German Chocolate Pie from Pie Shop in Buckhead

There’s just something about chocolate, coconut and pecans all wrapped up in a gooey cake…

At some point in my history, German chocolate cake became my birthday dessert. It became one of those nostalgic foods that calls to mind fond memories of my childhood.

Except, well, no actual memories spring forth. I can’t quite trace the development of my fondness for the cake. Nonetheless, it’s now the dessert I crave each year on my birthday.

As the official birthday-cake maker in my family, I take the day off when it’s my turn to celebrate. Each year I make the round of calls to bakeries to inquire about German chocolate cake. Did you know that very few bakeries stock this cake? It seems that it’s the red-headed step cake of the pastry world. Some bakeries make them to order, but I have yet to find a rendition I favor.

As the story goes, the German chocolate cake was developed by a Dallas housewife in the 1950’s using Sam …

Continue reading Searching for German chocolate cake »

Farmer’s Basket in Dunwoody returned to its high-level grade during a recent food safety exam.

The well-visited, food-court eatery in Perimeter Mall scored a 95 (A) on a follow-up inspection after dipping to a near-failing score of 71 (C), according to the reports. It had dropped from a 97 (A) – received about a year ago.

During the follow-up exam, it was cited for issues related to its sanitizing solution and the placement of an employee cup in the food prep area. Both infractions were corrected on site, the report showed.

Farmer’s Basket was advised that it should leave the oven on when using it to keep food items warm. The inspector re-emphasized temperature control and date-marking regulations that must be followed as well.

Here are other recent inspection scores from restaurants across the area.

Clayton County

• Great Wraps, 1135 Southlake Mall, Morrow. 93/A
• International House of Pancakes, 1474 Southlake Plaza Drive, Morrow. 97/A
• J & J BBQ & Grill, 1000 Southlake …

Continue reading Restaurant Inspections, Farmer’s Basket »

Taqueria del Sol (AJC Staff)

I recently found myself on the horn with a friend who was spending a few days in my old hometown of Denver. She loved how clean and friendly the city was, and she had a fine meal at Euclid Hall — a gastropub in a prominent historical building that gets good word of mouth. We talked about a couple of the region’s other top restaurants that she might put on her to-chew list.

“More than anything else, you really, really need to get some green chile, ” I said before we hung up.

Mexican restaurants in Denver hang their reputations on their green chile, which you can get by the bowlful, ladled over a combination plate or smothering an unforgettable pile of yumminess called a “Mexican hamburger.” You haven’t been to Denver until you can feel the green chile coursing through your veins.

The best part about it is that the most dubious green chile in the sketchiest little joint is still pretty good. You don’t have to study one of the many …

Continue reading Why your neighborhood Mexican restaurant is the taste of home »

The dining landscape in historic Roswell will soon include newcomer Little Alley Steak, sister restaurant to INC. Street Food and Salt Factory Pub, both also in historic Roswell.

Little Alley Steak is slated to open on Feb. 27th and is described as an “all-American butcher-inspired neighborhood steakhouse.” Little Alley will source its beef from Meats by Linz, based in Chicago.

Chef Bob McDonough, who has worked at Maxim’s in Paris, C&S Seafood and Oyster Bar and the former Little Alley Tapas in Roswell, will head the kitchen. His menu will include a variety of sauces to accompany steaks including yuzu béarnaise, horseradish cream, bone marrow butter and black truffle butter. You’ll also find charcuterie, boutique oysters and additional seafood options.

The beverage program at Little Alley Steak will emphasize boutique and vintage wines, 19th century cocktails, privately bottled scotches and small-batch bourbons like Pappy Van Winkle and Parker Heritage.

The rustic …

Continue reading Little Alley Steak set to open in Roswell »

Credit: AP

Before I begin discussing the food of Super Bowl Sunday, can we pause and reflect on something for a moment?

For the first time in my life, I don’t have to stock up on beer the day before the Super Bowl. So, let’s all raise a glass to democracy.

This Sunday marks a very important day for me, beyond the fact that I’m going to intentionally wait to buy the booze for our party just because I can. Super Bowl Sunday is the second biggest eating day of the year behind Thanksgiving, which makes it my second favorite holiday of the year. Now if only I really cared about the NFL, I’m sure it would leapfrog Turkey Day, but it is still one I look forward too.

I’ve found that the Super Bowl also lends itself to traditions when it comes to the food people fall back on, with home cooks’ “signature” dish often making an annual appearance.

For me, my fall back is a simple and easy wing recipe that has done more impressing than it really should. Not much to it, but …

Continue reading Favorite Super Bowl foods »

MF Buckhead will close after dinner service tonight, a representative from the restaurant has confirmed. “It was a difficult decision,” said Sa Kinjo. “We had filed Chapter 11 and had hoped to work through this, but a judge has just signed the papers on Chapter 7 for a full liquidation.”

Kinjo said her cousins Chris Kinjo and Alex Kinjo, the principal partners in the restaurant, were unable to work out a workable payment structure with their landlord at Terminus Atlanta following the Chapter 11 filing.

But fans of the restaurant’s high-end sushi need not despair. The family is working with a new partner and hopes to begin building a sushi bar in a smaller Buckhead space as soon as possible.

“We’re really hoping to set up operations within two or three months,” said Kinjo. “But it will be in a smaller space, more in keeping with today’s economy.”

MF Buckhead opened to national acclaim in 2007 and earned a 5-star rating from the Atlanta …

Continue reading MF Buckhead to close after service tonight »

Who knows that “Sukiyaki” was the title of a #1 hit in 1963?

Continue reading Speaking of Sukiyaki…. »

$$$$$

The coolest thing about Ocean Prime? The entrance foyer, which doubles as a time portal.

Shrug off the traffic and hassle of Piedmont Road and find yourself inside a perfect recreation of a mid-century supper club — one that begs for the descriptor “swanky.”

Review by John Kessler

A phalanx of hostesses and managers greets you from behind the kind of grand dais usually reserved for teams of TV news anchors. The burble of a water feature with undulating lights gently combines with the strains of a lounge singer crooning in the bar. There’s even a plush cloakroom.

The least cool thing? Probably the fact that the seasonal flavor of sorbet on the dessert menu is raspberry. I know “seasonal” is one of those fluffy throwaway words menu writers like, but it’s also one that people tend to take seriously these days. And, well, we’re not exactly in Chile.

If only the sorbet flavor was the sole issue with the food at this grandiose steak and seafood palace. Ocean …

Continue reading Ocean Prime restaurant review, Buckhead »

World Dish with Gene Lee

As I was growing up in a Korean household, soup acted as the centerpiece for evening meals.

The ritual began as soon as my mother placed a large bowl on the dining table filled with vegetables, meat, tofu and/or seafood churning in a bubbly whirlpool of broth. Everyone in my family would immediately plunge their spoons into the nurturing elixir and vie for those hot morsels soaked through with flavor.

This shared dining ritual promotes closeness. Everyone’s spoons and chopsticks sharing the same bowl is no less taboo than sharing sips from the same water bottle. A lot of Asian cultures have some form of this. The Chinese and Vietnamese have hot pots where diners can plunge a dizzying array of raw food into a shared vessel of boiling broth. The Japanese call their communal hot pot experience nabemono.

Sukiyaki, a formalized type of nabemono typically eaten during colder weather, uses a salty and sweet soup base made with soy sauce, mirin (rice wine) …

Continue reading World Dish: Sukiyaki at Sushi Yoko »

Credit: Bravo

There are a lot of things about this episode that I wouldn’t understand. Things I couldn’t understand. Things I shouldn’t understand.

Here we are, rounding the corner into the home stretch. With only five chefs remaining, after tonight we will be down to the final four. Most of the fat has been trimmed, and now is the time when the competition, and the chefs, get serious.

Or, they get Pee-wee Herman.

QUICKFIRE

The chefs enter the kitchen to see Padma-sized stacks of pancakes waiting for them. With little ado, Padma introduces this week’s guest judge, Mr. movie-and-a-trench-coat himself, Paul Reubens (AKA Pee-wee). After a quick spin around the kitchen on a bike that Pee-Wee would have totally sold to Francis for a hundred million, trillion, billion dollars, Pee-wee lays out the rules for this week’s Quickfire. The chefs have thirty minutes to put their individual spin on his favorite food, the pancake, and there is $5,000 on the line for the …

Continue reading Top Chef Texas recap, Episode 13:Paging Mr. Herman »