste every four hours and providing you with beautiful soil every 2 weeks! Did I mention I want one of these???

I got my mom a cool wire bird feeder and some suet for inside it, seeds for some hearty lettuces, a homemade reusable produce bag, and a book on composting (hee hee!). Farmer D's store is open every day. I recommend checking it out. And if you get that composter, call me so I can come over and see it work!

Parker's on Ponce Brings White Oak Pastures Beef To the Table

Downtown Decatur is DeKalb county’s favorite location for unique shops and locally owned restaurants. Independently owned steakhouse, Parker’s On Ponce, is one of our favorites. Parker’s On Ponce is known for serving a traditional steakhouse menu in modern environs. In their effort towards supporting local food, the steakhouse uses grass-fed beef of Georgia’s own White Oak Pastures. The dinner menu sizzles with steaks ($15-$52) ranging from flat iron, filet mignon, New York strip, Kansas City strip, ribeye, and a “Porterhouse Steak for Two.” A wide variety of non-steak entrees ($14-$19), appetizers ($7-$14), and soups and salads ($6-$15) round out the offerings. An extensive wine list, custom cocktail menu and microbrew list pour on plenty of holiday cheer for sipping and toasting by the stacked-stone fireplace! Open for lunch and dinner.

Parker’s on Ponce : 116 East Ponce de Leon Avenue (between Church Street and Clairmont Road on the Decatur Square); 404-924-2230.

Eat Drink Learn at Woodfire Grill

Monday night Citysearch hosted an incredible Eat Drink Learn event at Woodfire Grill. Chef Kevin Gillespie paired five amazing appetizers with five wines that were perfect for dishing up at home for your own New Year's Eve party.

We enjoyed crab salad profiteroles with Georgia caviar, beet salad with fried goat cheese, grilled Vietnamese beef, potato leek shooters, apple bacon grilled cheese bites and chocolate fudge. Everything was delicious but the resounding favorite was the grilled cheese. We couldn't get enough!

After the event, Citysearch Editor Jonathan Baker shared his thoughts on the event -
"This was my personal favorite of all the events we've done so far this year. People could not stop talking to me about how good the food was, and a few of our guests ended up ordering dinner because of that, which wasn't surprising. The food presentation was perfect-- the silver spoons that held the Vietnamese beef to the toss-em-back crab and caviar puff pastries...it was exactly what we were hoping for. And I think I personally turned a few fellow Malbec drinkers into big Barbera fans thanks to that sampling. The crowd was bigger than expected and was a colorful range of folks from nicely dressed young professionals, to established media personas, and hiply-bearded musicians. The staff did an incredible job handling an unusually high amount of people for that space. It far exceeded expectations."

At the end of the evening, Whole Foods donated gift bags for five lucky winners that included chocolate truffles, holiday lip balms and scented travel candles. The vanilla peppermint candle smelled so good I decided to pick up a few for last minute holiday gifts.

If you missed this event, don't despair. Woodfire Grill is hosting a blind wine tasting tonight that is sure to be a fun time. Held during regular dinner hours (5:30 - 10 p.m.), guest can blind taste eight red wines for $15.

Happy Holidays Atlanta!

Photographed above: Caryn, Lindsay, Meryl, Marissa, Tanai, McCall, Hollie, Melissa, Sheena and MacKenzie

Happy Holidays everyone! The ladies of Atlanta Dish got together last night for a holiday dinner at Allegro. There was so much great Italian food we were rolling to our cars after dinner. We started off with champagne to celebrate a wonderful year at MLA and then came the wine, Nebbiolo to be exact. It was hard to choose since Allegro’s wine list features several wines from different regions in Italy, but Melissa did a good job.

Lindsay liked it!

We tried a little bit of everything from the menu including…

Caprese di Allegro

Sapori Italiani

Risotto Pescatore

We wish you all a happy holiday and a great new year. Thanks for reading!

Allegro is located at 560 Dutch Valley Road, 404-888-1890.

DailyCandy Definition

When the food on your plate is too pretty to eat, it's just darn foodilicious, according to The DailyCandy Lexicon. So, what's a diner to do? Ooh, aah, capture the moment with your camera phone then eat up... it won't stay hot forever!

Foodilicious: adj. a term describing really attractive food.The holiday party buffet was so foodilicious no one wanted to be the first one to disturb the teriyaki tree or fondue and fruit bouquet.

Hungry for Holiday Food

I went to the first of several holiday parties this weekend and man, the food was good. One of the reasons I love this time of year is the party food. Seeing family is good and presents are great, but holiday party food is by far the best.

I wish someone had made these cinnamon-bun ebelskivers that the Bay Area Foodie writes about. The pictures alone make my tummy rumble.

The guys at Hedonia solve the ugly cheese ball dilemmia every host faces (Mom, I hope you're reading) by using all white cheeses and rolling pecans into the mix - yum. Great idea and I know guests would be asking for the recipe.

I have another party on Wednesday of this week. Can't wait to see what they serve!

Food Photography Workshop at Eclipse Di Luna

I want to extend a huge thank you to Frank and Max of Atlanta Photography for teaching the MLA team the tricks of photographing food last night. Eclipse Di Luna was the perfect restaurant to practice taking photos in dim mood light. I quickly discovered that shooting food has unique challenges, and I was not using my point and shoot camera to its full potential. With a few tips on restaurant lighting, camera angles and composition, our photographs drastically improved. The top take away from the workshop was to turn off your flash! From now on, the MLA team and I are ready to take food photos with confidence.

www.atlantaphotography.org

www.eclipsediluna.com

Michael Pollan Does Atlanta

Georgia Organics has just announced their 12th Annual Conference and Trade Show will feature Michael Pollan, renowned advocate of local and sustainable food and best-selling author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food and The Botany of Desire, as the keynote speaker.

This year’s conference will be held at Agnes Scott college near downtown Decatur. Activities will take place from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, March 20 and from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 21. Highlights will include local farm tours, educational sessions on whole farm planning, mushrooms, intensive urban agriculture, urban homesteading, children’s and farm-to-school tracks, and trade show exhibits, in addition to farm-fresh food prepared by local chefs for the popular Organic Banquet.

Early registration for Georgia Organics members begins January 7, 2009. Preference will be given to members of Georgia Organics; those interested in becoming members can click here. To be a sponsor or exhibitor, click here.

Craft and Flip: First Bites

I am not a chef groupie. When you work with chefs for a living you quickly realize that they are people just like us. So I leave the celebrity chef worshipping to others. Then how did I end up at both Craft and Flip on their opening nights with all the other sycophants? Coincidence and happenstance, my friends. I swear.

Craft exceeded my expectations which were admittedly low after (not) enjoying many other "celebrity chef" restaurants in town, both recently and in the past. It's a great looking restaurant and the food was spot on. Being with a group of six I tasted over 20 items and nothing failed. My favorite dish: braised beef short ribs. Fork tender, juicy, full of flavor - I believe the whole table (except the vegetarian) proclaimed it one of the best dishes we tried.

Flip was also a winner. The restaurant is hip and fun and the food was delish. We tried the lamb burger, bun mi burger and pork belly with cheese burger. And the fries. And the nutella milkshake. But the winner was: sweet potato tots with blue cheese foam. YUM.

Now that I think about it, the Craft short ribs and the Flip tots would make a great combination. Maybe Chefs Tom and Richard can talk about that. I might even consider becoming a groupie if that happened!

Dark Knight DVD Launch Event at Blockbuster in Brookhaven

Last night I attended the Dark Knight DVD launch event at Blockbuster in Brookhaven from 10 p.m. to midnight. Rock 100.5's Tim Andrews entertained customers with Dark Knight trivia,

Reese's peanut butter cup-eating-contests, and a Heath Ledger scavenger hunt. Prizes included a Dark Knight poster and a Blu-Ray system with Dark Knight DVD. Customers waited patiently in line until midnight so they could purchase the DVD. If you haven't seen it yet, go to your nearest Blockbuster and get a copy!

Toys and Birthdays and Bears, Oh My!

This week is packed with fun events that sure to be beneficial for everyone. Check out these parties at Greazy Spoon's very own Marlow's Tavern and Aqua blue for a good time or a good cause!

Toys for Tots at Marlow's Tavern Midtown

Why toy with a good thing? Last year's Toys for Tots drive at Marlow's Tavern Midtown was such a hit, the Marines are back for more! Grab your friends and have fun picking out some of the hottest new toys, then take the whole kit and caboodle to the Marlow's Midtown drive on Thursday, December 11 beginning at 6 p.m. U.S. Marine Corps Reserve members will be filling their "sleighs" with the toys to deliver to area children who would otherwise go without. What's in it for you? The warmth of knowing you'll make a child smile -- and a cup of cheer for you. Marlow's knows you really want to play with that toy yourself, so they'll give you a ticket to trade for a free glass of house wine or beer when you hand over the toy (one ticket per customer). And aren't those Marines fantastic, serving our country abroad and right here in our community? Be sure to say "thanks" while you're there!

Marlow's Midtown: 950 West Peachtree Street; 404-815-0323.

Marlow's Tavern in Kennesaw Turns 1

Proud parent Marlow's Tavern is planning big times to celebrate the first year of its Kennesaw location. Each time you enjoy a lunch or dinner special at Marlow's Kennesaw through December 10, you'll receive a raffle ticket to redeem for a glass of house wine or draft beer (one per ticket holder) at their anniversary party on Thursday, December 11. Drop your ticket in the hopper for a chance drawing to win one $30 Marlow's gift card each week for one year (one card may be used every seven days; gratuity not included). Party starts at 7 p.m. and runs full steam until 10 p.m. with passed hors d'oeuvres, drink specials and live entertainment.

Marlow's Tavern Kennesaw: 745 Chastain Road, NW; 770-425-8777.

Teddy Bear Brunch at Aqua blue

Hand-in-hand with the medical science of healing comes the soft hugs of a teddy bear to raise the spirits of a hospitalized child. Aqua blue in Roswell wants to help bring smiles to the faces of the young patients at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta by collecting new teddy bears at a Teddy Bear Brunch from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Saturday, December 13. Each family that brings a new teddy bear, with tags still attached, will receive a "blue chip" card for each child, good for a complimentary meal from the children's menu on their next visit. On the Teddy Bear Brunch menu: carved ham, London broil with Marsala mushroom sauce, roasted turkey with giblet gravy, garlic mashed potatoes, sautéed vegetables, macaroni and cheese, house and Caesar salad, a variety of fresh sushi, chicken fingers and desserts. Scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage, pancakes, biscuits and sausage gravy, home fries, fresh fruit and assorted pastries round out the menu. $19.95 for adults and $8.95 for children four to 12; children under four eat free. Call 770-643-8886 for reservations.

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Foundation is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to bringing health, hope and happiness to children through philanthropic and volunteer support for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

Aqua blue: 1564 Holcomb Bridge Road; 770-643-8886.

DailyCandy Definition

This time of year, thoughts turn to visions of sugarplums dancing in sleeping heads. Good thing, because if you believe in fridea, we think you’ll be out on the lawn, making a clatter – and we bet The DailyCandy Lexicon will back us up.

Fridea - n. the belief that greasy onion rings, quesadillas, fried pickles, and bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches make sensible bedtime snacks.

Please Fasten Your Seats Belts and Put Your Seat Backs And Tray Tables in the Upright and Locked Position…

I love when people know how to party!! Any good party planner knows that the tone of the party is set long before guests begin arriving. That’s why I knew that I was in for a trip when I received my invitation to the Concierge Society of Atlanta’s holiday celebration, which was fashioned to look like an airline ticket. The theme for the event on Thursday, December 4, was “Fly Away with CSA” and the attire was “70s airline chic” …oh, the possibilities were endless.

Needless to say, those wild and crazy concierges did not disappoint. Everyone really got into the spirit!! I don’t think I have seen so many afros since the last time the hubby made me watch Pam Grier (the only woman we have agreed he may leave me for; even though she is twice our age)in Foxy Brown. From the bad wigs and stewardess uniforms (yes stewardess, not flight attendant), to the bellbottoms and flower shirts, I felt like I was in an episode of That 70s Show, minus that adorable Wilmer Valdarrama.

We played games for delicious prizes like dinner for two at City Grill and $50 Visa gift cards before drawing the winner of the door prize – two airline tickets to San Francisco (courtesy of Airtran Airlines), three nights in the Hyatt and a $300 transportation credit from Boston Coach. Although I left without the trip to Frisco, as we Californians call it, the swag bags were no consolation gifts. How could I complain about gifts from Dailey’s, Eclipse di Luna, Morton’s, Uncle Julio’s and Bliss Spa. Peace and happiness; good stuff.

Chic Cookies Makes Holiday Baking Easy

During the holiday season, one of my favorite things to do is bake cookies. Unfortunately, holiday baking usually requires a lot of effort just to get started. It’s usually difficult to find a good selection of cookie cutters, the right color of icing, etc. And, with the increase of the price of groceries today, the task has become quite bothersome.

Fortunately, I was recently introduced to cookie kits from Chic Cookies. Each kit comes with everything you need to decorate your sugar cookies – frosting bags, cookie cutters, gel paste and decorating tips. The kits also have a step-by-step guide to recreating the decorations in the photos, making them look a lot more like they’re supposed to.

Chic Cookies also has kits for just about every occasion and holiday – I can’t wait to check out other ones!

Cheers!

When you go to happy hour tonight remember that 75 years ago the 21st Amendment went into action, repealing Prohibition. Cheers to that!

Yelp Holiday Party

Last night I had the chance to attend the fabulous Yelp Holiday Event at The Loft in midtown. The Loft was the perfect choice for this event because it provided ample room for the amount of attendees (including room to get your groove on) and provided a funky backdrop to highlight all of the generous sponsors of the party. I had only been to The Loft for a concert, but found that this was a perfect place for a party. The place was packed with holiday adorned yelpers, all ready to check out some of the great food that was provided, all from a wide variety of sponsors. I came prepared to sample as much as possible!

Some of my personal favorites were there, Legal Sea Foods, Marlow’s Tavern, Toulouse, Ecco, La Tavola Trattoria, the new Italian restaurant Il Mulino, as well as many others. Ask me how I ate all this food? Good question. To be honest, it was all so tasty I decided to stuff myself against my better judgment. Some of the restaurants served their classic dishes, like Marlow’s Tavern, who were serving shrimp and grits while others branched out and served less traditional dishes such as flavored popcorn. Toulouse was another one of the other favorites for the night, preparing perfectly paired butternut squash ravioli and duck. The party not only provided food but a chance to smoke hookah, receive a tarot card reading, and get a free massage, all while drinking a Yelptini, courtesy of 3am vodka. Needless to say there was something for everyone here at this event.

This was my first event that I had attended, and I can say for sure it definitely won’t be the last- I had a great time! It was fun to enjoy a night with people whose reviews I read periodically and put a face with the name, as well as a great kick-off to the holiday season!

Behind the Scenes: Eclipse di Luna Photo Shoot

Chef Ben McPherson's new menu at Eclipse di Luna (the Miami Circle location) is getting lots of attention. So much so, we decided to get some photos taken of his new delicious dishes. On Tuesday I headed over to the restaurant to meet up with photographer Jonathan Stancel and Chef Ben. Ben had prepared some of his newest and hottest tapas for the shoot. The smell of the fresh cooked food was intoxicating and the vibrant colors in each dish seemed to jump right off the plate.

Jonathan did an awesome job of using the natural light on the patio to accent each dish. He took several shots from all angles and was really focused on capturing the essence of each plate. After all of the food shots were finished, Jonathan thought it would be cool to get some shots of Ben in kitchen. It was a cool space and made for some truly unique photos.

Overall, the day went great. We got some great photos and had a fun afternoon at the restaurant. Check out some of the photos:

This (above) is a friseé, fennel and pear salad with Valdeón clue cheese and a creamy almond dressing($3.95).

This (above) is the grilled asparagus with manchego cheese, lemon and extra virgin olive oil ($4.50).

This (above) is the grilled chicken breast taco with roasted corn-pablano salad and Peruvian chile sauce ($4.50).

This (above) is the grilled hanger steak with onion marmalade, red pepper pureé and crispy onions ($5.25).

This (above) is the salmon ceviche with mint, cucumber, avocado, red onion and crispy yucca ($5.75).

This (above) is the tuna seared rare with an olive, fingerling potato, green bean salad and poached egg vinaigrette ($4.50).

This (above) is the octopus with fingerling potatoes, red onion, capers, smoked paprika and 50 year old Sherry Vinegar ($5.25).

And here (above) is the man that created it all, Chef Ben McPherson. Stop by the Miami Circle location of Eclipse di Luna to try some of his latest culinary creations.

Eclipse di Luna - Miami Circle: 764 Miami Circle; 404-846-0449