Chef Craig Richards/courtesy of Fifth Group

Chef Craig Richards of La TavolaTrattoria had a bright idea. Actually, he had two bright ideas. The gifted chef who’s been cooking authentic Italian at the the romantic Virginia Highland spot like he’s a native for years decided this past summer to 1. Start a cooking blog, and 2. Take a trip.

When he combined the two, he got something he wasn’t expecting: a true journal — what blogs started as — of a trip he took to Italy.

Richards had traveled and studied in Italy before, but this time he decided to chronicle the stages (working for free in a kitchen to learn) he would be undergoing, so everyone could share in the fun (and hard work).

Fifth Group, the Atlanta-based restaurant group that owns La Tavola (along with Ecco, the Original El Taco and South City Kitchen), helped Richards foot the bill, a course was plotted and the blog, Craig’s Seasoned to Taste, was launched.

Richards visited Rome, then worked with Flavio Faedi at Vespasia …

Continue reading Have blog will travel »

My rosemary roasted pumpkin with beets and garlic/credit: AJC

Here’s what’s coming on Table Talk next week:

• Guess what chefs will be carving up pumpkins at the Atlanta Botanical Garden this month?

• My bees have been busy all summer, and now it’s time to harvest my honey — get ready for some bee-eautiful photos.
• Primal Atlanta is coming.
• Recipes that include everyone’s favorite orange vegetable.

Have a great weekend, Atlanta!

Continue reading Happy Friday Atlanta »

Joia's gemelli with peas and prosciutto/credit: Becky Stein for the AJC

This week’s review takes a look at veteran restaurateur Marco Betti’s turn at casual dining paired with late-night-clubbing. The results are a mixed, but given time, Joia will most likely work its kinks out.

Continue reading Friday’s review: Joia »

Goldberg's Brooklyn Reuben/Credit: AJC

I have a confession. Whenever I visit New York,  I really couldn’t care less whether I get a reservation for Per Se, or if  Momofuku’s normal three-month wait list dwindles down to me getting in or not. I really just go for the sammies. New York is a city of great sandwiches, from the mile-high pastrami’s at Stage Deli to the merguez sausage sandwiches of Queens.

So where does an Atlanta girl go when she’s got a sandwich jones? We’ve got our share of  good sandwiches, too, and here are a few of my favorites.

Noon Midtown, not rated

1080 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, 404-496-4891

Attorney Katie Birmingham, a former kitchen geek, longed for a good sandwich for lunch. There wasn’t one to be found in Midtown. So she made her own, along with a sandwich shop to go with it. Along with hubby Ross, she’s opened Noon Midtown, serving simple, fresh sandwiches, soups and coffees. The chicken salad is a keeper: big chunks of white meat tossed in fresh …

Continue reading Top five for Friday: Sandwiches »

Step one/Credit:AJC

Halloween is coming, and I’m already seeing goofy costumes and tacky decor in local drug and grocery stores. I love it. It’s the only time of year when it’s absolutely acceptable to be tacky. Plus I’m a sucker for candy corn. Here’s a how-to on pumpkin carving that originally appeared in the AJC’s food section

Step one: the first cut is the deepest — use a sharp utility or chef’s knife to make that first down ward stroke into the top of your soon-to-be jack-o-lantern.

Step two/credit: AJC

Step two: create a “lid” by slicing off the excess flesh and seeds, then start burrowing out the inside of your pumpkin.

Step 3/credit: AJC

Step three: get the goo out. This is actually one of the most important steps — the cleaner your pumpkin is on the inside, the easier it will be to carve. Once all the flesh and seeds are removed, use a scooping tool to shave the area you’ll be carving down to no more than about one-inch thickness. That way, you’ll be able to cut more …

Continue reading How to carve a pumpkin »

Dan Working the line at Tierra/credit: AJC

For those of you who’ve been keeping up with chef-owner Dan Krinsky of Tierra, I’ve got an update from wife (and chef-owner) Ticha.

“Dan is doing well. He has had no complications. Last week he prepped three days for a couple of hours at a time, so this week he may do a little more. The donor is also doing well. It seems like a miracle!”

It is a miracle, and one we’re so happy for!

Dan suffers from PKD, or polycystic kidney disease, a genetic disorder that causes cysts to develop on the kidneys. Over time these cysts fill with fluid and engorge, eventually causing complete kidney failure. His blood is the most common type for an easy match, but because of that, the pool of organ recipients is much larger, and only the sickest get to the top of the list.

Dan finally, after several mismatches,  found a donor and underwent transplant surgery this past August. I wish him well, and hope to make it back to Tierra soon.

For more …

Continue reading Tierra chef-owner continues to do well »

Exciting news! I’m livening up Table Talk with beer talk — from the beer guy, Bob Townsend. Bob will be posting beer news, facts and fun every other Thursday on Table Talk, in what we’re calling “On Tap.” Please welcome him!

Heeeeere’s Bob:

ON TAP
By Bob Townsend

Earlier this week on the Ale Street News website, beer writer Stephen Beaumont picked five “Unsung Beer Destinations.” Atlanta was number two on the list, behind Western Michigan, and in front of Raleigh-Durham, Anchorage, and Manhattan. Beaumont specifically cites Five Seasons, the Brick Store Pub, and Sweetwater, Terrapin, and Atlanta Brewing Company as examples of the right stuff for a beer geek-worthy travel destination. That’s Beaumont in the photo, with credit to Maggie John.

Of course, I’ve been singing about the growth of Atlanta’s beer scene for a long time. In fact, it’s come to the point that I could go to a beer tasting, dinner or festival almost every day or night of the week.

Coincidentally, …

Continue reading Introducing “On Tap” with Bob Townsend »

Community BBQ"s logo/courtesy of Community BBQ

David Roberts, one-third of the triumvirate that was the original Sam & Dave’s in Marietta, is opening his own ‘cue joint, Community BBQ, in the old Epicurean space on Clairmont Road in Decatur.

“We’re basically just waiting on final inspections at this point,” Roberts told me by phone. “As soon as we get them, we’re good to go.”

Roberts is no stranger to barbecue, and the menu promises old fashioned ‘cue — Berkshire pork, including ribs, from Riverview Farms, beef ribs and brisket, chicken — with “standard” sides, as Roberts calls them. That is, of course, if you consider Roberts’ famous three-cheese mac-n-cheese a standard side — cheddar, Monterey jack and Parmesan meld together in cream and butter creating a goo fest for noodles. It’s the same mac-n-cheese he cooked at Sam & Dave’s.

Partnering with him are Stuart Baesel, who also worked at Sam & Dave’s, and Jim Laber, a former Inland Seafood dude who wants to learn the ‘cue …

Continue reading New ‘cue in town »

Brian Lewis and Todd Ginsberg/Credit: Bocado

I’m told by industry insiders that a foodie mixer was held at the restaurant last night and that the restaurant opens to the public today.

Bocado is slated to open “early October” (um, isn’t that like, now?) on the Westside, across the street from Octane. Owner Brian Lewis has hired chef Todd Ginsberg for the eatery’s kitchen, and the digs are sure to be groovy, from the hot design group ai3 (fast taking over the restaurant design realm once dominated by Bill Johnson — Flip, 4th& Swift, Aja and Holeman & Finch are all in the creative group’s repertoire).

Ginsberg is taking the menu in a different direction than I had originally thought: sandwiches and small plates sure to lure the Westside’s lunch crowd out of their offices and into the small space’s dining room. With a name like Bocado (which means “snack” or “mouthful” in Spanish), I was hoping the focus would be on real Spanish tapas.

Still, Ginsberg is a formidable chef, and …

Continue reading Todd Ginsberg slated as chef for Westside’s Bocado (UPDATE) »

Penny Hart, chef Carvel Grant Gould and her mother Ginny Rather in front of a portrait of family family member Col. Lemuel P. Grant/Photo courtesy of Penny Hart and Ginny Rather

If you’ve been wondering what Canoe chef Carvel Grant Gould has been doing since the restaurant flooded  on September 22, ponder no more.

Ms. Gould has had her hands full. First, she and the rest of Canoe’s employees are at the restaurant each day, cleaning up. “We’re all here everyday,” the chef told me by phone,” getting dirty scrubbing and powerwashing.”

And all the hard work is paying off:  Gould says that a mid-November reopening of the restaurant is “highly doable.”

“All of the wood has already been refurbished, and we’re looking good,” the chef said.

Meanwhile, she and most of the management and crew of the restaurant — a 14-year Atlanta favorite — have been readying for a dinner at the Grant Mansion on October 15 to benefit the Atlanta Preservation Center, and more specifically, the Grant …

Continue reading Canoe chef keeps on rolling (with the river) »