AJC Staff

May I explain why I managed to invite six food experts to my office one cold and rainy afternoon to lick mayonnaise off pieces of white bread? It’s a bit of a story:

Several months ago when the Cherokee Purple tomato vine in my backyard was heavy with fat, firm, “eat-me-now” specimens, I decided to have my first Southern tomato sandwich. I made it with one thick and drippy slice of the maroon fruit, two pieces of white bread and whatever mayonnaise I had in the fridge, which was Hellmann’s. Delicious. I posted a note on my Facebook page and then published a column on the experience.

I subsequently got hundreds of comments and e-mails from readers and got stopped repeatedly in the hall at work to discuss this sandwich.

Some told me it was about time I had discovered a quintessential Southern summer experience. But many more were aghast at the jar pictured in the accompanying photo.

Hellmann’s???

In the South you put Duke’s mayonnaise on your tomato sandwiches and …

Margherita Pizza

When Giovanni di Palma first opened Antico Pizza Napoletana five week ago, his intention was to prepare  Neapolitan-style pizzas for a mostly carryout market. He would half cook the pies, encase them in plastic sleeves and send them off to retail outlets with instructions on how to finish baking them.

And, oh yeah, he’d do a small carryout business. His odd location on the West Side by Georgia Tech could probably attract a few students with munchies.

And then?

“The first night these three girls ordered a pizza and had a picnic in the parking lot!” says the incredulous pizzaiolo. Soon, the ever enterprising tastemaker Blissful Glutton published a rave on her blog.

Within days di Palma had cleared off his dough prep table for diners. Then he brought in chairs. He set up a communal table in the kitchen, right by his three imported wood-fired pizza ovens. Then he built additional counter space.

The lines kept coming as word got out about the pizza. So di Palma …

That’s okay. Schlurmph in peace, my friend.

Before we start obsessing over the particulars of this burger — and you know we will, from the grease-cutting tang of the pickle to the plasticky goodness of American cheese — let us just stop and admire this messy heap and think about the great hamburger paradigm shift of 2009.

A mere year or so ago, we worshipped the backyard burger — the fat, stolid pattie of firm pinkish meat that bulged to an inch or more on its bun. You had to open wide, wider, widest to fit one of these things in your mouth.

Then, along came Holeman & Finch with its thin, grey patties, stacked and cheese-slicked, with pickles and juicy condiments. This wasn’t a huge burger in width or girth but rather a satisfying one — something you really hadn’t considered since your last Double Cheeseburger at McDonald’s (or, better yet, …

Rendering of Tomo, courtesy Restaurants Consulting Group

Great news for sushi lovers!

Tomo Japanese Restaurant — the excellent little spot in a Vinings strip mall — will soon get a whole lot more exposure when it moves the Ritz-Carlton Residences, currently under construction at 3630 Peachtree Road in Buckhead.

The new  mixed-use building (right) will have both office space and luxury residences, and is located just behind the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

Cy Bickers, the architect who is doing the build out for Restaurants Consulting Group, says the new Tomo “will be a lot more high end [than the current one] but still have a comfortable atmosphere.”

Chef Tomohiro Naito, for his part, is keeping a little more mum about the plans because he hasn’t yet decided whether or not he’ll keep the current location, which has built a serious fan base. He’ll only say a regular customer facilitated the new venture.

Hilarious sushi flag Tomo created for the front page of the AJC

I’m thrilled and …

Eggplant lasagna

“I’ll come back and take your drink order whenever you’re ready,” the waitress informs us in a voice so soft and soothing that I feel like I’m about to get a massage.

At Cafe Sunflower in Buckhead, the lighting is dim, the colorful walls glow softly and gigantic paper lanterns hang from the ceiling like mood-altering orbs. I feel so like I’ve walked through a wormhole into 1978, and I have to say I like the feeling.

Cafe Sunflower has only been around since 1994, yet it evokes an earlier age of vegetarianism — one that suggested meatlessness is the first step on a path to enlightenment. It makes you think you can sit purposefully, look deep into your soul and find the powerful energy emanating from a chakra that whispers, “Try the zucchini and tempeh burrito.”

The food tastes of an earlier era, as well. On the one  hand, it has nothing in common with the exciting, fresh, locavore-tastic cooking happening at Dynamic Dish in the Old Fourth Ward. On the other …

Nice vegetarian option on the restaurant’s Middle Eastern-inspired menu. Lamb kefte with tomato jam, yogurt and caramelized onions on pita was great, too.

Posted via web from ajcfoodandmore’s posterous

The last time I went to the downtown restaurant (called Gladys Knight and Ron Winans Chicken & Waffles) was with a friend who had tried Watershed’s fried chicken on my recommendation and found it too salty and greasy. So she took me to Gladys and Ron’s for a “Midnight Train” plate of four crispy-fried wings and a waffle. I liked it a lot but still give props to Watershed.

I also liked the heavily seasoned collard greens, fried corn and green beans at Gladys and Ron’s.

Mixed tacos with grilled corn in lime mayo

When the Original El Taco first opened about a year ago, I was eager to try it. I would often drive past the building in Virginia Highland and think that a couple of tacos and a margarita sounded like a fine prospect. 

Problem was, we always decided to go on the spur of the moment (”look, tacos!”) but could never get in.

The hostess would invariably suggest we wait in the bar, which was stuffed like a car full of circus clowns with a noisy singles set drinking “Fro Mos” (frozen mojitos). I saw where this was heading. People would tank up in the bar and then spill over into the dining room to sop up the sweet booze with tacos. I wanted a quick, cheap meal — not a scene.

So, we waited a year, and guess what? 

It looks like the bib and stroller set has moved in.

The night we visit the bar is mostly empty, but families are at just about every table, and parents traipse through the dining room to accompany curious preschoolers to …

Spicy Calabrese sausage "dip"

If you like Italian food, and you have the resources for a reasonably expensive meal and you’ve never been to La Pietra Cucina, then you must rectify that situation right away.

I’m not going to go so far as to say La Pietra is the best Italian restaurant in the city (it’s too weird for that distinction) but it is the most original. Some of the food here — particularly the pastas — will put you in that yummy-yummy rapture place. That place where you make little grunts, snorts and ululations ulululations of non-verbal approbation. I love that place.

Chef Bruce Logue trained at Babbo — the Greenwich Village restaurant that turned Mario Batali into a superstar. If you’ve ever eaten at Babbo, you will recognize both the spirit of edgy hominess as well as some the dishes. But Logue is no copycat: his food shows a personality all his own, which is why I have appreciated  (if not particularly liked) the several near-misses I’ve eaten here. I keep going …