The Dish
In This Issue
Atlanta is Ready for Mother's Day
King+Duke Opens May 13
Hearth Pizza Tavern: The Queen Pizza
BurgerFi Alpharetta Opens May 7
Article 14 Patio Party May 8
Eat It & Tweep
What's the Dish?
What's New on Pinterest?
 
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. 
 
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Atlanta-Area Restaurants are Ready 

to Make Mom's Day 

 

Photo from Little Cake Bakery

She's your mom 365 jam-packed days a year. Mother's Day is Sunday, May 12. Time out. Press pause. Save the day to honor her with a relaxing cocktail and brunch, lunch or dinner out at one of Atlanta's fine restaurants. It's a great excuse to spend some delicious quality time with your special lady.

 

In Roswell, Aqua blue spreads a special brunch buffet with carving stations, made-to-order omelets, sushi, assorted desserts and more from 10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Adults dine for $29.95 each, children ages 4-12 eat for $9.95 and children under 4 years old eat free. Those over 21 can indulge in $15 bottomless mimosas and the famous bloody mary bar. The regular dinner menu is available from 5-10 p.m. Tax and gratuity are not included. Reservations: 770-643-8886.

 

Bantam + Biddy in Midtown's Ansley Mall has a special $25 three-course menu for Mother's Day guests. Choose starters of tomato gazpacho or English pea salad with goat cheese; a second course of chicken and dumplings or salmon with asparagus and caper egg vinaigrette; and assorted pies, cupcakes and cookies make tempting dessert choices. Mom leaves with a favor bag of sweet treats for later. Tax and gratuity are not included. Info: 404-907-3469.

 

Treat mom to a special North Indian Punjabi brunch at both Bhojanic locations -- Buckhead and Decatur -- from noon-4 p.m. on Mother's Day. Reservations: Buckhead, 404-841-8472; Decatur, 404-633-9233.

 

Bless her heart with a four-course Southern supper at West Midtown's JCT. Kitchen & Bar. She'll love the regular Sunday supper menu and Mama's Day featured items. Reservations: 404-355-2252.

 

Stop by Little Cake Bakery in Buckhead on Saturday, May 11 and sneak a few cupcakes into mom's weekend. Along with its usual sweet selections, the bakeshop has three special flavors honoring mom: strawberry champagne, pink lemonade and lemon lavender. Call 404-841-8856 to place an order.

 

Complimentary flowers and chocolate-covered strawberries are Olmsted's brunch gift to moms on Mother's Day, and a photographer will be on site to take family portraits. Sit inside or on the patio for the Midtown restaurant's special brunch from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.  Regular menu and featured items also are available. Reservations: 404-443-8431.

 

So she loves sushi? RA Sushi Bar Restaurant in Midtown loads its menu with more than 35 sushi, appetizer and tapas items on special ($2.25-$7.25) including Tootsy Maki, pineapple cheese wontons and "RA"ckin' shrimp. Celebrate the day with a signature cocktail ($3-$7) such as the Absolut Asian Flirtation, Pinnacle Strawberry-Kiwi Saketini or Absolut Tokyo Peach. The Mother's Day special is available from open to close for dine-in orders only. Info: 404-267-0114.

All three Ray's Restaurants honor mom over the weekend. Ray's on the River in Sandy Springs pours Spanish-themed drinks, including sangria, and serves tapas on Saturday, May 11. Love that live Spanish guitar music. On Mother's Day, the restaurant is open from 9 a.m.-9 p.m., offering a buffet meal all day long priced at $39.95 per adult and $19.95 for kids ages 5-10. Kids ages 4 and under eat free. Reservations: 770-955-1187. From 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Ray's on the Creek in Alpharetta is serving brunch for $29.95 for adults and $14.95 for kids ages 5-10. Kids 4 and under eat free. The regular dinner menu is available from 5-9 p.m. Reservations: 770-649-0064. Downtown's Ray's in the City serves Mother's Day brunch from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. for $29.95 for adults and $14.95 for kids ages 5-10. Kids 4 and under eat free. The regular dinner menu is offered from 5-9 p.m. Reservations: 404-524-9224. Tax and gratuity are not included in the prices at each restaurant.

 

In the Shops Around Lenox, Seven Lamps offers Mother's Day brunch from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. � la carte offerings include citrus-cured salmon sammie, Seven Lamps eggs Benedict and Georgia shrimp with South Carolina grits. Shake or stir up her day with a special Mother's Day brunch cocktail. Info: 404-467-8950.

 

Not usually open on Sundays, Woodfire Grill makes a special case for Mother's Day and offers a four-course prix fixe dinner for $58, plus tax and gratuity. The menu offers local greens with blackberry vinaigrette, purple basil, raw beets and smooth cheese; Georgia white shrimp and grits with smoked tomato gravy and green tomato jam; wood-grilled skirt steak with chimichurri, braised beans, root beer BBQ and fried Vidalia onions; and blueberry cobbler served with vanilla ice cream. Reservations are recommended: 404-347-9055.

Ford Fry's King + Duke is Big on Hearth and American Heart, Opens in Buckhead May 13

 

 

 

Crown Chef Ford Fry marvelously mischievous. King + Duke, his new Buckhead outpost opening Monday, May 13, wears a moniker alluding to monarchy and formal affairs. Or does it? Turns out Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" inspired the naming of this fun and welcoming restaurant resplendent in classic American themes and bold, wood-fired cooking on a 24-foot open hearth. Slower cooking methods, woodsy smokiness and locally sourced ingredients come together at the hearth. The menu includes items such as chicken liver toasts with onion marmalade; grilled beets and carrots, chermoula, Bulgarian feta and cress; and roasted Alina duck with plums, mustard greens and duck jus. Pastry Chef Chrysta Poulos' desserts can be paired with wine or cocktails. Top mixologist Lara Creasy runs with Fry's American history and literature inspirations in the beverage program that includes 35 wines by the glass and a "library" of more than 200 selections from around the world, including our original 13 colonies. Good literary picks include Faust Cabernet, Kenwood's "Jack London" Merlot and Arcadian's "Sleepy Hollow" Vineyard Chardonnay. Draft and bottled beers include American standards as well as British and Scottish ales. Early American cocktails take on a modern splash in "Classics" like the Horse's Neck and gimlet or "New Releases" such as the Root Beer Flip with Crown Royal Maple Finish, Art in the Age Root liqueur, cream, egg and Bitter Truth Aromatic Bitters and The Yearling with Bulleit Bourbon, Art in the Age Rhubarb Tea, Florida strawberries and lemon. Coffee roasted by Counter Culture in North Carolina fills cups. Located at 3060 Peachtree Road, King + Duke serves dinner nightly and lunch on weekdays, and offers a dining room, garden patio with a bar and lounge and The Drawing Room for private group dining. Valet parking is available. Fry is already well entrenched in Atlanta's food scene through restaurants JCT. Kitchen & Bar, No. 246 and The Optimist and Oyster Bar at The Optimist and People's Food Truck. Reservations: 404-477-3500.

 

 

Alert the Paparazzi: The Queen of Sandy Springs is at Hearth Pizza Tavern

 

 

 

How fitting that Hearth Pizza Tavern is tossing the dough and ladling the sauce on a new pizza dubbed "The Queen of Sandy Springs" just in time for Mother's Day. It's absolutely acceptable to say this queen is a little crusty and regally sauced. Tomato-rich passata di pomodoro sauce - not Hearth Pizza Tavern's usual homemade marinara - holds court on a healthy crust made from all-organic flour and its own natural germ. The whole outfit is adorned with whole, fragrant basil leaves and house-dried oregano. Queens and subjects, dig in.
 

BurgerFi Spreads BurgerFication of the Nation to New Alpharetta Location, Opens May 7

 

 

 

Look out Alpharetta. BurgerFi is heading your way to open a second metro-Atlanta location, at 5475 Windward Parkway, on Tuesday, May 7. Now metro topsiders can bite into all-natural, farm-raised beef burgers, specialty Wagyu Kobe beef hot dogs, fresh-cut French fries and onion rings. The VegeFi quinoa burger, desserts such as frozen custards, natural cane sugar sodas, craft beer and wine are all on the Alpharetta menu as well. Guests can go for the logo-seared bun or have their burgers and dogs wrapped "green style" in crisp lettuce. The farm-to-tray eatery is perfect for both time-crunched and leisurely lunch and dinner schedules, and offers indoor and patio dining. Open seven days a week from 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
 

All Evidence Points to an Excellent Evening at Article 14 Patio Opening Party on May 8

 

 

 

Claim your perch on the patio at Article 14 on Wednesday, May 8, or you'll be guilty of missing a fantastic night out. Shelve the workday at 5 p.m. when the party begins and stay on for cocktails, wine and ice cold beer until it ends at 9 p.m. Big clue on where to look in Midtown: the patio is upstairs, outside of Olmsted. Capping the day with a drink and appetizer at Article 14 could easily become an amendment to your after-work routine.
 

Eat It and Tweep: A Twitter Feeding Frenzy Counts Down to King + Duke Opening 

 

 

 

Keep pre-opening tabs on what goes on inside and outside King + Duke by following along on Twitter (@kingandduke). Good to know the tweets go on even after King + Duke opens May 13 at 3060 Peachtree Road in Buckhead.

 

Sample Tweet: getting close. we have furniture and lights and art! follow our progress here: http://kingandduke.tumblr.com
 
What's the Dish?
 
 
Woodfire Grill Executive Chef Tyler Williams likes to use as much local produce and sustainably purveyed ingredients as possible in menus. Some ingredients are not so tangible though - such as the "likes" that flavor his downtime. You'll find Williams listening to Iggy Pop, Morrissey and Terence Trent Darby. He'll view foreign movies such as "The Blind Swordsman Zatoichi" (Japan), "The Five Obstructions" (Denmark) and "Cool Runnings" (Jamaica) or chill-lax to "Antiques Roadshow," "Modern Family" or "The Borgias." The foodie likes to hit Bhojanic and Peter Cheng's and only eat the middle of the 'bon at Cinnabon. Oh yeah.
 

What's New on Pinterest?

Photo from Little Cake Bakery

Reservations made. Check. But what about something she can unwrap? Something chocolate? Something you can whip up at home to start her day? Peek at our Treats for Mom board. Guys, you can still look, even if you don't Pinterest.