Prix Fixe Menus Heating Up Atlanta

Nation’s Restaurant News Reports…The recession's drain on sales in many high-end restaurants has set off a prix fixe menu frenzy. Knowing that an empty seat pounds the P&L harder than one netting $30 for three courses, fine-dining chefs have created clever but less expensive food options and found lower-cost marketing strategies to shore up those menus' margins.


Atlanta Fine Dining Restaurants with Prix Fixe Options:

Chef Gerry Klaskala of Aria Launches New 3-Course Tasting Menu for $39.00
Canoe Offers 3-course Local Menu Nightly Featuring Local Fisherman, Farmers and Purveyors
The Local Yokel prix-fixe menu will be available every night of the week for $30.00 per person and will change based on local farmers’ availability of crops and ingredients.
Joël's Encore! $39 Pre-Theatre Menu, This three-course dinner comes with your choice of entree and will be available Tuesday through Saturday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Steak Frites - Local 11 Ten, Savannah, GA

Check out the steak we had last week at Local 11 Ten in Savannah - no hanger steak here...just a tenderloin, served with perfect fries. Savannah needs more restaurants like this - comfortable, modern, good staff, and not a bit of the touristy feel that you get nearly everywhere else in town...

Meet Brooklyn's Food Nerds

The NY Times has a nice piece today featuring a bunch of our favorite Brooklyn food purveyors, including butcher Marlow & Daughters and chocolate weirdos Mast Brothers.

Savor Gourmet Website Launch

We're excited to finish the redesign of the Savor Gourmet website - a fine food purveyor in Atlanta:

Leon's - Decatur, GA

Leon's is the new spot from the Brick Store folks...based on the burger, rabbit tenders and 'glass of (Benton's) bacon,' we'll be back soon enough...

A Good Burger In An Unlikely Place

So last night we found ourselves in Dillsboro, NC at the Dillsboro Smokehouse. When you're in North Carolina, you do everything you can to get yourself somewhere that serves 'North Carolina Style Barbecue' (see Ed Mitchell). But I had a feeling they knew how to cook a burger. They did (note the GIANT fries).

Curiously, their 'off the menu' selections are featured on a separate, printed, laminated menu, complete with pictures:

Valentine's Lunch

The heart-shaped lunch at the office today was courtesy of Papa Johns...

'Cheeseburger Deluxe'

The best song that I know of about burgers. This one is by The World Famous Blue Jays, who, if memory serves, were a Brooklyn-based band from the '90s specializing in truck driving (and hamburger) tunes. If you like this, consider buying some records from the label Diesel Only. Download the MP3 here.

15 Cent Steak 'n Shakes

Happy early Valentine's Day...Atlanta Steak 'n Shakes are offering their burgers for 15 cents on Friday, February 13...

Bacon Of The Month - February

Dan Philips Special Brown Sugar Hickory Smoked Country Bacon, from Gatton Farms in Kentucky. Grateful Palate says, "This is my own, secret, private cure. Only Charlie Gatton and I know the recipe. I set out to custom design the perfect bacon and I think this is it. It has an incredible balance between sweet, hammy pork flavors and salty, savory flavors. The flavors are intense and the meat is succulent. A bold new bacon that stands up and says 'Eat me!'"

'The Waylon' - Tailor, New York, NY

Bourbon and 'smoked cola.' They apparently smoke the syrup before they make it into the actual cola.

Best Restaurant Design 2009 - Travel & Leisure

Delicatessen, New York, NY

"Built into the lower floors of a SoHo tenement, Delicatessen embraces New York City’s early-20th-century brick-and-mortar solidity, while imposing its own glamorous atmospherics. High-gloss materials and seductive lighting amplify dramatic skylight views of an interior courtyard; the urban landscape is incorporated into the restaurant — and transformed.

From the Jury:
“Delicatessen is young and alive; it has wonderful style in an unpretentious way.” —Calvin Klein

Burger Bash - James Beard House, New York, NY

The highlight of the year so far has to be the Burger Bash at the James Beard House. Speaking were Hamburger America man George Motz, and meat guy Josh Ozersky. On hand to cook the burgers was Harry Hawk. Among the highlights were pimento cheese burgers (old hat to the Atlantans in the house), and the New Mexico green chile cheeseburgers. I'd never seen the kitchen at the Beard House look quite like this - they were knee-deep in fries, onion rings, ketchup bottles and Martin's potato rolls. I imagine the place is going to smell like grease for quite a while.

Hagi - New York, NY

Thanks to our friend Pableaux for recommending Hagi in midtown - I've certainly never noticed this underground joint before. This was part of the 'research' that we've been enjoying for new client Miso Izakaya in Atlanta. First up, eel tempura:

Next, 'fried squid beaks.' I don't know what exactly the beak is, but I wasn't asking any questions.

Finally, fried pork and leek buns. As I'm writing this, I realize that the entire meal was fried. Nice.

Freemans - New York, NY

It's hard to believe that this is right off Rivington Street:

Freemans is the kind of place you'd go to every night if it didn't get so crowded so fast. Get there early, have a beer, and take off before the mob arrives.

Snailpalooza

We're seeing more and more snails on menus these days - the other night I came across two very different versions. The first one was at Tailor - leave it to the nutcases there to come up with maple-poached snails with parsley foam:

Then there's Blue Ribbon's version, which was much more straightforward, full of garlic 'n butter:

Good To Know...

Attention all caviar smugglers - I spotted this at the Atlanta airport. I like that they took the time to hunt down some cool looking caviar tins to complete the display.

My New Favorite Butcher Shop

Marlow & Daughters in Brooklyn...check out some of their specials - Scrapple Dogs and something called 'Budwurst.' I didn't ask, but I can only hope it's some kind of sausage/Budweiser creation:


The shop is operated by the Diner folks...check out Diner's excellent example of menu simplicity - in content, description and design:

Katz's Deli - New York, NY

They say that the corned beef and pastrami are the things to get here, but the hot dog is where it's at. Once you get over the baffling ordering system, of course.

Straight From the Farm

A growing number of chefs concerned with serving the freshest possible produce also are cultivating diners’ palates by holding meals at the immediate source of many of their ingredients: a farm. Their motivation, they say, is to emphasize the importance of local, just-picked ingredients while simultaneously promoting their restaurants to patrons who want to experience food at the peak of its freshness.

--- Pamela Parseghian from Nation’s Restaurant News

Check out Local 11 Ten in Savannah. www.local11ten.com

The restaurant just hosted a farm-to-table dinner with Daron “Farmer D” Joffe. With a keen ambition for the advocacy of sustainable agriculture, Joffe raises awareness of ecologically-friendly farming techniques and environmental stewardship. With the December 2008 opening of the Farmer D Organics Garden Center, located on Briarcliff Road in Atlanta, residents across Georgia and neighboring states have more access to his “compost and worm bins, organic fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, seeds and plants, eco-friendly pots, quality tools for adults and kids, raised wooden beds, bulk soil, drip irrigation supplies, organic chicken feed and supplies, garden carts and more.” For more information log onto www.farmerd.com.

Spreading Cheer in the New York Times

Did anyone read the Times today? Love Bruni!

Mobile post - Kobe burger - Zaitzeff / New York

Mobile post - Curried lobster soup with soft scallop - Shang / New York

Job Opening: Bacon Fryer Needed

We thought this was a joke but it is really a job post -- a DREAM job at that...hmmmmm, Jeff, can we hire a Green Olive Media Bacon Fryer"?

I Gotta Job Opening
Bacon Fryer needed
“IMMEDIATE HIRE: Local specialty shop needs someone with a deep fryer who can fry bacon [usually 20 lbs. each time--approx frying time 30 mins.] one to two times weekly--more frequently during peak demand. We will supply bacon & storage bins for cooked bacon--we can pick up finished product or discuss delivery terms. Must be a site certified/approved by NYC Health Dept. or Dept. of Ag & Markets for food production.

Please call 646-269-6812 or e-mail rhonda@roni-sue.com. ”
Posted January 15th, 2009 by Rhonda

HOW Magazine Features Green Olive Again

We're thrilled to be featured on design magazine HOW's website as a 'Top 10 Site For Designers. According to them, "Atlanta-based design firm Green Olive Media does beautiful work for food industry clients." Nice!

Mobile post - fried duck confit - Mercat / New York

This doesn't beat the fried pig's head at Momofuku or the fried pork
jowls at Back Forty, but we'll call it a close third: