Hot Dish Review

Originally posted about a year ago….funny, it sounds like it could have happened yesterday.Friday night LC and I found the dining room at JCT Kitchen jam packed, despite the torrential downpour and severe thunderstorm warning. We had an evening to ourselves and wanted to enjoy a nice adult meal at a cool place.

Surprisingly, I had never made it to JCT before. It was one of the first restaurants to lure the trendy dining crowd to this somewhat industrialized neighborhood. Everything I had heard was positive so I was excited to give it a go.

The space is open, exuding warmth and simplicity, much like its neighbors Quinones Room and Baccanalia in the same complex. Across the way is the White Provisions building home to culinary star Abattoir and right next to the original Yeah! Burger.

Seated across from each other at a two-top along the wall, LC commented that conversation was nearly impossible, given the constant chatter from tables nearby. It was true, the atmosphere was anything but intimate. We would have preferred the patio had the weather cooperated.

We started with cocktails from their creative list, utilizing spirits like bitters, bourbon and rye, which has become rather de rigeur for upscale trendy restaurants these days. I was excited to see a sloe gin fizz on the list, taking me back to my childhood when my parents hosted card games and my Mom made this drink by the pitcher.

After delivering our cocktails, our server read off an entire menu’s worth of specials. I almost stopped him, having already decided on the bacon wrapped pork loin, when he said the word “duck”. The game had instantly changed. It was a breast and confit, I assumed a leg, with an orange champagne sauce served with sauteed peppers….a weird pairing but he had me at “duck”.

But first we wanted to sample a couple of starters, the “angry” mussels and the bacon wrapped figs with blue cheese. We found both dishes to be very impressive. The figs were not baked but rather raw, sliced in half with a thick strip of chewy bacon intertwined among the halves, which rested in an intensely sharp blue cheese sauce that provided the appropriate balance to the dish. A smattering of toasted almonds added a fun crunchy element.

A medium-sized bowl of mussles arrived, steaming in their aromatic broth flavored with peppered bacon, serano chilis, and onion. Although small, the shellfish were great. I especially enjoyed dipping the crusty rustic bread in the spicy broth. We loved ‘em!

When our server checked in I switched to prosecco. LC ordered the shrimp ‘n’ grits and I went for the duck, of course. His dish was richer than the Kennedys, grits engulfed in cheeses and butter, topped with shrimp and a battered and deep fried poached egg. A week’s worth of calories and fat, but decadently delicious.

My duck, however, was not exactly what I expected. Yes, the breast was nicely displayed with a crispy skin. Based upon our server’s description, I was expecting a leg confit, but instead the breast was served on a mound of shredded confit, seasoned with the orange champagne sauced described, creating a concoction which sort of reminded me of BBQ. The oily, crispy, gaminess of the confit was entirely lost. I wasn’t thrilled about the peppers to begin with and they did little to elevate the entree.

An unexpected favorite of the evening was the side dish of corn succotash that LC ordered. Bathed in butter, it was the epitome of Summer in the South. Ironically LC had actually changed his order to the squash, but it was a happy mistake.

We decided to forego edible dessert in favor of the liquid variety upstairs at JCT Bar. An acoustic guitarist entertained the crowd of thirty-somethings inside as the drizzle continued outside. A train chugged past as we headed to the car, anxious to get home and work off the surplus calories.

1198 Howell Mill Road 404-355-2252

OK, it was not from my garden or even my parents’ garden, but it grew somewhere in the US, presumably in a garden. Publix had this packaged okra, vibrant and fresh. I grew up eating okra, in gumbo or fried….love it!

My parents are growing okra too, in addition to zucchini, tomatoes, green beans, squash, and cucumbers. Mom has already canned her first batch of beans which we had with grilled pork tenderloin, onions, zucchini, and peppers in Helen, along with a salad of cous cous, edamame, and black olives. Healthy and delicious!

Like the fried green tomatoes, this is my first attempt at frying okra. Mom usually makes and freezes several bags for me but today I decided to cook up a mess of it myself!

Talk about easy! Here is the method: wash the okra, cut into pieces 3/8″-1/2″, toss with cornmeal, season with a little salt and pepper and panfry over medium heat in about 2 tbsp. canola oil for 20-25 minutes, until tender and browned.

I made a big batch so I froze half of it. So good!

It’s that time of year again! This post is dedicated to my friend Scott at Hairology, LOL.Yep, I’m Southern. You wouldn’t guess it from my accent or from the tell-tale shotgun under my bed. No, you’d be hard-pressed to figure that one out until….

Until someone brings up food. Specifically, the proper way to prepare certain Southern foods, like fried green tomatoes, for example. Few vegetables get my dander up quite like thickly breaded, deep fried green tomatoes. Check out my post on how to prepare them correctly.

Once I’m on the subject of Southern food, it takes me back to my childhood when fried okra, corn on the cob, green beans, tomatoes, zucchini and squash were daily Summer fare….fresh from the garden, naturally.

The current restaurant trend toward sustainable, organic, and local produce is a natural draw for me. Flavors are more pronounced when the vegetables were recently plucked from their vines.

Last night I was craving yellow squash so I thought I’d cook up a mess of it! God only knows how many days the yellow squash I bought at Walmart had spent en route to the store.

Sometimes us Southerners are blamed for cooking our veggies to death. I find many of them are best that way…..greens and squash especially. It tames the bitterness of greens and brings out the sweetness of squash.

I slice my yellow squash thinly, along with some Vidalia onion, and sautee them until brownish and falling apart (like in photo above, and yes, that is one serving). Celery salt, black pepper, and dried parsley and spice. Yum!

By the way, about that gun, I ain’t got nar’n.

(There is some debate about the spelling of “nar’n”, the contraction of “nary a one”, which is slang for “never a one”, “not any” or “none”.)

When anyone asks my opinion on the best new restaurant in Atlanta, I invariably say Miller Union. Not only for its cool yet comfortable atmosphere but for its fresher than fresh local produce and chef Satterfield’s creative takes on simple Southern dishes.

I fell in love with Miller Union on my first visit with B, seduced by the fragrant broth that surrounded clams in a big white bowl, lured in by the richness of an egg baked in celery cream, comforted by the warm embrace of a rustic pear tart. Yes, every dish we had was truly stellar.

That was in the Winter. In fact, it was snowing the night we dined there. I mention this for two reasons: my folly in judging any restaurant based upon one visit is becoming evident, and I simply don’t like Summer menus nearly as much as Fall ones.

With a first meeting like that, disillusionment was sure to follow. Common sense would tell you that multiple visits to a restaurant, or anywhere for that matter, affords a more rounded experience, and therefore allows one to make a qualified assessment of the food, the wine, the service, the scene. But me, I’m the idiot that falls in love on the first date. Then I find out he is unemployed, married, stupid, or all of the above.

My second date with MU didn’t go quite as well as our first. It started off promising with an exceptional blueberry cocktail called Tangled up in Blue. Wanting to introduce my friend BB to my new love, I had high hopes that they, too, would find affection for one another.

Seasonal menus like MU’s feature local produce so naturally one finds awesomeness like apples, sweet potatoes, and Brussels sprouts in the Fall and Winter. Likewise, Summer menus are ripe with tomatoes, corn, and okra.

There is a special place in my heart for okra. I grew up eating fried okra just picked from the garden. My grandma, who was as Southern as poke salad, taught my Mom how to make it properly. Just like fried green tomatoes, I have a real disdain for improperly cooked fried okra.

But first things first. Seated at the bar, BB and I started off with a pork terrine served with pickled okra and their fantastic toasted bread. Not terrible although BB thinks he can find a comparable terrine at Publix.

The magical farm egg baked in celery cream also awaited my lips. I took a knife and pierced its soft yellow yolk, spreading the sublime mixture on the crispy sourdough. Pure heaven.

BB and I decided to split an entree. This is where things went downhill as we noted practically every dish featured corn and/or tomatoes. Fish and tomatoes don’t work for me so that automatically eliminated all the fish dishes. As we made our way down the list, we decided upon the chicken. And God help me if it didn’t come with tomatoes too, disguised as eggplant caponata! The dish was simply prepared. Too simple.

Our side of okra literally took me aback. Chefs deserve plenty of room for creativity. I don’t expect every Southern dish to be like my Grandma’s in Tennessee, as long as it’s good. Miller Union’s okra was not good. Whole okra with a thick beige coating (only flour, no cornmeal?) was neither delicious nor authentic. As BB and I nibbled on the deep fried vegetable, he noted how the batter “skin” could be pulled off. Unfortunately I had consumed several of them prior to this discovery.

Another cocktail was ordered and consumed. BB was on his second Pimm’s Cup.

Note: check out my method for making authentic fried okra by clicking here.

Southern desserts. For me, generally unappealling like the hideous traditional banana pudding or sugar bombs like pecan pie. Miller Union offers similar atrocities: coconut cream pie, lemon layer cake. Before eyeing the dessert list I bet my left forearm (yeah, I know that’s weird) that there would be at least one peach dessert on the menu, after all, what could be more seasonal than Georgia peaches?

There was just one, peach shortcake. If I could have chosen anything made with peaches, that would not have been it. So we opted for the two homemade ice creams of the day, ginger and caramel. I found the caramel so cloyingly sweet that I could barely eat it. BB liked it, however, I preferred the ginger. Neither compared to the ingenuity of the thyme, sage, and rosemary ice creams B and I sampled in the Winter.

I’m not going to break up with you MU. But I think we need some time apart, like maybe three or four months.

999 Brady Avenue NW 678-733-8550

I love fried green tomatoes, however, I rarely eat them. Here’s why….most restaurants serve them as an appetizer, all gussied up with bullshit like aioli or goat cheese or whatever. That’s why my very first blog post was a Knuckle Sandwich on this very subject.

Fried green tomatoes are a vegetable, a side dish like green beans or squash or corn. My Grandma in Tennessee made them, tangy and delicious, fresh from the garden. She taught my Mom how to cook them, sliced about 1/4″ thick, dredged in a little cornmeal and fried in a pan. That’s it. Simple. Southern.

It’s hard to find green tomatoes but I plan to cook up a batch as soon as I do….I think Whole Foods is my best bet.

Until then I decided to try ‘em at The Nook. Located on Piedmont Park, they have a kickass patio. Their trademark Tochos are their specialty but too heavy for a 90 degree afternoon.

The Nook offers fried green tomatoes as an appetizer with some sort of vinaigrette and feta cheese so I was already pissed off when I ordered them for B and I to share. She’s a Southern girl too so she knows what a fried green tomato is supposed to look and taste like.

The obvious first criteria is that the tomatoes are green. Like I said, it’s hard to find them and The Nook is clearly having this issue. Their tomatoes were yellow. Sliced appropriately thin with a light cornmeal coating, they lacked the tang of green tomatoes because they were too ripe.

On a positive note the vinaigrette and cheese were not overpowering. A small mound of raw spinach in the center of the plate also did not offend. They were a little too greasy but it could have been worse….they could have been breaded and deep fried like so many establishments do it, completely obliterating any flavor, except for, of course, whatever fucking aioli they drizzle them with.

My Grandma never even heard of aioli.

Has anyone had awesome fried green tomatoes in Atlanta, anywhere? Let me know, I’m on a ‘mater mission!

Here’s an ironic post….me telling you to go get some grits! Historically, not my favorite food. In fact, although I grew up in Tennessee (honey, I mean in the woods!) I never tried grits until me and my Mom got them at Denny’s in Palm Springs, of all places. They came with our breakfasts of eggs, bacon, and toast, we didn’t order them intentionally. Once faced with the shallow bowl of white-ish mush we didn’t know what to do with them….should they be salty, sweet?

We decided to melt a little butter on them and sprinkle with sugar. No flavor was detected (other than the butter and sugar). Experiment fail.

Rather than a flavor-packed grain, grits are merely a vehicle for flavor. At restaurants like Rathbun’s and Dogwood that vehicle is a Mercedes, unlike the ’76 Pinto at Denny’s.

Dogwood’s grits are so creamy and delicious! Made with Red Mule yellow stone ground grits from Athens, GA, they offer them with several topping options that change seasonally including choices like Brunswick stew, crawfish butter, or pimento cheese, to name a few.

I have a coupon to try some for free but I can’t seem to attach it! If you want the coupon just comment on this post and I will email it to you!

565 Peachtree Street 404-835-1410

I’m a Southern girl. Sorta. My Mom is German, my Dad is American and I grew up in a small town in Tennessee.

Although my Dad’s family was poor, they ate remarkably healthy. They grew what they ate….green beans, corn, squash, tomatoes, everything. The chickens that ran around the coop could easily end up on the dinner table, having already provided their eggs for breakfast.

Fast forward to my childhood. My Mom was a health nut, always looking for ways to modify Southern favorites. She substituted low-sodium chicken broth for regular in my Grandma’s cornbread dressing. Later, she started using Egg-Beaters instead of whole eggs. Just suble changes, the same great flavor, better nutrition. We ate from the garden in the Spring and Summer, canned green beans for the Winter. I loved okra, poke salad, fried green tomatoes, and sweet taters….and still do!

So what most folks consider Southern cooking is somewhat unfamiliar to me (by most folks I mean yankees). There were no grits or casseroles in my house, no fried chicken or macaroni and cheese.

What I’m getting at is I don’t like typical Southern food….the artery-clogging butter-laden Paula Deen fare. I tend to avoid any restaurant that is even remotely Southern. However, ST had a nice gift card for Dogwood. I had been wanting to go since they opened, having perused the menu, despite its Southernish pedigree.

The space is beautiful with big photos of Dogwood blossoms, white tablecloths, and soft, romantic lighting. I started with a glass of the peppery Hullabaloo zin and ST got a Negra Modelo.

Their specialty is the grits bar. Not a bar at all, but rather specifically Red Mule yellow stone ground grits from Athen, GA topped with one of three toppings: Brunswick stew, pimento cheese and Benton’s fried ham, or braised mushrooms and shaved parmesan. ST likes grits and I felt compelled to try them so we got the Brunswick stew topped bowl. Super creamy, they seemed to have some cheese in them. I could eat a ton of this stuff!

Another Southern thing I don’t like is biscuits. Dogwood’s bread service was reminiscent of biscuits….kudos for creatively making that connection without serving actual biscuits. The crust was crunchy and it was hot out of the oven, admittedly pretty good, although it would have been better with unsalted butter.

We split the grilled baby romaine salad with smoked bacon, blue cheese, Fuji apples, dressed with a creamy red wine vinaigrette. It was awesome, probably my favorite dish of the evening.

My starter of roasted Georgia quail with cornbread-andouille stuffing with country ham butter and mushrooms was really good. The skin was somewhat crisp, a solid flavorful dish.
ST ordered the crispy gulf oysters with caramelized fennel-onion jam, and fried shiitakes. I’m not a big fan of oysters but tried one of the four. I was a big fan of the sweet caramelized onions.

For our entrees ST ordered the Painted Hills NY strip, medium, served with duck fat potatoes and I had the (no surprise here) local honey glazed Ashley Farms duck breast with sweet potato and poached pears.

His steak was huge and delicious. The leftover meat became steak and eggs for breakfast. My duck was the best I’ve had in a long while and as you all know, I eat a lot of duck. Cooked medium, the skin was crisped, the thick slices displayed atop pureed sweet potatoes and poached pears. The best part, however, was the surprise of a bit of honeycomb. Fucking awesome!

Our dessert was a modern take on s’mores…..chocolate creme brulee with a dollop of torched marshmallow, and a graham cracker biscotti. I didn’t taste much graham flavor in the biscotti, it would have been better with just plain ol’ graham crackers like the ones Grandma used to keep in her cupboard.

Ingredients like Georgia mountain trout, pecans, hominy, pimento cheese, peanuts, and grits sound Southern but don’t let the menu fool you. This is upscale dining. My Grandma never made blood orange fumet or sauternes sabayon.

If Atlanta restaurants keep blowing me away with modern comfort food (like Miller Union) and kickass “Southern” fare, I may just consider myself converted.

565 Peachtree Street 404-835-1410

Exciting news from the PR Goddesses at Mary Reynolds:

Chef Acheson to launch contemporary meat ‘n’ three in Midtown’s 999 Peachtree

Atlanta, GA – September 16, 2009 – Real estate investment firm Jamestown proudly announces today that they have executed a lease with award-winning Chef Hugh Acheson to launch his first Atlanta restaurant at 999 Peachtree in spring 2010. The new venture, called Empire State So. will be a contemporary and casual meat ‘n’ three restaurant offering breakfast, lunch and dinner.

A finalist for this year’s James Beard Foundation’s Best Chefs in the Southeast award and named a Food & Wine Best New Chef in 2002, Acheson, who owns acclaimed Athens, Ga., restaurants Five & Ten and The National, was an early proponent of fresh, local and responsible cuisine and is known for his support of such groups as Georgia Organics, Georgia Rivers Network and the Southern Foodways Alliance.

“Empire State So. will be a community restaurant focused on southern staples. It will make you crave okra, smothered pork chops, and collard greens. We want it to be a place where you’ll find yourself having a drink on Sunday, a coffee on Monday, lunch on Tuesday, a to-go sandwich on Thursday and dinner on Friday.”

Under Chef Acheson’s direction, Empire State So. will offer guests the opportunity to dine al fresco with a two-sided indoor/outdoor bar. Cultivating an inviting community atmosphere, Empire State So. also will feature an herb garden and bocce ball court. Parking will be convenient for guests with 50 complimentary parking spaces and a valet service. Located at 999 Peachtree, the dining space will feature 90 seats, including 24 seats at the bar. Breakfast and lunch will be served weekdays, dinner will be served Monday through Saturday and brunch will be served on Saturday and Sunday.

Nothing gets my dander up like the “mishandling” of fried green tomatoes.  I grew up in Tennessee and LOVE fried green tomatoes.  What pinches my nerve is how they are served in restaurants….topped with crumbled goat cheese, drizzled with aioli, gussied up like hookers on Ponce.

Let me make this very clear:  fried green tomatoes are a vegetable, a side dish to be served alongside the meat and the other vegetables.  They are NOT an appetizer!  Who the hell decided that they were an appetizer anyway?  My grandmother never served them with f*#ckin aioli!  Just slice them thin, dredge lightly in cornmeal and fry ‘em up in a pan….delicious!

Fried green tomatoes are routinely overbreaded in restaurants, the heavy coating completely overpowering the delicate tangy flavor of the under ripe fruit.  It’s a shame that every “Southern” restaurant bastardizes this vegetable.  They all deserve a nice fat Knuckle Sandwich….with aioli on it!