Veal sweetbreads with cauliflower puree, wild mushrooms and pancetta-parmesan froth may be one reason John Mariani chose Paces 88 as a best new restaurant for 2009/Credit: Becky Stein for the AJC

Take heart, Atlanta. Dining isn’t dead here yet. The list is out: Esquire’s best new restaurant list. And Atlanta scores with two major nods.

Each year, food writer/restaurant critic John Mariani crowns 20 of the nation’s best new restaurants, and this year hotel dining scores big (at least in Atlanta), with  Paces 88, inside the St. Regis Hotel, and Pacci Ristorante, beside the Hotel Palomar,  garnering two of the coveted spots. Atlanta restaurants that have received the award in the past include Repast, Shaun’s and now-closed Trois.

Of Paces 88, Mariani says, “I hope the St. Regis management (which put less-than-packed Alain Ducasse–run restaurants in its New York City and D. C. hotels) knows just how wonderful Paces 88 is. Its culinary team melds French-American and southern …

Continue reading Esquire chooses two Atlanta restaurants for top 20 »

Fall and winter cocktails from Restaurant Eugene/Credit: AJC

The New York City 2010 Michelin Guide has arrived, and new “enhancements” to the guide say almost as much about dining trends as the guide does about restaurants.

Though its obviously focused on New York, new additions this year to the fabled guide make a statement about the restaurant industry, and plenty of the trends noted have long since made their way to Atlanta.

Culinary cocktails, for instance, now rank with wine as a mark of excellence: in addition to the notable wine list symbol are two new symbols that highlight restaurants with a notable cocktail program or a notable sake list. The former is formidable in Atlanta, from Restaurant Eugene, to Drinkshop (admittedly not a restaurant), to Beleza to Leon’s Full Service, where up-and-comer- Miles Macquarrie just unveiled his new fall menu, which includes a cocktail with lavender-infused gin and a frothy egg white foam that’s as thick as whipped cream.

An entirely …

Continue reading Michelin Guide guides trends »

The bar at Lola/Credit: Elissa Eubanks/AJC

Restaurateur Tom Catherall is capitalizing on his considerable commerce and the recent restaurant week-trend by offering an upcoming first-ever Here to Serve Restaurant Week, October 11 through October 16. Not quite a week, but I’m not counting.

Each of his restaurants, from Lola to Twist, will offer a $25 prix fixe menu, not including tip and tax. Reservations are recommended.

Continue reading Here to Serve Restaurant Week starts this Sunday »

The parking lot in front of Canoe/Credit: John Spink/AJC

Dinner is $33 per person including food, wine, beer, tax & tip. Outside of any costs incurred, M&T will be donating all …

Continue reading Benefit dinner for Canoe, plus more »

Boo treats/credit: AJC

Not sure about the rest of the world, but my week has been exhausting — happy Friday everyone! Here’s what’s coming next week on Table Talk:

A Canoe benefit at Muss & Turner’s

Esquire chose two Atlanta restaurants to be on its “best of” list — do you know which two?

Here to Serve Restaurants restaurant week is coming.

And some Halloween goodies … Yes, that’s me dressed as Jason in the photo with some “mummy” and “brain” cupcakes. Wow! What a clean shower I have!

Have a great weekend Atlanta!

Continue reading Happy Friday »

Yummm… Ria's brisket breakfast/Credit: AJC

Okay, I don’t have the spiked bleached hair or the tatts, but I do have one thing in common with Guy Fieri, host of the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.” I know a good joint when I eat at it. Here are some of my favorites (a few of which have been featured on the show).

Ria’s Bluebird not rated

421 Memorial Drive S.E., Atlanta. 404-521-3737

Truth be told, there are times when I just need a fix of Ria’s. And while we’re all waiting for the divine Ms. Pell’s new joint to open in Inman Park, we can rock on with Ria’s in-town attitude. This joint serves up loads of love from tempeh to tilapia. The latter is blackened and served with a big bowl of organic, stone-ground grits. Breakfast all day is a great thing, especially when it’s a breakfast burrito, the omelet of the day or the fluffy buttermilk pancakes.

George’s Bar & Restaurant not rated

1041 N. Highland Ave. N.E., Atlanta, 404-892-3648

My family has had a tradition …

Continue reading Top five for Friday: Diners and Dives »

Rosebud's dining room/credit: BeckyStein for the AJC

No, you don’t have to be a Jerry Garcia fan to love Rosebud. And save the Orson Welles jokes, too.

This week’s review of chef owner Ron Eyester’s newly named happy spot in Morningside will make you hungry for fried chicken, heirloom tomatoes and braised short ribs. And maybe some Grateful Dead.

Even more reason for going: Chef Ron tells me that next week, from Monday, October 5 through Sunday, October 11, 15% of the restaurant’s proceeds will go to the newly created  Georgia Flooded Farms Relief Fund. So help yourself, and help one of Georgia’s farmers, too.

Continue reading Friday’s review: Rosebud »

The Dining Room's storied wine cellar/credit: AJC

Service rarely started without a complimentary glass of Champagne.

The wine cellar boasted a storied inventory of 600 bottles, including decades-old European reds.

Dinner was always an option of a la carte menu items on the left-hand side of the menu, or a nine-course prix fixe menu that could be paired with wines on the right-hand side. Guillaume always made sure to give a copy of the menu, plus an elegant bag of other goodies, to guests on their way out.

The cheese cart, with lavish selections from around the world, was a rolling work of art, replete with dried fruits and house-made jams and gelees, as well as house-made breads, to complement the cheeses.

Tableside service and decanting of wines was commonplace in the Dining Room.

An after-dinner tea and coffee service was rolled to each table, elegantly stacked with French-style macaroons, fruit gelees, various petit fours and cookies, and the Dining Room’s signature …

Continue reading Signatures of the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton »

Arnaud Berthelier/credit: AJC

Current chef Arnaud Berthelier’s French cuisine has graced the Dining Room since 2005, incorporating Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and North African flavors with modern French style. Playful and creative, he was never shy about pushing the envelope, from creating flavorful foams to cooking short ribs sous vide, trapping the vapor to be released from under a glass dome tableside. Bread baking is another of his specialties, and he created 10 recipes for the Dining Room. He was twice nominated for a James Beard Award during his tenure. He is leaving Atlanta to work at the Peninsula Shanghai.

Bruno Menard/credit: AJC

Bruno Ménard, chef from 2001 to 2005, was lauded for his modern French cuisine with delicate Japanese nuances. He came from a famous chocolate-making family in France, and the refined art of the confectioner showed in much of  his cooking, particularly his lavish desserts. He left the Dining Room to work for L’Osier in Tokyo.

Joel …

Continue reading The Dining Room’s fabulous chefs »

The open kitchen at the Ritz/Credit: AJC

There is a slight hump of the carpet at the entrance to the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead, and in the more than dozen times I’ve eaten there in the past five years, maitre d’hôtel Claude Guillaume has never failed to mention it to me as a caution for how I step. He usually takes my hand for a moment, and then leads me to one of the tables in the quiet, plush room, with its odd mix of hunt-club portraits and Oriental silks.

After the lights are dimmed tonight, when the last Riedel wine decanter is washed and put away, each kitchen whisk hanging in its perfectly pristine place, The Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead will close after 25 years of service to Atlanta. It almost needs to be said twice to understand the magnitude of what this means to our dining scene: The Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead closes tonight.

We have suffered the loss of Seeger’s and Soto; Joel has lost its namesake and morphed from fine …

Continue reading Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead: Atlanta says goodbye to a beauty »