Alpine Bakery and Trattoria And Smashburger Set Mouths Watering At May 10 Taste Of Alpharetta

You won't have to decide what's for dinner on Thursday, May 10 if you nosh and nibble your way through Taste of Alpharetta from 5 - 10 p.m. in historic downtown Alpharetta. Alpine Bakery and Trattoria, Smashburger and at least 50 other restaurants are serving up samples of their appetizers, entrées and desserts at the 22nd annual event. Food tickets are $.50 each, and restaurants will charge $1 - $3 per sample. It's sure to be a fabulous evening of sidewalk grazing, enjoying retro-themed bands and radio stations, watching chefs compete and playing in the Fun Zones at the event's new location across from Alpharetta City Hall at 2 South Main Street.

Our Gut Feeling, Atlanta Food & Wine Festival Is The Place To Try Them All

Atlantans are in a delicious predicament. Living in a city with so many excellent restaurants, one can hardly keep up with sampling them all. Experience this weekend's Atlanta Food & Wine Festival and check off quite a few names on your "to chew" list. Top restaurants from all over the Atlanta area will be on the Midtown street scene including Alma Cocina, Aqua blue, Aria, Chicken and the Egg, JCT. Kitchen & Bar, No. 246, Ray's at Killer Creek, South City Kitchen Midtown, South City Kitchen Vinings and Woodfire Grill. Look for tastings from American Spirit Whiskey and Vidalia Onions, and keep abreast of food news with a tasting preview of Shaun Doty's Bantam & Biddy - cracking open late summer in Ansley Mall. Saturday night's Whiskey @ Whiskey Park whiskey tasting is one of the numerous niche events to consider. At 7:30 p.m., Chef Shean Suter of Spice Market in the W Atlanta-Midtown, along with other chefs and mixologists, will add whiskey's frisky touch to their recipes and cocktails. Tickets are $75 and cover cocktails and small bites. Use the AF&WF planning tools to organize your strategy for getting there (MARTA), eats, education and entertainment. The festival benefits the Atlanta History Center, James Beard Foundation, Les Dames d'Escoffier, Oxford American and Wholesome Wave of Georgia.

Mom Told Us To Remind You (Umm, Mother's Day is Sunday, May 13)

Woodfire Grill News:  Patrick Guilfoil Earns Top Wine Score To Become Sommelier, And May 17 Wine Tasting Has Too Many
Good Pinots to "Ig-noir"

Alon's Dunwoody Is "Hot" And Their Wood-Burning Pizza Oven Is Even Hotter

Come And Get It -- Sign Up For A Sizzling Week At Camp Bacon To Benefit
The Southern Foodways Alliance

Arm Yourself:  The "Attack" Is Headed Our Way, Killer Tomatoes To "Roma" Right Into Atlanta
July 22

Your weapon -- a fork to spear the lycopene-laden morsels of tomatoey goodness at the JCT. Kitchen Attack of the Killer Tomato Festival to benefit Georgia Organics. Back by popular demand, Chef/Restaurateur Ford Fry and JCT. Kitchen & Bar play base camp for the "Attack" forces -- the South's best chefs, farmers and mixologists -- and their arsenal of all types of tomatoes for recipes and cocktails. Who's to judge? Celebrities such as John Mariani, well-known national restaurant writer, actor David Miller, who played Mason Dixon in the original "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" movie, and others. The Spazmatics and Fry's chef band Five Bone Rack crank up the live music. Last year's "Attack" brought together 34 chefs, 12 mixologists and more than 1,000 attendees. This year's fourth-annual event from 1 -- 5 p.m. on Sunday, July 22 is sure to bring bushels more. Early birds get the best ticket prices: $55 per person for Georgia Organics members and $60 for nonmembers until June 15. After June 15, tickets cost $70 per person.

KISS For National Celiac Awareness Month With Gluten-Free Menus  

"KISS" is Celiac Central's helpful acronym for National Celiac Awareness Month. Short and sweet, it stands for "Keep It Simple and Safe" when managing a gluten-free diet. Atlanta chefs are ever aware of meeting their guests' dietary needs and satisfying them through a variety of flavor-rich dishes. Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar offers a full menu for those avoiding gluten. Appetizers big on flavor include tenderloin carpaccio, wicked Cajun barbecue shrimp, shrimp cocktail, braised beef short ribs and a chilled seafood tower. More light options include four kinds of salads and small plates of sliced filet mignon, jumbo shrimp scampi, filet mignon skewers, petite lamb chops, seared ahi tuna and New Bedford scallops. Fleming's menu also features tender steak, pork chops, chicken and seafood dishes with a choice of gluten-free sauces. À la carte sides of potato dishes and sautéed or grilled vegetables keep things simply delicious. Desserts are doable: crème brûlée, mixed berries with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream with fudge sauce.

No. 246 in Decatur offers gluten-free spaghetti by request, and each of the seven Fifth Group restaurants has a gluten-free menu, opening up a realm of Southern, Mexican, Italian and Mediterranean meals.

Eat It And Tweep:  Just Add Bourbon. Sounds Like A Good Plan

How Southern can you get? This Tweeter out of Louisville, KY. (you knew it) taps that "Bourbon is more than a drink, it's a lifestyle." Should know, he's sipped the Urban Bourbon Trail. Pull up a julep cup or shot glass and follow him on Twitter (@justaddbourbon). There's a full bottle's worth on his Bourbon Country website.

Sample Tweet:  And if Mint Juleps aren't your thing, how about some #Bourbon #Tea Punch? --- http://lou.ly/1dd