ABOUT THE DISH
Looking for the latest restaurant openings, 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.
Follow us online to keep
up-to-date on new and ongoing restaurant events around Atlanta!
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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, entr�es 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.
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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.
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Mom Told Us To Remind You (Umm, Mother's Day is Sunday, May 13)
Those who hesitate, wait -- in line with the whole family in tow on Mother's Day. Not cool. Check the link to our list of mom-umental dining spots and make your reservations to make her big day a special one! |
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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"
We're bragging. Patrick Guilfoil, server at Woodfire Grill, earned the top score on his certified sommelier exam administered by the Court of Master Sommeliers in early April. His high score nabbed him a $500 scholarship for the Advanced Sommelier exam. Guilfoil joins the team of three other certified sommeliers at Woodfire Grill: Wine Director/Owner Nicolas Quinones, Sommelier J. Cate Hatch and General Manager Rick Blumberg. That's a lot of wine wisdom behind Woodfire Grill's third Thursday wine tastings, way too much to "ig-noir." Pinot Noir stars at the May 17 wine tasting in the restaurant's dining room. Quinones or Hatch will guide guests through a tasting of American Pinot Noir wines, which have grown in quality and quantity in western wine country over the last 40 years. The $15 per person event is limited to 30 guests. Wine tasting must be mentioned when making reservations at 404-347-9055. |
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Alon's Dunwoody Is "Hot" And Their Wood-Burning Pizza Oven Is Even Hotter
The A/C and patio fans work just fine. Alon's Bakery and Market in Dunwoody's Park Place is a hot spot for food, beverages and, with the addition of their wood-burning pizza oven, yummy wood-fired pizzas. Eleven topping combinations are on the menu ranging from classic Margherita or 4 cheese to hot Italian tuna with roasted peppers or tallegio with fresh mozzarella, fig balsamic, truffled honey and Marcona almonds. More pizza ideas? Among them, crushed tomato, eggplant, olives and fresh mozzarella; assorted mushrooms with thyme, garlic, a white sauce, Gruyere cheese and fresh mozzarella; basil pesto with grilled chicken and pine nuts; and pizza with spicy merguez sausage or bresaola (cured beef). Priced from $10 - $19 per pizza. Eat on the patio or get it to go, and pick up some cool drinks, prepared appetizers, salads or desserts while you're there. This year, Alon's is celebrating its 20th anniversary so look for anniversary specials throughout the year.
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Come And Get It -- Sign Up For A Sizzling Week At Camp Bacon To Benefit
The Southern Foodways Alliance
Join summer's pig-loving pilgrimage to Zingerman's Camp Bacon, May 31 - June 3 in Ann Arbor, Mich. and go jowl to jowl with bacon makers, chefs and cured pork fans from all over the good old U.S.A. Campers will hear stories from a third-generation bacon maker and a South Carolinian who's a sustainable Southern hog farmer, view the inaugural Cinetopia Film Festival in the historic Michigan Theater, and partake in cooking, eating and finger licking. The main event fundraiser benefits Southern Foodways Alliance. Yes, even in Michigan, they love Southern food. Avoid the stampede and register now online. |
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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.
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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. � la carte sides of potato dishes and saut�ed or grilled vegetables keep things simply delicious. Desserts are doable: cr�me br�l�e, 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.
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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
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Appetizing Aperture
Have your first on National Shrimp Day, May 9. Follow up on Memorial Day, Flag Day and Fourth of July. Crispy Firecracker Shrimp at Marlow's Tavern is hot stuff for any day that needs some fireworks. More sparks fly with a dip into partnering cracklin' spicy sauce and sweet chili sauce.
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