Perhaps you’ve dined on pasta al fresco but have you drummed up your own durum delights in the great outdoors? Leave it to Bellina Alimentari to carpe diem a fall evening by leading a BeltLine Pasta Making class at The Shed at Ponce City Market from 6:30-7:30 p.m. on Monday, October 17. Don’t wait for the pasta water to boil; snag complimentary tickets before they run out.
Wise owls are hooting about the fifth annual Harvest on the Hooch fest at the Chattahoochee Nature Center (CNC) from 1-4 p.m. on Sunday, October 16. Pounce on this opportunity for the whole family to spend an afternoon outdoors enjoying autumn’s splendor along with samplings from top local chefs, wineries and craft breweries, live bluegrass music, corn hole, hula hoops, scavenger hunts and other garden games. Be sure to join in a complimentary tour of the CNC between bites of tasty specialties from Drift Fish House & Oyster Bar, Seed Kitchen & Bar and The Big Ketch Saltwater Grill – Canton Street. Harvest on the Hooch highlights the vital connections between garden and plate while raising funds for the CNC’s Unity Garden, which supplies more than four tons of fresh produce annually for North Fulton Community Charities. This rain-or-shine event inevitably sells out. Snatch your tickets now: $45 adult; $15 child over 10; no admission charge for children under 10. VIP options available on ticket purchase page.
Sublime Doughnuts’ Cloud Coffee uplifts when that morning sluggishness or afternoon sinking spell threatens to slow you down. Foamed milk has milk-stache potential unless licking upper lips to catch every drop of these coffees in “Cloud” flavors of vanilla, caramel, chocolate and salted butter or served Bangkok-style with sweetened condensed milk and foamed milk or in a Swizzle cloud with a little bit of everything. Choose your temperature – Cloud Coffees can be enjoyed hot or iced.
Life and Thyme documents food culture around the globe. Peek at Instagram or watch “The Migrant Kitchen,” a life-and-times docu-series, here.
Raise hands and shout for joy! Eddie’s Attic is hosting a Gospel Brunch on Sunday, October 16, and Revival is fixing the victuals. Sway to the sounds of Wolf Pack ATL, featuring Kebbi Williams of Tedeschi Trucks Band, and Harold Holloway & Company, direct from The Gospel Tent in NOLA. Give thanks for the jazz-influenced tunes, which also are inspiring the brunch buffet selections Revival executive chef Andreas Müller and crew are preparing. The bountiful buffet boasts wild mushroom and smoky greens breakfast casserole; ham, roasted onion and cheddar cheese strata; breakfast sausage links and crispy bacon; buttermilk biscuits with gravy; fruit salad with boiled dressing; corned beef hash; fried catfish bites (people’s choice from last brunch); breakfast potatoes; and French toast casserole. Buffet is priced at $24 per person and includes coffee, soda and tea (tax and gratuity not included). Doors open and buffet begins at noon; music starts at 1 p.m. General admission tickets for the show are $20 each or purchase table seats in multiples of four for $20 per seat (tables filled day of show on first-come, first-served basis).
The Big Ketch Saltwater Grill on Canton Street in Roswell is passing the one-year buoy marker and celebrating its first anniversary with waves of fun, food and drink specials on Sunday, October 16 from 2-8 p.m. A special $1 menu features oysters and other tasty bites to munch on while enjoying live music and lawn games. Choose your toasting beverage: $5 mojitos, $5 margaritas, $8 Tiki cocktails or $3 local canned beer. Be sure to enter the raffle for a $250 The Big Ketch gift card. Perhaps your ship will come in and you’ll win!
Stuffing? Thanks, but we’re going to Save Room for Dessert during National Dessert Month. The larder is full of desserts -- boozy, sweet, baked, frozen, moussed and mixed from homemade brownie mix. Pumpkin pecan cobbler satiates the gobblers, Italian lemon olive oil cake with berries draws out the oohs and aahs, and pies are everyone’s pals -- peach hand pies, peanut butter pie, individual frozen Key lime pies...do apple pie fries count? Three-ingredient Nutella mousse is your easy breezy go-to, and no-bake mint chocolate lasagna, well, that’s in a category all its own.
This little piggie went to market, where he was promptly smoked and pulled for the $25-a-plate Freedom Farmers Market Pig Pickin fundraiser on Saturday, October 15. Pine Street Market’s Rusty Bowers wrestles the pig meat. Ormsby’s chef Nick Anderson handles the veggie sides spilling over into the pulled pork on big ol’ plates. Buy tickets online or on site for the 9 a.m.-1 p.m. family friendly event.
Infiniti and Atlanta magazine join forces to back their first Best Burger Battle, a showdown of almost two dozen of the best local burger joints, bourbon, blues and brews in the ATL. American Cut, Smokebelly BBQ and The Southern Gentleman are practicing their patties and flips for the action heating up The Shops Buckhead Atlanta on Saturday, October 15 from 1-5 p.m. Tickets are $50 each, inclusive of unlimited tastes, beer and bourbon. Cast votes for the People’s Choice Best Burger and see if the Atlanta magazine judges panel chooses the same as Best Burger Battle 2016 victor. Buy tickets online for this epic burger-rama. Open to ages 21 and over.
After 150 years of family farming, there’s no way to keep the anniversary party cooped up. On Saturday, October 15,White Oak Pastures is taking its 150th Anniversary Celebration off the farm and into Bluffton to coincide with the grand opening of the White Oak Pastures General Store at 101 Church Street. When you’re hungry, buy lunch, supper or chef Reid’s surprise 150th anniversary burger at the White Oak Pastures food truck and chase it down with wine or beer from the cash bar. Cap the day dancing to live music by the Bo Henry Band, an Albany, Georgia favorite. And that Southern Foodways Symposium we mentioned? Well, you can’t be in Oxford, Mississippi and Bluffton, Georgia at the same time, but you can watch the symposium on live stream in Bluffton. Free admission to all of these events. Farm cabins are available for overnight lodging or guests can opt to sleep under the stars and camp in a nearby field. More details on our blog, plus information on Sunday’s farm brunchin the White Oak Pastures Pavilion.
What are the odds the Lincoln-Douglas Biscuit-Cornbread Debate at the Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium (SFA) will have pollsters tallying and he-said, she-said sound “bites” flying across the airwaves? Could happen when Alabama biscuit roller Jennifer V. Cole and chef Kevin Gillespie, a Georgia skillet licker, exchange heated perspectives in the grand tradition of SFA debates over Pie vs. Cake and Traditional vs. Competition Barbecue. Batters up and butter pats at the ready for the debate at the SFA in Oxford, Mississippi, 7 p.m. on Saturday, October 15. Surely those biscuits are flaky and tender, but Gunshow/Revival Gillespie’s cornbread is backed by grandma.
There’s always room for One More Dish on the table…especially when there’s more than one chef in the kitchen. Follow the foodies as they traipse their taste buds and cameras through the kitchens and eateries of NYC and beyond.
Tailgaters and tea-timers will gobble recipes demoed at the Ray’s at Killer Creek Big Green Egg cooking class and tasting on Saturday, October 15 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Chef Mike Fuller’s BGE tasting menu touches down on smoked turkey and cucumber tea sandwiches with toasted pecan dijonnaise; five-spice duck salad with Georgia Gala apples, Marcona almonds, sweet peppers and ginger vinaigrette; Berkshire pork rack, smoky collards and baked mac and cheese; and cranberry cobbler with cinnamon whipped cream and Coca-Cola jam. $45 per person (excluding tax and gratuity) for cooking demo, tasting menu, coffee, iced tea or soda, and a choice of bloody mary, mimosa or 16-ounce draught beer. Reservations held with a credit card are required; call 770-649-0064.
We grilled Atlanta chefs about a topic near and dear to their flame-kissed hearts and very pertinent to a succulent gridiron season. Fire up the charcoal, but stop playing with your patties, advises Ray’s at Killer Creek executive chef Mike Fuller. Translation, for a juicy, tender burger, patty super-fresh ground beef until it just holds together.
Garrett Teckmyer, executive chef of Buckhead’s The Big Ketch, relies on planning and prep, soaking wood chips overnight then mixing them into the hot coals to add a nice smoky flavor to burgers. Teckmyer encourages branching out and grilling something different. He suggests wrapping crab legs in a wet paper towel, enfolding them in an aluminum foil packet and tossing the packet on the grill for five minutes.
Aria’s executive chef/owner Gerry Klaskala divulges that his Big Green Egg is his secret weapon. He rebels against lighter fluid, suggesting food tastes better when grillers use a chimney fire starter.
Gypsy Kitchen executive chef Matthew Ridgway advises using wood-based charcoal, pointing out that even though it’s pricier, less charcoal is needed.
Naturally, celebrity chef/owner of Gunshow and Revival and “Pure Pork Awesomeness” cookbook author Kevin Gillespie’s favorite thing to grill is pig. He even has a simplified Korean barbecue recipe in the book for the ever versatile meat, using thinly sliced pork shoulder and “whatever condiments you have.”
When it comes to ingredients, our chefs agree: buy the best you can find. As a huge Penn State and NASCAR infield tailgater, Marlow’s Tavern executive chef/co-founder John Metz always urges using quality steak, ribs or brisket, and he implores grillers not to compromise. Fuller prefers turning to a trusted butcher for hand-cut steaks that are at least an inch thick and choosing a rib-eye or a New York strip that has a 1/4-inch fat cap, which will melt and baste the steak as it cooks. Ridgway advises letting your grilled masterpiece rest for 10 minutes and pouring those delicious salty, meaty juices into your baked potatoes.
High proof that bourbon has a spirited life outside the glass Рthe bourbon-cured salmon starter at Drift Fish House & Oyster Bar served with benne cracker, jalape̱o, apple and radish ($12).
Atlanta chefs astutely follow the seasons when creating dishes for their locally sourced menus. Rake in some of their best fall harvest recipes from the pages of the newly released Community Farmers Market Fall Cookbook. Chef Kathryn King of Aria shares her recipe for orecchiette pasta and butternut squash with balsamic, fig and caramelized onion banner butter. Chef Kevin Gillespie, of Gunshow and Revival, clocks in with a well-grounded root vegetable soup, and Revival’s Andreas Müller tosses in his kale salad with boiled dressing. Add Gypsy Kitchen chef Matthew Ridgway’s green tomato chutney to your harvest table and save room for sweet potato pie from chef Kamal Grant of Sublime Doughnuts. Purchase the seasonal cookbooks, $12 each, at Community Farmers Market information booths, Cover Books and Preserving Place.
Diners savoring Gypsy Kitchen’s second anniversary celebration on Sunday, October 9, will unpack a sumptuous evening that could end with winning a VIP viewing package for the 2017 Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain! Celebration guests will feel like they’re caravanning through the lush Spanish countryside, dining on executive chef Matthew Ridgway’s rendition of paella on the patio ($10) backed by Basque guitar music. Complimentary gin and tonics await from 4-5 p.m., courtesy of sponsor Tanqueray. Keep on toasting to drink specials such as half-price select bottles of wine, $4 tintos de verano and $6 Tanqueray and tonics. One lucky diner and guest attending the event will receive the VIP viewing treatment during the 2017 Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain. Start by completing the entry form or submitting a business card that night for the 8:30 p.m. drawing. Must be present to win, so stick around for more tintos de verano or visit the photo booth to capture picture-perfect memories with a complimentary photo.
No one cooks like an Italian nonna, who learned from the best, her nonna. Club delle Orecchiette and Storico Fresco Alimentari e Ristorante are devoted to carrying the nonnas’ Italian culinary traditions forward, preparing Italian dishes as they’ve been prepared for generations and passing along the skills and recipes so they’ll not be lost.
Established in 1998 in the town of Altamura in southern Italy, the Orecchiette Club promotes Apulian orecchiette art; valuing indigenous raw ingredients, such as durum wheat, and the use of these ingredients in homemade pasta, bread and traditional bakery products. Club delle Orecchiette will share this luscious legacy through upcoming classes and dinners at Storico Fresco, Buckhead’s all-in-one Italian grocery store and restaurant, during the week of October 6-11. Learn how to make two different types of pasta -- orecchiette and capunti -- in the Club delle Orecchiette Pasta Class offered on Thursday, October 6 at 6 or 8 p.m. and Tuesday, October 11 at 6 or 8 p.m. Each hour-and-a-half class includes wine, small finger foods and instruction, and students take home their handcrafted pasta. Tap this link and select a date to book seats at an Orecchiette Club pasta class; $80 per person plus $4.99 service fee. Experience an authentic Italian five-course meal created by “the nonnas” at Club delle Orecchiette pop-up dinners on Saturday, October 8 at 7:30 p.m. and Wednesday, October 12 at 7:30 p.m. Dinners celebrate the food of Puglia and wine pairings accompany each course. Select a date and buy tickets online, $150 per person plus $8.84 service fee. Leave class or dinner fully content, pasta in hand or nonna-prepared dinner and wine in belly, and happy knowing a portion of ticket proceeds goes to Club delle Orecchiette and its quest to educate the public about these culinary riches and the culture of healthy and natural food.
Let’s talk epicurean economics. Prices for the various Taste of Atlanta admission tickets rise on Friday, October 7. Buy now and have more moolah left over to load extra Taste Points onto your RFID wristband and to enjoy even more of the Southeast’s best foods and spirited bevvies. Plus, your wristband(s) will be delivered in the mail in time for easy, breezy festival entrance. Follow this link to savings: Freshtix.com/TasteofAtlanta. Currently, single-day general admission tickets for October 21, 22 or 23 are $25 each and the VIP Grand Tasting Experience is $75. Tickets to the all-inclusive Friday night kickoff party are $65 general admission and $80 VIP.
Let's Taco 'Bout It – if you can fold a tortilla around it, you can make a taco out of it. No wonder, in our DIY nation, October 4 wraps up recognition as National Taco Day. Our board sizzles with easy-to-grasp recipes including grilled filet mignon street tacos, caramelized pork tacos with pineapple salsa, fish tacos with Sriracha aÑ—oli slaw and Buffalo chicken tacos. Please the crowd by setting out a slow cooker full of tender Mexican barbacoa short ribs or chili-lime shredded beef or by pulling out a pan of crispy, easy oven-baked spicy chicken tacos. Does taco dip count? If so, dive in!
