Sunday, August 17, 2008
Food, "Dish"
Oh, baby
Have it your way at the Real Chow Baby—now in two locations.
By Kirsten Ott
Britney said it best when she sang “Hit me, baby, one more time.” Atlanta’s favorite destination for create-your-own stir-fry dinners, The Real Chow Baby opens a second location in Cobb Galleria Mall this week on Aug. 20. The original on Howell Mill Road is stellar for filling up on fresh ingredients, feeling in control of your destiny, feeding pregnancy cravings and hosting rockin’ birthday dinners. We’re certain the new addition will deliver the same great service. For more information, call 404-815-4900 or visit www.therealchowbaby.com.
SO LONG, OLD FRIEND
One of the best destinations for fried plantains and margaritas has closed.
Sala-Sabor de Mexico in
Virginia Highland abruptly shut its doors, leaving many an employee high and dry, and owing plenty of them back wages. The restaurant originally belonged to
Fifth Group Restaurants, but was no longer in Fifth Group’s possession when it closed; the current owner allegedly skipped town when he couldn’t pay the bills. Now a judge has given the restaurant back to Fifth Group, who plans to reopen the restaurant under another name and concept. I've since found a new destination for fried plantains and margaritas:
Holy Taco in
East Atlanta (
www.holy-taco.com).
OUI, OUI
My fiancée and I recently took her parents to
Trois for an unhurried Friday night dinner, and we were overly pleased that the upscale eatery hasn’t lost its sophisticated touch. All the usual French suspects, snails included, stand out at this Midtown hangout for CEOs, politicians and entertainers. I sampled my future mother-in-law’s appetizer of burgundy snails (not without a preliminary twinge of ick factor, mind you), and I admittedly fell in love with the pot of garlic butter, goat cheese ravioli and tomato confit—it was hard to let the salty bursts of goodness.
As for entrées, I thoroughly enjoyed the yellow fin tuna served with tuna tartare, duck-fat fries and an adorable quail egg, but the winning dish was my future father-in-law’s braised beef oxtail—a hit with roasted scallops, artichoke bottom, squash blossom and pecorino cheese. We finished off the night at the downstairs speakeasy-style
Bar at Trois, where a fantastic jazz trio and old-fashioned cocktails kept the good times rolling late into the evening. For more information, call 404-815-3337 or visit
www.trois3.com.
GO FISH
The arrival of
wild Coho salmon at
The Oceanaire Seafood Room makes a splash this season. The fish hails from Alaska’s pristine coastal waters.
Executive Chef Adam Newton partners with local fisherman in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest to procure the freshest catch of the day and flies it in daily. Considered more acrobatic than other salmon varieties, this slightly sweet fish also is high in proteins, vitamin E and in Omega-3 fatty acids. The venerable salmon is superb when seared in sesame seeds and paired with a chardonnay. The Coho salmon will be available until September. For more information, call 404-475-2277 or visit
www.theoceanaire.com.
BARNYARD FEAST
With the farm-to-table craze,
Slow Food Atlanta is thriving now more than ever. Now it’s pooling its efforts to raise funds to send local delegates to
Terra Madre, an international community of food producers, chefs/cooks and educators who aim to explore new and different methods of food production that are more attentive to environmental resources, global balance and product quality. The meeting of more than 6,000 individuals from 120 countries is held in Turin, Italy, in the last week of October. Local businesses are helping out with the fundraising by hosting events. The next one is “A Toast to Farmers” at the
Brick Store Pub on
Aug. 26. The Decatur bar and restaurant will contribute 10 percent of its profits from the evening to sending Georgia’s farmer delegates to Terra Madre. For more information, visit
www.slowfoodatlanta.org.
SP
Have something for Dish? E-mail Life, Food & Style Editor Kirsten Ott at kirstenott@sundaypaper.com.