Ray’s on the River in Sandy Springs recently hit a bumpy road during food safety inspections, according to reports. It dropped into the poor and failing ranges twice in the last two months before rebounding both times to the 90s range. The up-down record occurred last year as well, reports show.

The restaurant at 6700 Powers Ferry Road faced a third inspection – after the routine and follow-up exams in April – because of a complaint, the inspector noted. Both poor inspection reports resulted from substandard procedures, including improper storage of raw and ready-to-eat foods and inadequate temperature controls, reports show.

The inspector also found that guidelines weren’t being followed for the wiping cloths and sanitizing solution. The solution strength was below standards on one report and above on another, the inspector wrote.

In response to the types of retraining provided to maintain its A-level safety standards, the manager declined to an on-the-record …

Continue reading Restaurant inspections, Ray’s on the River »

If New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has his way, this 20-ounce bottle of Coke would not be allowed anywhere in the five boroughs of the city.

In a City Hall briefing yesterday, Bloomberg proposed a ban on sales of all sugary drinks — from sodas, to coffee beverages to juice cocktails with less than 70% real fruit juice — in any size larger than 16 ounces. This would apply to both cups and bottles.

In New York City, more than half of adults are obese or overweight. About a third of New Yorkers drink one or more sugary drinks a day.

You can read more about the proposed ban — and the strong likelihood of its passage — here.

The Coca-Cola Company released this statement in response:

“The people of New York City are much smarter than the New York City Health Department believes. We are transparent with our consumers. They can see exactly how many calories are in every beverage we serve. We have prominently placed calorie counts on the front of our bottles and cans and in New York …

Continue reading New York mayor proposes large soda ban [UPDATED] »

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Back in the late 2000s, 1992 Hosea Williams Drive was home to the quintessential Kirkwood bar, Aces Bar & Grill. Representative of the influx of young gentrifiers, the smoky dive bar served the local 20-somethings well. But times change and 20-somethings grow up. Enter The Pullman.

Review by Jon Watson

Partners and Kirkwood locals Heidi Shonkwiler and Dan Wingate set out to open a community-centric gastropub to match the evolving demographic of Kirkwood. When the pair learned that Aces was going under “after a weeks-long stint as the kid-friendly Jak’s All In,” they saw their opportunity to build the pub the neighborhood needed. No longer an adults-only dive bar, The Pullman aims to offer a place to share a few pints with friends, as well as a place to park your stroller while you do it.

The Pullman walks that 30-something line between family-friendly enough to bring the kids along for dinner, but young enough to draw the crowd back in for drinks once the little ones are …

Continue reading The Pullman restaurant review, Atlanta »

Chef Justin Keith serves his housemade kimchee with duck atop green onion hoe cakes at Food 101. (Photo credit: Becky Stein)

By Felicia Feaster for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Like the Vietnamese hot sauce Sriracha that popped up with startling regularity in chefs’ dishes in 2011, the savory Korean fermented vegetable dish, kimchee, is proving to be the go-to condiment of 2012.

Suddenly, kimchee is everywhere, showing up on food truck tacos and in food-fad central, the Trader Joe’s refrigerated case.

Atlanta chefs are blending kimchee into Southern classics like grits at Empire State South, melding it with collard greens at Two Urban Licks, serving kimchee as an oyster garnish or alongside duck and green onion hoe cakes at Food 101.

Richard Blais’ Flip Burger Boutique has featured a Korean barbecue burger garnished with a kimchee ketchup. Guy Wong at the Japanese izakaya on Edgewood Avenue, Miso Izakaya, serves a pork kimchee rice topped with a fried egg. Meehan’s Public …

Continue reading Kimchee spicing up menus everywhere »

Should restaurants post food photos and other images on Pinterest? (Sushi House Hayakawa, Doraville by Becky Stein / AJC Special)

Like many, I avoided Facebook for quite awhile before joining the ranks of followers. I feared the dreaded “time suck” as so many have called it. But one day I finally joined and I hopped on Twitter, too. And now, I have another addiction: Pinterest.

Pinterest, a shareable virtual bulletin board, is the newest addition to the time sucking family of social media sites. It has become a daily habit for me and, apparently, for many others. According to compete.com, which provides web traffic statistics, Pinterest received close to 20 million unique visitors in April.

Despite warnings against advertising and self-promotion during Pinterest’s sign-up process, businesses are beginning to explore ways to capitalize on its marketing potential, restaurants included.

Pinterest seems like a viable marketing avenue for restaurants. Post photos of food or …

Continue reading Pinterest for Atlanta restaurants? »

The Peachtree Road Farmers Market to host Friday night this week. credit: John Spink,AJC

The Peachtree Road Farmers Market will shake things up a bit this week with a one-time-only Friday night event.

This evening market edition will feature over 70 produce and handmade treat vendors and include live bluegrass music from The Farmland Trio. Look for food trucks to be on hand to provide dinner.

A big draw for the Friday night market is the Iron Chef-style competition that will replace the traditional chef’s demonstration. Six chefs will have two hours and $45 to shop from market vendors and prepare plates for 100 event ticket holders ($5). Participating chefs include:

• Jared Lee Pyles of HD1
• David Gross of Market
• Patric Bell, formerly of West Egg Cafe
• Justin Balmes, former “Next Food Network Star” competitor
• Suzanne Vizethann of The Hungry Peach
• Meghan Lewis, the Whole Foods Health Starts Here Prepared Foods Advocate

This Friday’s (June 1) market will run from 4-8 p.m. …

Continue reading Iron Chef-style competition at Peachtree Road Farmers Market »

Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen has debuted a new product called “Rip’n Chick’n.” It seems to be something akin to a Bloomin’ Onion, but made with meat.

Here’s the official word:

“Popeyes Rip’n Chick’n is a whole chicken breast cut into tenders only partially, and left intact at the base for rip-able strips. It’s marinated with a blend of cayenne, habañero, white and black peppers, and then is hand battered, breaded, and cooked up in Popeyes signature crispy batter. To cool it off, Rip’n Chick’n is served with a side of buttermilk Ranch Sauce for dip’n.”

So, first you do your rip’n, then you do your dip’n.

I tried to find out the calorie count for this $3.99 product on the Popeyes website, but it’s not there yet.

Has anyone gone rip’n and dip’n over the Memorial Day weekend and care to share?

- by John Kessler for the Food & More blog

Continue reading The Bloomin’ Onion of Poultry? »

Credit: Steve Coll

Award winning food writer and former Atlantan John T. Edge will return on Wednesday, May 30th to promote his new book “The Truck Food Cookbook”. The new book explores the exploding truck and cart food movement across the country and collects over 150 recipes from food trucks in 15+ cities Edge visited during his research.

Edge, a former contributor to the AJC, is a five-time James Beard Award nominee and a winner earlier this month of The MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award, writes the monthly “United Tastes” for The New York Times. Edge also acts as the director of the Southern Foodways Alliance, a non-profit institute based at the University of Mississippi dedicated to documenting, studying, and celebrating the diverse food cultures of the American South.

Another Atlanta resident, food stylist Angie Mosier, provided all of the photography for the book, as well as collected and interpreted all of the recipes as well. Much has changed in Atlanta since …

Continue reading John T. Edge comes to town promoting “The Truck Food Cookbook” »

Roast pig — decadent feast and target (Credit: Lionsgate Studios)

Like many other parents of teenage girls, I not only watched my daughter tear through “The Hunger Games” trilogy this spring, I picked up each book as she finished it and devoured it myself.

Devour is the appropriate word.

Suzanne Collins’ young adult novels are about love and violence in a post-apocalyptic future, where the decimated population of North America struggles under the yoke of a totalitarian regime to end all totalitarian regimes. But these books are also about food. Food both foraged and crafted, food withheld from some and lavished on others, food as the agent of control and as the foundation of community.

This fact wasn’t lost on many bloggers and writers, who have engaged in “Hunger Games” tribute cookery with a zeal they usually reserve for cupcakes. Some have turned to “The Unofficial Hunger Games Cookbook: From Lamb Stew to ‘Groosling’ — More than 150 Recipes Inspired by …

Continue reading The Food of “The Hunger Games” »

Various restaurants, from the upscale ones to the deli type and wings spots, face food safety citations related to wiping cloths and sanitizing solution. This issue was punctuated when a reader inquired about the state’s requirements.

“Could you tell me what the restaurants use to disinfect the cloths they wipe tables and counters with? I gather they have a “soaking tub” or something. I see table clearers wipe tables, take their dirty dish container to the next table, clear another table, then wipe that table, etc. I’ve also seen behind-the-counter workers wipe spills off a customer’s cup with the suspect cloth, then hand the customer the cup,” wrote Peggy Rodway of Marietta.

When restaurants fall short in this area, inspectors advise the managers on proper procedures. Also, Georgia’s food safety guidelines are clear on this subject:

** Cloths in-use for wiping food spills from tableware and carry-out containers that occur as food is being served shall be …

Continue reading Restaurant inspections, wiping cloth requirements »