A
NO-THUMP WATERMELON? PICK PINKBERRY'S
NEW WATERMELON FROZEN YOGURT TOPPED WITH WATERMELON AND CUKES FOR SHORT TIME
ONLY!
 It
wouldn't be summer in the South without juicy, red watermelon! Pinkberry,
the number-one tart frozen yogurt brand, is pleased to oblige by holding
Watermelon Happy Hour daily from 5 - 7 p.m. During the two-hour time slot, customers can purchase any serving of
watermelon Pinkberry -- including swirls, side by sides and toppings for half
price. Stay cool as a cuke by ordering
the trend-setting combination of watermelon frozen yogurt topped with fresh
watermelon puree, diced watermelon and hand-diced seedless cucumbers. Packed with vitamins yet light on calories,
this healthy treat is available through summer's hottest weeks or until the
supply runs out. It would be a pity to
miss out! Pinkberry has been thrilling
yogurt cravers with its unique flavors and natural ingredients and toppings
since opening its first Georgia location in Hotlanta on June 25. The premium frozen yogurt is made with real,
rBST hormone-free nonfat yogurt and nonfat milk and the highest quality natural
ingredients and toppings. Pinkberry is certified by the National Yogurt
Association and carries the Live & Active Cultures Seal. Stay in the know on Pinkberry yo' on Facebook and Twitter or become a Pinkberry Groupie to receive up-to-the-minute news and discount offers! Pinkberry: 2937
Cobb Parkway, SE, Suite 102 in the Akers Mill Shopping Center; 770-661-2995. |
WINES ARE BIG BUSINESS IN SPAIN! TRY THEM AND SEE WHY AT TOULOUSE WINE TASTING
ON JULY 11  Did you know that Spain is the world's third-largest wine producing
nation? Raise a glass and experience the intoxicating taste of Spanish wines at
the Toulouse July 11 Spanish
wine tasting. At least 15 wines will be
tasted at this month's event, along with light appetizers for palate
cleansing. Call ahead for more information and to make
reservations for the 6:30 p.m. tasting: 404-351-9533. Toulouse: 2293 Peachtree Road, NE; 404-351-9533.
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DON'T LIVE YOUR LIFE
IN LIMBO WHEN YOU CAN DANCE IT, HULA, HIP HOP AND WATCH FIRE EATERS AT RA
SUSHI'S ANNIVERSARY LUAU
 Cute
cupcakes and candles are not really RA Sushi's style, so with anniversary number one coming up on Thursday, July 15, the
Midtown hotspot has opted to throw a luau! In lieu of gifts, party-comers are invited to buy $5 raffle tickets to
benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro
Atlanta. Raffle prizes will be given
away at 8, 9 and 10 p.m. that night and include Braves tickets and a Tomahawk
Chop roll dinner at RA Sushi; a sushi and spa day; and a sushi and sake party
for 10 people. Starting at 7 p.m., leis,
tropical decorations and food and drink specials welcome guests to an evening
of aloha complete with steel drummers and fire eaters on the patio and DJ
Krillz spinning Hawaiian, rock, hip-hop and top-40 tunes inside the restaurant. Start practicing now for the 9 p.m. limbo
contest and maybe you'll take home a $100 or $50 RA Sushi gift certificate for
your prowess! Luau drink specials include
the Strawberry Gingerita, pint-sized Tsunami Punch, Mai Tai and Tea it Up ($5),
domestic beers and Chang Lager ($3). Dig
the food specials: pineapple cheese wontons
($6), grilled short ribs ($6), Poki bowl ($8) featuring spicy tuna with Asian
green vegetables served over rice, Island roll ($6) with smoked salmon,
pineapple and cream cheese rolled and drizzled with pineapple sauce, and the
Hawaii 5-0 roll ($10) with spicy Hawaiian yellowtail and cucumber, rolled
inside out and topped with avocado and mango salsa. Two dollars from the purchase of each food
and drink special goes straight to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta.
RA Sushi: 1080 Peachtree Street at 1010 Midtown;
404-267-0114.
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CHRIS HASTINGS OF BIRMINGHAM'S HOT AND HOT
FISH CLUB IS GUEST CHEF AT JCT. FARM TO TABLE & BACK FOR GEORGIA ORGANICS
 On Thursday, July 15 from 6 - 10 p.m., Atlantans can savor a five-course dinner
created by guest chef Chris Hastings at "Farm to Table & Back," JCT. Kitchen & Bar's quarterly guest
chef series. Hastings has brought the
farm to the table for 20 years in restaurant kitchens from Atlanta to San
Francisco to Birmingham. "What
we've been quietly doing behind the scenes has become not just a local movement
or a regional movement but a national movement," says Birmingham's Hot and Hot Fish Club chef
and owner. "If we continue to put the
focus on the importance of this, it could change agriculture in America." Chris and wife Idie have compiled the "Hot
and Hot Fish Club Cookbook," a 400-page marvel of Southern cuisine arranged by
seasons and filled with menus and farmer profiles. Hastings' guest chef menu includes his
signature dish, the Hot and Hot tomato salad with fresh corn, field peas, fried
okra, smoked bacon and chive aioli. The
prix fixe dinner is $75 per person, and 100 percent of dinner proceeds go to Georgia Organics. There are a couple of housekeeping rules: guests must call ahead to reserve their "Farm
to Table & Back" table, and everyone at the table must order the "Farm to
Table & Back" menu. Read
more about Hastings and his kitchen philosophy in the AJC's recent online article.
JCT. Kitchen &
Bar: In Atlanta's Westside Urban Market at 1198
Howell Mill Road, Suite 18; 404-355-2252.
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GOOD GRACIOUS, AUNT ALMA, THERE'S NO ROOM
FOR YOUR JELLO SALAD ON THE TABLE AT THE SERENBE "SOUTHERN CHEFS POTLUCK"  Jello
salad didn't make the cut for the "Southern Chefs Potluck" table, but you will
find a groaning board of "Sunday Supper" sides, relishes and desserts plus beef
from White Oak Pastures prepared
by Jim-n-Nick's BBQ, fried chicken legs from The Farmhouse, local beer and
"Shine On Punch" courtesy of Greg Best of Holeman & Finch. Serenbe and the Southern Foodways Alliance
Skillet Brigade invite you to slow down and join in on Sunday, July 18 at
the Inn at Serenbe lake pavilion. Even
though it's a potluck, guests are off the hook. A baker's dozen of Atlanta-area star chefs such as Shaun Doty of Shaun's and YEAH! BURGER, Ford Fry of JCT. Kitchen & Bar and Kevin
Gillespie of Woodfire Grill and Top Chef fame will do the cooking then
sit down with the 150 guests for family-style dining. Supper begins at 3 p.m.; tickets are $100 per
person and may be purchased online or by calling 678-702-0400. "Southern
Chefs Potluck" benefits Wholesome
Wave of Georgia, a nonprofit organization that helps make healthy food
accessible to all Georgia citizens while contributing to our local food
economy. WWG uses private funds to
double WIC and EBT coupons spent at partner markets and farm stands. Inn at Serenbe: 10950 Hutcheson Ferry Road, Chattahoochee
Hills, Ga.; 770-463-2610. |
LISA EKUS AND VIRGINIA WILLIS LEAD "COOKBOOK
PUBLISHING 101" CLASS AT NEW ORLEANS SOUTHERN FOOD & BEVERAGE MUSEUM  Some go to NOLA for the cooks; here's a reason to go for the cookbooks,
especially if you've an inkling to whip one up. Cookbook literary agent and culinary publicist Lisa Ekus and chef and cookbook writer Virginia Willis will teach "Cookbook
Publishing 101" on July 20 at the Southern Food & Beverage Museum in New
Orleans. Tuition for the 6 - 9 p.m.
class is $199. Read more about the class
experience at Cooking From Scratch and register online at the Southern Food & Beverage Museum website. Atlanta gal Virginia Willis delights in all things culinary as a producer,
author, editor and food stylist and is well known for her cookbook, "Bon Appétit, Y'all. Recipes and Stories from Three
Generations of Southern Cooking" (Ten Speed Press,
2008). Willis is a past president
of the Atlanta chapter of Les Dames d'Escoffier, a member of The Atlanta
Community Food Bank Advisory Board, Georgia Organics, the International
Association of Culinary Professionals, Southern Foodways Alliance, and Women
Chefs and Restaurateurs. Lisa Ekus
started the first P.R. agency devoted to publicizing cookbooks, chefs and food
products in 1982 and has been the literary agent for more than 150
cookbooks. For more on her, click on Facebook or Twitter. |
NATIONAL ICE CREAM MONTH BRINGS ON A MONTH
OF SUNDAES (AND FLOATS, SCOOPS AND SHAKES)
 As Atlanta days hit the 90° mark, we are ready for the brain freeze effect that
a month of sundaes can induce. Bring on
National Ice Cream month; we're armed with spoons!
As Vietnamese
coffee, green tea and ginger ice cream melt over your tongue at Spice Market, you're
deliciously
transported to the Eastern Hemisphere of the ice cream world. Do
coconut, passion fruit and mango sorbet
count? Ice cream and sorbets are $4 a
half pint. If ice cream and cobbler are
your summer faves, delve into summer peach and blueberry cobbler with
ginger
ice cream. (In the W Atlanta Midtown,
188 14th Street, NE; 404-724-2550.)
At Morton's The Steakhouse,
steaks are legendary and so is Morton's Legendary sundae. Two scoops of Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream
create a foundation in a chilled shrimp cocktail dish. Next come Morton's hot chocolate cake, an
additional scoop of ice cream, caramel topping and freshly made whipped
cream. Divine! (Morton's The Steakhouse - Buckhead: Peachtree Lenox Building, 3379 Peachtree
Road, NE; 404-816-6535. Morton's The
Steakhouse - Downtown: SunTrust Plaza
Building, 303 Peachtree Center Avenue; 404-577-4366.)
YEAH! BURGER's ice cream menu features
milk shakes, floats, concretes, sundaes and cups originating with Strauss
Family Creamery organic soft-serve ice cream. Slurp a vanilla, chocolate, coffee, cookies and cream, peach or
strawberry milk shake. Make it a "concrete"
by adding mix-ins such as hot fudge, peanut butter cups, chocolate almond bark
or chocolate espresso beans. Brown Cow,
Black Cow and Creamsicle floats bubble up with cane sugar Boylan sodas. (1168 Howell Mill Road, Suite E;
404-496-4393.)
 Vanilla ice cream adds a cool touch to warm desserts such as cinnamon
sopapillas and chocolate, apple raisin or roasted pineapple empanadas at Uncle Julio's Fine Mexican Food. Want more? Order "cajeta," vanilla ice cream with toasted coconut and pecans and
topped with homemade caramel sauce and whipped cream. (Buckhead: 1860 Peachtree Road, NW; 404-350-6767. Sandy Springs: 1140 Hammond
Drive, NE, Building K, Suite 100; 678-736-8260.)
All
desserts are $7 at Shaun's in Inman Park, including Virgils's gluten-free
root beer float with vanilla bean ice cream. So simple, so good. The old-fashioned
treat scores high on summer's chill-out charts. (1029 Edgewood Avenue, NE; 404-577-4358.)
The Original El Taco mixes up "the real
thing" -- a Mexican Coke float with vanilla ice cream. This is Atlanta, you know! Cinnamon ice cream dolls up El Taco's fried
apple pie. How can we decide? (1186 North Highland Avenue, NE; 404-873-4656.)
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WHITE OAK PASTURES
"MEATS" GROWING DEMAND FOR GRASS-FED BEEF BY ATLANTA RESTAURANTS AND CONSUMERS
 When
the farm's been in the same family for 140 years, you can "steak" a bet they're
doing something right. Welcome to White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Ga.,
the largest certified organic farm in the state. The cattle are roaming freely and ruminating
on grassy green pastures with no grain in sight. Life on Will Harris' farm is bucolic but busy
these days as the demand for grass-fed beef rises among consumers and
restaurants. Thanks to "center-of-the-plate"
purveyors such as Buckhead Beef, Harris is able to meet the demand. Beef aficionados are turning to grass-fed
beef for its taste as well as its health and environmental benefits. Grass-fed beef is higher in beta carotene,
vitamin E, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and omega 3 fatty acids, making it a
healthier choice than conventionally raised natural or organic beef (yes,
there's a difference between organic and grass-fed organic beef). Harris abstains from giving his cattle
antibiotics, hormone implants or food containing animal byproducts. Their natural diet yields alkaline rumen that
minimizes the possibility of E. coli 0157:H7 contamination in the beef. White Oak Pastures' sustainable and organic
practices guard consumer and environmental health.
White Oak Pastures: 22775 Highway 27 in Bluffton, Ga.; 229-641-2081.
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WOLF MOUNTAIN VINEYARDS JAZZES UP YOUR JULY
WITH CALIFORNIA CUISINE Picturesque Wolf Mountain Vineyards
& Winery in Dahlonega is paying "Tribute to California Cuisine, Jazz
and Bubbles" at July Sunday brunches. The buffet table will be set with dishes created from the recipes of
Napa Valley's renowned restaurants. Wolf
Mountain Estate wine pairing suggestions are provided as well. Live jazz will tickle your ears while the
tiny bubbles of the winery's new vintage of sparkling wines tickle your
nose. $30 per person plus tax and
gratuity. Make your reservations for a
12:30 p.m. or 2:30 p.m. seating on Sunday July 11, 18 or 25 by calling: 706-867-9862
Wolf Mountain Vineyards & Winery: 180 Wolf Mountain
Trail in Dahlonega, Ga.; 706-867-9862.
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YELPER ADVISES PULL OVER AND PARK NOW FOR
FALAFEL KING IN EMORY VILLAGE She shoulda, woulda, coulda, but she kept putting it off. When Yelper Scarlett
L. finally slowed down enough to smell the falafel, she could have kicked
herself for not stopping at Falafel
King on previous jaunts through Emory Village! Falafel is king here, but sushi and soup also
hold court in the kitchen of the mom and pop place.
I've been driving by
this place for years, and always thought to myself "I should really check
that place out". I am now very disappointed that I didn't go before. It is
fantastic! Since going here three weeks ago, I've been four times, and I live
in Inman Park so it's not due to proximity.
In my opinion this place isn't really very "divey", but then again I
don't fear a good dive. It's just small and very sparsely decorated with the
ubiquitous large picture sushi identification wall chart, as well as the more
rare picture chart with caloric intake listed. To me it seems to be clean and
well kept, and it's true there isn't much seating, but that hasn't posed a
problem for me yet. The CVS parking is convenient if the weird spaces out front
are taken.
On to what's important... The falafel is delicious! It is perfectly fried, and
I mean perfectly. It shows not a trace of grease. I would highly recommend the
chicken shawarma/falafel pita sandwich. They layer this sandwich with so much
love it's incredible. Falafel first, then chicken, with lettuce sprinkled
nicely throughout, then topped with cucumber (I get mine sans tomato, but I bet
it'd be on top too). There is sauce in the sandwich, it seems to be a thinned
out tahini, and it's very mild. I like to use a little of the pinkish sauce
that's on the table to add a little sauciness when I get down to the falafel
(the sauce seems to be some kind of spicy mayo).
Only warning, please do not go if you are in a hurry. Plan on chilling out and
relaxing for 20 mins while waiting for your sandwich. The husband and wife are
the only people I've seen working here, and they take their time. But for me
this doesn't detract from this restaurant. I just figure, if you want a perfect
sandwich, you gotta wait for it : )
PS Didn't have sushi, or soup (or any other menu items for that matter), but
these also seemed to be popular items with the other patrons.
Falafel
King: 1405
Oxford Road, NE; 404-377-1716. |
EAT IT AND TWEEP: EAT.DRINK...BETTER.
WILL HAVE YOU DOING JUST THAT
 The
bio says it in a Tweep nutshell:
Everybody eats, and Eat.Drink...Better. invites readers
to explore the environmental issues surrounding their food choices. Farming practices, local markets, bushels of
recipes and daily healthy you/healthy earth food news you can chew on is all
here via blog or short, sweet Tweets.
Sample Tweet: Yea or Nay? Mott's New Apple
Juice Commercial http://ow.ly/17Sr6S |
| Looking for the latest restaurant opening, weekly wine tastings and drink specials, or other culinary happenings? Whatever makes your mouth water, Melissa Libby & Associates will point you in the right direction. Our monthly calendar, blog, flickr, Facebook page and Twitter feed will keep you up-to-date on new and ongoing restaurant events around Atlanta. |
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 Melissa Libby & Associates is an Atlanta-based public relations firm specializing in the restaurant, retail and hospitality industries.
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