In This Issue

Sunset Wine & Cheese at Ray's on the River

Patio Party at JCT. Kitchen & Bar

Bell's Brewery Launches Summer Ale at Marlow's Tavern Alpharetta

High Museum Wine Auction

Corona Light on Draft Lands at Tin Lizzy's Cantina

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Appetizing Aperture

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.

up-to-date on new and ongoing restaurant events around Atlanta!

Go with an Educated Guess at Milton's Cuisine & Cocktails' Spring & Vine Winemaker Dinner on March 20

Like so many things in life, finding your go-to wine comes down to chemistry. Yours, the grape's and the winemaker's. Although Educated Guess winemakers diagram wine chemistry on every label, they insist your pick is still always an "educated guess." That's why we like the Spring & Vine winemaker dinner popping up Thursday, March 20 at Milton's Cuisine & Cocktails. Chef Derek Dollar has invited the Napa Valley winery Roots Run Deep to pair its newest label with his four-course menu. The whole shebang is priced at $80 per person, not including tax or gratuity. Courses travel through beet-cured salmon over gem lettuce with a pistachio-goat cheese fritter; sweet tea-brined, honey-glazed pork loin and blue cheese sweet potato mash; smoked filet mignon with mushroom and spring onion barley risotto and cured bacon Swiss chard. The evening ends with spiced pear cake topped with cinnamon caramel and crème fraîche ice cream. Dinner begins at 6:30 p.m. To reserve your seat, call 678-431-8753 or email Heather@MiltonsCuisine.com.

More Reasons to Wine: Ray's on the River Plans Sunset Wine & Cheese for March 21 and Half-Price Bottles on Wine Down Sundays

Ray's on the River is ready to usher in spring. On Friday, March 21, the riverside restaurant is hosting a Sunset Wine & Cheese event to take full advantage of the increasing daylight hours and temperatures and to flaunt their picturesque Chattahoochee River view. The 5-7 p.m. tasting costs $20 per person. Call 770-955-1187 for more information or to reserve a seat or two. Guests smitten by the shoreline and wine combo can return for Wine Down Sunday from 5-9 p.m. when select bottles of wine in the dining room are half price. Sunset sleuths can check sundown times here.

Season's Greetings! JCT. Kitchen & Bar Hosts First Patio Party of the Season

Among budding branches and blooming flowers, patio parties are a sure sign of spring. Visit JCT. Kitchen & Bar this Saturday, March 22 from 3-6 p.m. for the first soiree of the season. Outdoor essentials include food, drink and music. Show up and complete the scene. Andouille sausage sizzles on grills and plates alongside green tomato chowchow and beer mustard. Refreshing cocktails join the list of quenchers, such as $1 Ommegang "Hop House" beers (while supplies last) and a $6 Tea-Juana Punch combo of tequila and iced tea. Saved by the Band is new to Atlanta's music scene but well-versed in '80s and '90s hits from playing with Metalsome and Constellations. Air guitar rocks on an open-air patio!

Bell's Brewery Beer Launch and Swell Swag take over Marlow's Tavern Alpharetta on March 25

Two givens about a beer brewed in Michigan. The beer is cold, and the brewers are eager to kiss their own winter goodbye to cart their summer ale south for a March beer launch. Warmer days, colder beer. Perfectly logical. Bell's Brewery, based in Kalamazoo, Mich., is launching their seasonal Oberon ale on the patio at Marlow's Tavern in Alpharetta on Tuesday, March 25 from 6-10 p.m. To accomplish the same in Michigan in March would require much more outerwear. Word is that the Bell's gang is packing swag with their beer for games and a raffle. Marlow's is whipping up appetizer sampler plates of crab beignets, mozzarella flatbread and goat cheese bruschetta ($9.50) to keep your beers company. Come on over and give these guys -- and their beer -- some "Hi, y'all" hospitality.

What's Wine without Food? Atlanta Restaurants Play Big Part in High Museum Atlanta Wine Auction Week

Track the vine-line back in time, and we find wine sippers existed thousands of years ago. This year, the theme of the High Museum Atlanta Wine Auction flows along this viticultural lineage and celebrates both generations of winemaking and auction families during "Legends of the Vine" wine week, March 26-29. The annual auction is the sixth-largest charity wine auction in the U.S. and pours on a variety of food and vine-centric events around the city. Guest winemakers and Atlanta's top chefs scatter throughout Atlanta on Wednesday night, March 26, to participate in multi-course winemaker dinners with wine pairings at host homes. Aqua blue, Aria, Chicken and the Egg, No. 246 and Table 1280 are all taking part in various auction-related events. Tip for next year's timeline: buy your tickets early. This year's winemaker dinners and Saturday night's vintners' reception and live auction are sold out!

Heads Up! Tin Lizzy's Cantina Now Pulls Corona Light on Draft; Midtown Location Throws Launch Party March 26

Feel that cooling draft? It's a Tin Lizzy's Cantina phenomena caused by icy droplets trickling down glasses containing golden-hued Corona Light draft beer. Corona Light on draft is currently only available in Georgia and Florida, so stop into Tin Lizzy's to get your fix! Draft Corona Lights are the perfect pairing for Tin Lizzy's Three Amigos trio of salsa, queso and guac with chips or the other FlexMex hits on Tin Lizzy's menu. All Tin Lizzy's locations have patios so you can ride the draft inside or out.

On Wednesday, March 26, Tin Lizzy's Midtown location on Crescent Avenue, one of the first locations in Georgia to carry Corona Light on draft, is throwing a Corona Light Launch Party from 6-9 p.m. Get in the brew mood for $4 Corona Light drafts, $15 pitchers and lots of Corona Light swag.

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The first "s" in Meredith Steele's @smonkeyslippers Instagram username stands for sock. The Dallas, Texas-based food fanatic parents a resident 5-year-old who keeps her on her toes in the kitchen; hence, sock monkey slippers seem more fitting than a chef toque. Her In Sock Monkey Slippers blog was nominated as Best Kids Food Blog by SAVEUR magazine! Could her slippers be her secret to success?

Appetizing Aperture

Photo by Brandon Amato

Munch on spring rolls this week in honor of spring finally rolling in. These crunchy bites comprise one of the options on the $5 appetizer menu offered at Aqua blue's Thursday ladies night. Gals, save on sips, too. Select martinis, cocktails and wines by the glass are $5 each at the Roswell restaurant and bar.

What's New on Pinterest

Online shopping, boutique browsing and catalog flipping reveal swimsuit season arriving faster than Peter Cottontail. Does that revelation send you anxiously seeking a drink? Our Low-Cal Libations board reveals skinny margaritas and paleo cocktails to keep you calm, cool and living on the lighter side of life.