Chef's Table at Park 75

A couple weeks ago, lucky me got to experience a much deeper dinner experience when my boyfriend surprised me by taking me to eat at the chef’s table at Park 75 for a special occasion. As much guessing as I try to do about these kinds of things, and usually being right, this one really caught me off guard in an amazing way. Our host walked us through the dining room into the kitchen where the butchering table was (slightly) transformed into our dining table for the evening right in the middle of the restaurant kitchen (as opposed to the pastry and catering kitchens). Unfortunately, Chef G himself wasn’t in that night, but we very much enjoyed the experience Sous Chef Sydney Jones served us.

The evening was a long and tasty one with 7 courses, 6 wines, and a tour of the rooftop gardens afterwards. The real standouts of our special menu were the Ahi Tuna Tartare with crispy won ton, spicy avocado, and citrus on top of watermelon, the NC Shrimp and Smoked Gouda Grits, and the Midnight Moon Goat Cheese with blueberry compote and the Four Seasons honey. Although all of the other dishes were very good too, those 3 are what put the meal above and beyond a good meal.

I wish I knew more about wine to appreciate all that I drank, but what I know is that the more wine I had at the beginning of the meal, the more willing I was to drink the reds later in the meal. Normally I’m not a huge fan of reds, although in the 7 months I have legally been able to drink I haven’t done too much wine experimenting.

View from our table

Ahi Tuna Tartare with crispy won ton, spicy avocado, watermelon, and citrus paired with Ruinart Rose champagne

Seared Diver Scallop with lobster chowder, swiss chard, artichoke heart, and tomato paired with Jean-Luc viognier

Halibut with confit fig, pickled red onion, brown butter caper, and (I think) whipped white carrots paired with Matanzas Creek chardonnay

Seared Duck Breast with duck confit cake, farro, and bourbon-cherry sauce paired with Robert Sinskey pinot noir

NC Shrimp and Smoked Gouda Anson Mill Grits with tomatos paired with Beaulieu Vineyard cabernet sauvignon

Sadly, I forgot to get a picture of the Midnight Moon Goat Cheese with Blueberry Compote and honey harvested from the Four Seasons rooftop garden (no wine pairing)

Compressed Pineapple Tart and coconut ice cream paired with Nivole moscato d'asti

Restaurant Week

Restaurant Week, a 1-week special giving diners the option to get a $25 3-course meal (or the occasional $15 or $35 3-course meal) at some of Atlanta's best restaurants, seems to be happening all over the city. It appears that almost every area of town has one now, as well as the new themed restaurant weeks like those of Concentrics Restaurants and hotel restaurants. The idea is to draw people who may not normally go to pricier restaurants to these areas and allow them to explore the changing and growing culinary scene of Atlanta - or it can be for the people who do go to these places more regularly to dine for cheaper than normal.

In the past year I have attended 3 restaurant weeks: Buckhead, Inman Park, and Midtown. For Buckhead Restaurant Week 2010 I tried Coast for the first time, and for Inman Park Restaurant Week 2010 I had my first visit (and only so far) at Rathbun's. This year I went to Ecco for Midtown Restaurant Week where I had been to once before. At least for Inman Park and Midtown Restaurant Weeks I carefully narrowed down the places I wanted to go to from several to 1 based on menus posted online and, naturally, reputation.

After arriving to Coast and Rathbun's for my reservations, it didn't take long to see the franticness that Restaurant Week probably added on top of their usual Friday and Saturday night business, at least I assume this is the case for Rathbun's. In general, the service wasn't great and the food was fine and probably in smaller portions. But when going somewhere like Rathbun's, I'm definitely not looking for "fine". I'm wanting great - and that shouldn't be compromised during Restaurant Week.

On the other hand, I went to Ecco on a Sunday night when the restaurant was maybe half full. This experience was much closer to a non-restaurant week experience with good service and great food.

When it comes down to it, $25 for a 3-course meal at a great restaurant will probably always be a draw to taste the town for many, but be prepared for an experience that may not be representative of what the restaurant offers on a regular basis.

To get your own taste of restaurant week, check out Inman Park Restaurant Week going on this week.

Asheville Part II

The Asheville adventure continued on Saturday with a food tour led by Asheville Food Tours after we went to the farmers' market. Here's the play-by-play of the tour:

- Chocolate Fetish

The first stop on the tour may have been the best. The daughter of the owner of the shop, who is the head chocolatier, gave us a great tour and really went into detail about how their chocolate was made (including where it came from and behind-the-scenes views of the chefs in action), her education at the famous pastry school in Chicago under French pastry chefs, and the story behind the shop. We each got a sample of a truffle and a sea-salted chocolate-covered carmel. All of that fancy training the chocolatiers have paid off because those chocolates were amazing. 

- Green Sage

It was great to see to the effort this restaurant is putting in to sustainability and environmental responsibility, but the food was nothing special and not to mention almost killed boyfriend by serving him nuts even after he told them about his allergy.

- Fiore's Ristorante Toscana

Fiore's is a quaint, family-owned Italian restaurant that made quite a tasty pizza. With the Neapolitan pizza craze in Atlanta, it was a nice, and frankly a little relieving, to be served just a normal, well-made, and delicious pizza.

- Olive & Kickin'

This shop offered a unique experience with its sole purpose being olive oil and balsamic vinegar tastings. One of the owners was very hands-on and was clearly very educated in her craft of oil and vinegar. For those not as educated with oils and vinegars or those that just need some help, Olive & Kickin' sells bottled pairings that they put together.

- Restaurant Solace

This restaurant was not engaging as a tour stop and the food was forgettable.

- Woolworth Walk

Woolworth Walk is an old school soda shop inside of a huge art gallery. It is a really interesting place and features only local artists. They served us strawberry ice cream with lime soda that didn't do anything for me.

- The Spice and Tea Exchange

The last stop on the tour at the Spice and Tea Exchange was both engaging and very cool. The store was walls full of...wait, can you guess?...spices and teas. They had anything you could possibly need. We came home with their Italian mix which is recommended to soak in olive oil or toss in pasta.

Surprisingly, we weren't stuffed after the tour and were very hungry when it came time for our late dinner at Curate Tapas Bar. The chef here is Katie Button who studied under Ferran Adria of the very famous El Bulli and additionally studied under Jose Andres. Man, she was well-trained and it showed. This meal was one of the best I've ever had. Yes, I did say that about The Admiral, too. But really they were both that amazing. 

Curate, in comparison to The Admiral, had a feel much more like a typical Atlanta restaurant i.e. loud and a lot of wood and metal. The bar was obviously the loudest area, but we were seated in the back, which was significantly quieter. 

We started with the Pan con Tomate with Manchego Cheese. I've never had a better piece of dressed up, savory bread in my life. I could have eaten just this for dinner.

Next was the best salad I have ever had. I know it's getting redundant that I'm constantly saying that something is "the best I've ever had", but it's true. This Ensalada de Verano was a salad of watermelon, la serena cheese, and heirloom tomatos drizzled in a honey sherry vinaigrette. Just typing that has my mouth watering. The combination of textures was amazing and the cheese added just the right amount of saltiness and nuttiness to the sweet watermelon and dressing. It is the perfect summer salad, but I could eat it every day of the year.

Following the salad we had the Patatas Bravas. For me, the potatoes would be the perfect breakfast potatoes if the sauce was left off, but for dinner I enjoyed the sauce...and that's coming from a girl who is very picky about condiments and sauces. I admit that I did find that there was a little too much sauce.

The finale of our meal was the Gambas al Ajillo (sautéed shrimp and sliced garlic), called the number one tapa in Asheville according to the menu, and the Setas al Jerez (mushrooms sautéed in olive oil with sherry). Both were really, really delicious, but I'm a total sucker for mushrooms of almost any variety. You would be seriously missing out if you went to Curate and chose not to get the Pan con Tomate, the Ensalada de Verano, or the Gambas al Ajillo. 

I was told that going to French Broad Chocolate Lounge was an absolute must. So despite there being no room left in stomach for anything else, I sucked it up to indulge in some chocolate. We took a short walk and prepared to complete the day of stuffing our faces.

I got the Highland Mocha Stout Cake with Coffee Buttercream. All I can say is wow. It was so creamy and moist and all around delicious. I really truly wish I could have enjoyed the whole thing, but I could only conquer half of it.

Per the recommendation of Emeril (he kindly responded to my tweet to him), we brunched Sunday morning at the famous Tupelo Honey Cafe. For the most part, we both found the restaurant overrated. They serve a biscuit with their namesake honey as an appetizer. The biscuit itself was very dense, and I have had better in several Atlanta restaurants, but their honey was really special. They chose a nice product to name the place after or most likely vice-versa. I got an omelet that was nothing special, but we shared the famous sweet potato pancake sans pecans, of course (thanks, Boyfriend). This was one delicious pancake. Even without the nuts it had so much flavor. It was very fluffy and cinnamon-y. I don't think it's a place that needs to be on an Asheville bucket list if you're only there for a short time.

That concludes the weekend-long constant face-feeding. A week later and I'm still recovering (and dreaming of eating at The Admiral and Curate again).

Asheville Part I

In a desperate attempt to get out of the Atlanta heat and end my summer well, I dragged the boyfriend to Asheville with me. He was a big skeptic having not been before, but for me Asheville, well really Hendersonville, will always be my home away from home. I was a 6-year camper in those beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains and it had been way too long since I had visited. Since there isn't much to do in Hendo, as the camp staff members like to kindly refer to it as, and Asheville has always been a place of fun and good memories for me during and post-camp, it was the biggest thing to do on my first Atlanta summer bucket list. I may have also known that Asheville has turned into quite the foodie town. It became apparent very quickly that the 2 days and 2 nights was not going to be enough to cover all of the restaurants I wanted to go to, but the boyfriend and I came up with best itinerary that I think we could have based on the knowledge we had gathered from all over the internet.

Our first stop Friday night was The Admiral, which we heard was unbelievable and extremely hard to get into. We luckily got a 9:30 reservation for the night of our arrival. The restaurant had a feel that I had never experienced before and something that would be awesome in Atlanta. The dining room could probably only seat 75 people max, maybe not even, but there was also a large porch. I'm not sure if food service is available on the porch, though. It was dimly lit and had a very underground, timeless, and unpretentious vibe. The best part was how quiet it was in comparison to Atlanta restaurants such as No. 246 and Two Urban Licks, yet it still had similar elements to those places, such as tables without tablecloths, everything made of raw wood or metal, and an open kitchen. Because of how dim it was, I got too embarrassed to start snapping my flash everywhere to show you the look of the restaurant.

My first course was the NC shrimp with chili-garlic, cilantro, and lime (sorry for the fuzzy picture), and the french fries which were supposed to be underneath it all, but being the nice girlfriend I am to the nut-allergic boyfriend, we got the peanut oil-fried french fries on the side. Both the shrimp and the fries were truly out of the world. The shrimp was cooked perfectly and had a touch of a spicy note from the chili. The fries were reminiscent of Houston's fries, but crunchier. To me, that was perfect because I've always had a big thing for Houston's fries.

Next up were the seared diver scallops with heirloom tomato, locally foraged bolete mushroom, (supposed to be) creamless cream corn, basil, and watermelon. By the time I placed my order the kitchen had just run out of the creamless cream corn, so they substituted it for true creamless corn. I often order scallop dishes at restaurants these days, but I have to say that this was the best I've ever had. Well, maybe it ties with Two Urban Licks - I do love those scallops and cheese grits. The watermelon, tomato, and scallops combination provided texture and sweetness like I've never had in a scallop dish. They were truly unbelievable. Boyfriend got the Springer Mountain chicken breast with farro piccolo, roasted patty pan squash, tomato jam, and a pecorino romano foam, and I have to say it was the most flavorful chicken I have ever had.

We finished with chai creme brûlée with dried cherries. Previously I had only had bites here and there of creme brûlée and am now officially a convert. We devoured the dessert in probably a minute.

Moral of the story: Go to The Admiral.

Saturday morning we woke up early to go the farmers' market at UNC Asheville. There were probably two dozen or so local vendors selling bread, pastries, fruit and veggies, meat, fish, jams - everything you can imagine. All of the samples offered were delicious, but there was one gem that came highly recommended to me: Imladris Farm jams. I've never been a big jelly/jam fan, but Asheville turned another new leaf for me. This stuff is delicious. In addition to the jams, they were sampling blueberry ice cream made from the jam. It was heavenly. If you ever go to Asheville, you can find the Imladris Farm jams and other products in many different stores in the downtown area.

Stay tuned for more on my Asheville trip including the food tour we went on, Curate Tapas Bar, and Tupelo Honey Cafe.

Braves