I receive a lot of information about special fixed menus at Atlanta restaurants, but I generally can’t take advantage because Katie is a vegetarian. Rarely do they have an option for her. So unless I’m looking for a hot man-date, I have to pass. It ain’t all bad, as it saves me money, but on occasion I find the menus intriguing and wish I could go.

When I heard about the Evening In Kerala dinner it satisfied two requirements: one, it’s a vegetarian meal (21 courses at that); and two – it’s close enough in proximity but does not directly lie on the unholiest of restaurant days – Valentine’s. I realize restaurants make a bunch of money on this holiday (sic), but I just choose to move my expenditure a few days before or after and actually enjoy my meal. But if you prefer rushed service and sloppy food, then by all means. I haven’t been to a restaurant for Valentine’s day since my first/last visit to Antico Posta, in 2003.

Anyways, I’ve been eager to learn more about Indian food (a goal of mine for 2011), so this dinner is a great, ahem, entree into this cuisine. Plus, nothing sounds more romantic than a spicy Indian meal, no?

My friend Annie (“the esperanzette”) sent me some info regarding a food benefit Esperanza and others are hosting this weekend at Star Bar. A can of food gets you a 35.4 centiliter can of Pabst. Is PBR already retro hipster? Just wondering.

As this is my first weekend partying in ATL in a long while, I think I’ll be stopping by. Plus, Annie is my arbiter of hip, so I know she wouldn’t steer me wrong. Details below.

info:
Esperanza Presents
with 4th Ward Heroes
There’s no place like the bar for the holidays.

Saturday 11/20
Star Community Bar
437 Moreland Ave., Little Five Points

Performances by:
Howlies
Stunned Ep Release
http://howlies.com/
The Barreracudas
http://www.myspace.com/barreracudas

A CAN FOR A CAN: PBR Sponsored Food Drive
Donate 1 can of food, receive a 12oz PBR
Atlanta Community Food Bank Benefit

Show starts at 10pm
Admission: $8 / 21+

WHYNATTE drink specials at the bar all night.
Local brands and bands holding it down for ATL.
Esperanza foam hands and merchandise for sale.

For more info please visit:
http://esperanza-atl.com/ || http://www.whynatte.com/ || http://pabstblueribbon.wordpress.com/ || http://clatl.com/

If you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Tim, allowing him to give you a slight push down the rabbit hole that is (stinky, creamy, funky, earthy) artisan cheese, now’s your chance.

After downing a few gin, tequila, and moonshine based cocktails, in my mind’s eye I was Federico Fellini with the camera, but I really didn’t get as many good photos (especially of food) as I thought. I shot some footage so I decided to slap this video together.

Hope everyone that attended had as great of a time as I did!

Many thanks to Georgia Organics, Ford Fry, JCT, Westside Provisions District, Melissa Libby & Associates, the Spazmatics, the volunteers, and of course the chefs and mixologists for putting on such a top notch event.

It’s flattering really, that someone thinks my website has the clout to influence consumers. I don’t pass along very many for a few reasons. For one, there are plenty of other websites (Creative Loafing) that do a much better job of listing upcoming events and such. More importantly, I don’t feel comfortable talking about events I don’t plan on attending, nor do I want to drive people to restaurants I have either never or visited or to which I’m not eager to return.

With that little disclaimer, here are a few that caught my eye:

Shaun Doty and Julia LeRoy (recently of Bookhouse) are cooking up a dinner next Wednesday night. I’m thinking of going – I never got to eat Julia’s food at Bookhouse, so here’s my chance to eat in an unrestricted format. More details here.

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Tim Gaddis (who has a great new blog), along with Kraig of Hop City, is hosting a cheese and beer tasting tomorrow night (July 1) at Abattoir. 7PM. $25. Reservations recommended.

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July 28-Aug 7 is “Tomato Feast” at La Tavola. There are some great menu options highlighting the best fruit of summer. The poached shrimp would be my appetizer selection.

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Woodfire Grill is having BBQ & Beer event this Saturday from 5:30 to 10:30PM. Three course dinner, Kevin is roasting a whole hog, Sweetwater beer (cash bar). Sounds killer – $38. Kevin is just returning from cooking at The James Beard House. I saw some pics online, it looked great. Congrats Kevin!

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Lastly, I saw that Pacci is donating $1 to help the Gulf Relief Fondation for every seafood dish ordered. That’s everything, from a full halibut entree, to the calamari appetizer. I’ve been hearing great things about Pacci lately and I think Chef Moritz is one of the most personable chefs I’ve ever met. I need to get back there soon.

This Saturday, April 17, is the 1st Annual Georgia Food Bloggers Bake Sale, organized by Tami of Running With Tweezers. The event is part of a nationwide food blogger bake sale benefitting Share our Strength.

The Atlanta event will be held at the Cabbagetown Market from 9AM-1PM. Agave has been kind enough to donate their parking lot for attendees, and is also going to offer a $10 coupon to their restaurant.

Local bakers CakeHag and Scratch Bakery will be offering up goodies, and who knows what tasty surprises you’ll get from the local lowly bloggers. If you can’t attend on Saturday, you can donate towards the cause by visiting the Georgia Share our Strength team page. But attending is your best bet. Word is, there’s a chance we may get a dunk tank set up on Saturday, with a special appearance by Foodie Buddha. This is an opportunity you Atlanta chefs won’t want to miss!!! :)

Full press release below, I hope you can attend and/or donate.

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Americans Rally Around Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale® to End Childhood Hunger

CITY, ST – With spring right around the corner, it’s time to join Share Our Strength® and bake a difference!  Share Our Strength, a national organization working to end childhood hunger in the United States, reports that thousands of Americans are signing up to help make sure no kid in America grows up hungry by participating in Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale, presented by Domino Sugar and C&H Sugar.  Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale is a national effort that encourages individuals to help end childhood hunger by holding bake sales in their communities.

In these tough times, neighbors, co-workers, businesses and families nationwide are making a difference.  Share Our Strength is challenging volunteers all across the country to come together and help answer an important question.  How many bake sales can volunteers hold in three days to help end childhood hunger?  500, 1000 or maybe 2,000! Teams are forming now for the Bake Sale National Challenge, April 16-18^th.  Sign up, select a day, choose a location and be counted.

As part of the effort, the first annual National Food Bloggers Bake Sale will be held on April 17. Organized by Gaby Dalkin of WhatsGabyCooking.com, food bloggers from across the country will unite to support the cause by holding bake sales in their states. Readers will have the opportunity to taste the baked goods from their favorite food blogs at each state’s bake sale location. For more information on participating in the National Food Bloggers Bake Sale, or to find a National Food Bloggers Bake Sale location near you, visit WhatsGabyCooking.com/bake-sale.

Funds raised through Great American Bake Sale support Share Our Strength’s efforts to end childhood hunger in America by helping fund afterschool and summer feeding program. “Today, more families in America are facing hunger due to the economy and rising unemployment,” said Bill Shore, Share Our Strength Founder and Executive Director.  “Summer is an especially difficult time because nearly 17 million children facing hunger in America no longer have access to the school meals they rely on,” added Shore.

Great American Bake Sale empowers individuals, including children, to make a difference in their own communities and become part of the solution. Since 2003, more than 1.7 million people have participated in the Great American Bake Sale, raising nearly $6 million.

Great American Bake Sale is also supported by Family Circle, Food Network, and Ultragrain. To register or learn more visit www.GreatAmericanBakesale.org.

About Share Our Strength

Share Our Strength^® is the leading national organization working to make sure no kid in America grows up hungry. We weave together a net of community groups, activists and food programs to catch children at risk of hunger and ensure they have nutritious food where they live, learn and play. We work with the culinary industry to create engaging, pioneering programs like Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation; Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale^®; Share Our Strength’s A Tasteful Pursuit; Share Our Strength’s Great American Dine Out; and Share Our Strength’s Operation Frontline. Visit Strength.org.

Taqueria del Sol is celebrating their 10th anniversary by opening up on a single Sunday for each location. The Decatur location will be open for a 12-3PM brunch, featuring huevos rancheros for $8. The other locations will be open from 6-9PM and each location will have a different specialty dish. The Westside event will be on April 4 and will feature fajitas with traditional fixings for $10. The Athens location will have green chile cheeseburgers/fries for $9 on April 18, and on April 25 Cheshire Bridge will have turnip green tamales with pork crackling and refried black eyed peas for $10.

I am often in the Westside Provisions District, but I generally avoid that TDS like that line out the front door is the Baatan death march. I have little interest in standing in line in the sweltering heat for 1 hour, and similarly I don’t want to freeze my ass off with an icy cold margarita in hand. BUT, I recently hit up TDS around 9PM when the line was short and I thoroughly enjoyed my meal, especially the special-of-the-day crispy shredded beef taco. I need to add TDS to my regular rotation, but just pick my moments better. If you need recurring enticement, you can sign up to receive their weekly email updates.

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Last year I attended the Wine Enthusiast ‘Toast of the Town’ event at the Aquarium. It was fun – there was some decent wine, especially at the VIP tasting, and good eats from numerous chefs around Atlanta too. The aquarium ballroom isn’t a shabby destination either, especially if they’ve managed to keep all the sharks and beluga whales alive for this event. The event is offering my readers $10 off the regular tickets and $20 off the VIP tickets. Use code ‘PRMOUTHPIECE’. Just kidding, PATL10 is what you actually need to use.

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Cochon 555 is coming to Atlanta on 4/18 (my birthday, btw). If you haven’t seen the concept, it’s 5 chefs, 5 pigs, and 5 winemakers (read: you’ll be buzzed, riding a pork high). Tickets are $125/$175 VIP. That’s a lot of clams, but the event has some impressive chefs (Sean Brock, Kevin Rathbun, Todd Mussman, Mike Lata, Kelly English), and the wineries include Gamble Family Winery and Hirsch Vineyards. Hirsch makes some killer pinot noir, so that is really tempting me.

heh, labial palp

In addition to being pretentious about sushi, I’m also funny about oysters. I like them to be small, clean, not runny, cold, salty, fresh, and most importantly, raw. Or so I thought.

Having a large contingent of friends from Savannah, we generally had an oyster “roast” once a year at Georgia Tech, which generally consists of hundreds of pounds of oysters, a turkey fryer style pot with propane heater, a boat load of saltines, cocktail sauce, and ice cold ‘merican lager. The oysters are steamed, sometimes boiled, and I have no idea why they call it a roast. It must be the same people that came up with Valentime’s Day.

Being all growed up and out of college, it’s been a few years since I’ve participated in a roast, so this past Saturday I got my chance to revisit this event when we threw an engagement party for my brother, Thomas. I guess oyster season is in full effect, because all on that one Saturday there was an oyster festival at Park Tavern, I watched Jacque and Julia prepare shellfish on television, a friend randomly called and asked if I had an oyster shucker, and then we finally had Thomas’ roast that evening.

I ended up learning a good bit from my good pals Jacque & Julie, as I’m still a relative oyster novice. Of course they had good tips on how to open an oyster, but did you know that you should always store oysters curved shell side down, with the lid facing up, so that the oyster is sitting in its own juices? I didn’t. I learn more from that show in one half hour than I do in a week of watching Food Network. It comes on every Saturday on PBS at 11:30AM.

While I’m not going to swear off my allegiance to the wonderful raw Kumamoto oyster, the steamed oysters were damn good, especially the oysters that hadn’t opened up yet. Oysters get gummy and lose their salty, oceanic appeal when they open up during cooking. The closed oysters were still plump and bursting with flavor, and each tiny wisp of heat generated when the oyster first opened, followed by the sensation of the warm & salty bivalve when eaten, was welcome on a cold, inebriated evening. Thanks to Nick for bringing up 120lbs of oysters from Savannah.

If you want to throw warm oysters down your gullet, but missed the opportunity last weekend, check out the Steamhouse Lounge Oyster fest in Midtown this weekend. Tickets are available here.

And just because, here are some highlights of Jacque and Julia’s cooking show. Set your DVR’s for Saturday (or Netflix it). Seriously.

I had the honor of serving as a media judge for the Southeast regionals last night, where the regional winner earns the right to travel to the CIA at Greystone and compete for $20k and a chance to cook along side a “well known” chef.

I was a little wary when I was asked to be one of the seven tasting judges, as I assumed they did what most PR folks did, which is to Google “Atlanta food blog”, then contact each of the top five results, and see who bites. As I didn’t see the Blissful Glutton, Chow Down Atlanta, or Foodie Buddha there, I presume they all passed on the opportunity. I’m glad I didn’t.

Each of the eight young chefs were given a few hours to prepare their dish, and they were each judged by three different sets of people. There were kitchen judges who were watching their technique and preparation, then there were seven of us tasting the results – four chef judges and three media judges. The chef judges included Eli Kirshtein and Sean Brock, and the media judges included Donna from “Dishing with Donna” and Meredith Ford-Goldman of the AJC. I was definitely in good company, and it was a lot of fun meeting some of these people and hearing them analyze dishes and ask questions of the oft-nervous chefs.

I was impressed by how many of them were chasing their dream, which is often very unglamorous in the food industry. One young lady, who served a solid rack of lamb dish with purple Peruvian potatoes, had only been cooking a few years, and had previously worked at a security check point at the Atlanta airport. Now she works a full time job at Dolce in addition to having a family and attending culinary school.

This chef was only 19 years old and served us the pistachio crusted pork with collards and sweet potato photographed below. The dish ultimately fell short, but I was impressed with his abilities at such a young age, and he did very well in front of the judges. It must be so nerve-wracking to try to present something you cooked for such accomplished chefs, and at such an inexperienced age.

The winning dish is below – sumac seared duck breast, braised duck leg, parsnip puree, and bull’s blood microgreens. Chef Timothy DeVore’s presentation was the best of the evening, and the appearance was indicative of the quality. Save for the aforementioned rack of lamb, this protein was served at the most appropriate temperature of all the dishes. Many of the challengers had a tough time with the timing, and ended up serving us overcooked salmon, tuna, pork, and duck. I’m sure that sort of thing will correct itself as these chefs gain experience.

But the winning dish was very solid top to bottom. I liked how the duck was prepared two ways, the duck breast was still slightly pink, the parsnip puree was still warm with even texture, the sauce was of appropriate consistency, and the micro green garnish was a tasty addition that also added to the overall aesthetic. This was a dish I’d be very satisfied with at many restaurants. Download the recipe here.

Timothy also deserves a shout out for plugging Pellegrino in his requisite participation questionnaire, citing his love of Pellegrino and how he couldn’t wait to cook with Pellegrino water. You are wise to understand marketing and sponsorships, young man.

The only downside of this competition was that it was very tough facing challengers with sub par submissions. Many chefs had worked very hard to get to this point in the competition, practicing their dishes over and over again for family and friends, many of whom were nervously watching the judging through glass. This was a big opportunity for many of these chefs, and I did feel badly to have to judge some dishes negatively. That was a new experience for me, and I can’t say I enjoyed that part of it.

But it must have been even tougher for those chefs to serve food they knew was overcooked to seven people whose job it is to judge the preparation, flavor, and overall enjoyment. Those chefs live to cook another day, and I applaud them for their efforts, not only for last night, but in their general endeavors to turn their passion into a career.

I wish I could see the finals in Napa, and just my luck, it turns out that FoodBuzz and S. Pellegrino are going to send one lucky blogger to the finals, all expenses paid. Having participated in the regional event, I now have a vested interest in seeing our elected winner represent our region and take down the other candidates. Through my research leading up to this event, my time spent judging last night, and through the time spent developing this post, I have a great understanding of this event, and would do a good job covering it. If FoodBuzz and San Pellegrino are reading this, I hope that you’ll consider me.