For my birthday last month (I turned 21 for the 3rd time, but also made the decision to allow myself to age next year), my lovely fiancé took me on a long drive up GA-400 and treated me to dinner at Indigo in Roswell. I picked the place, mostly on memories of a positive review from Food Near Snellville and a number of thumbs up on Urbanspoon. The ride up to Roswell was fairly long, but I thought the meal was worth it.

Indigo

When we parked at Indigo, we were slightly concerned that it wasn’t even open. Ours was the only car in the lot. When we got to the door, there were indeed 2 people at the bar and a few servers milling about, though we remained the only other customers for a good 30 minutes. I understand that Indigo’s outdoor space is the place to be for Roswell’s Alive After 5 event, but on this Sunday evening, it was pretty dead.

I’m going to have to try and recreate dish names from memory since the menu on Indigo’s website is slightly different from what we saw, but we started out with chicken satays with chipotle buffalo sauce & herb-buttermilk dip, basically a fancy name for “fried chicken on a stick”:
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A few weeks ago, Buckhead Restaurant Week kicked off and offered 3-course meals for $25 at a number of swank Buckhead eateries. Coincidentally, Mario’s birthday weekend fell during the same time, so I decided to make a surprise reservation at Craftbar Atlanta. Craftbar is part of Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio’s (hm, he doesn’t have his own website) restaurant group, which includes Craft, Craftbar, Craftsteak and ‘wichcraft.

The Craftbar Restaurant Week menu was quite extensive, so it was tough to decide what to try. For starters, Mario settled on the sweet potato soup with mascarpone and bbq’d pecans, and I had the glazed pork belly with jalapeño grits:

Sweet Potato Soup

Pork Belly+grits

This is a long overdue post on an amazing dinner and wine tasting hosted by Mark Beringer of Artesa Vineyards and Winery at Bone’s Steakhouse. Mr. Beringer is the new VP of Production and Winemaking at Artesa and has been touring the country showing off some of the Spanish-owned company’s products. Bone’s is arguably the best steakhouse in Atlanta, so I was very excited to be treated to a meal there complete with wine pairings: an area I know little about but am interested in learning. I also had the opportunity to meet the ATL bloggers behind Atlanta Restaurant Blog, Amy on Food, and Atlanta Foodies, so you can check out their reviews of the event as well!

Our first course was Bone’s chilled seafood platter, which contained a number of beautifully presented crustaceans:

Chilled Seafood Platter

Artesa Chardonnays

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Another “finally!” culinary experience this weekend was trying the oft-discussed Holeman+Finch Public House burger. H+F offers only 24 burgers a night at 10pm on a first-come, first-served, no reservations basis. The burger is only even listed on the menu for Sunday brunch, when they make ~70, and is also when Mario and I decided to stop in and try it out.

The Burger

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Last weekend, Mario and I visited a place we’ve been eying for quite a while, BrickTops. Located on the corner of Peachtree and Piedmont, BrickTops enjoys a good amount of visibility. Self-described as an American-style bistro, BrickTops’ interior said “comfortable luxury” and the menu showcased a few “luxurious” prices as well (e.g. $14 chicken tenders).

Mario and I (well, really just I) started with one of my favorite hors d’oeuvres, Deviled Eggs with Sugar Bacon:

Deviled Eggs and Sugar Bacon

I spent two days in New Orleans this week accompanying my brother to his freshman orientation.  My dad and I went out to eat at The Red Maple in Gretna (on the West Bank) Thursday night.

The Red Maple

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Last Atlanta post in the queue! For my graduation luncheon, my family and I visited JCT Kitchen for some yummy Southern style bistro food. With a large party, we had to eat off of their special event menu, which proved to be nearly as good as their regular menu.

We were able to choose from:

1st course

• Tomato Soup; Fried Grafton Cheddar
• JCT Salad; Green Beans, Romaine, Spiced Pecans, Apples, Buttermilk Dressing

2nd course

• Springer Mountain Fried Chicken; Macaroni and Cheese, Garlicky Green Beans
• Shrimp & Grits; Tim & Alice’s Red Mule Grits, crusty bread for sopping
• Sweet Water Battered Fish & Chips; Fries, “Sweet & Sour” Apple Slaw, ooo-eee sauce!!

3rd course

• Ginger Bread-Pudding; Meyer Lemon Curd
  
• Georgia Pecan & Apple Fried Pies; Caramel, Cinnamon Ice cream
  

I tried to get photos and first bites of everything, but a girl’s gotta eat too! Many photos and family first bites after the jump.
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We had a birthday celebration at our Midtown Melting Pot this weekend. I’ve been wanting to try this place out for a while, but it’s definitely not your casual dining spot. The Melting Pot offers a couple of different dining options, and we opted for a full four-course meal (with coupon for free dessert).  To start, a cheddar cheese fondue served with bread cubes and vegetables:

Cheddar Cheese Fondue

The fondue was made with Aged, medium-sharp Cheddar and Emmenthaler Swiss cheeses, lager beer, garlic and seasonings.  Pretty tasty, as plain fondues go.  Made me want to try making my own.  Next was a salad, but it was a fairly generic Caesar, so we’ll skip over that.  For our entree, we chose the “Pacific Rim” entree for two: Teriyaki-marinated sirloin, white shrimp, marinated pork tenderloin, breast of duck, breast of chicken and potstickers.  At The Melting Pot, this all comes out raw and you cook at your table using the cooking style of your choice.  We chose Mojo (Caribbean-seasoned bouillon with distinctive flavors of fresh garlic with a citrus flair).

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This weekend we tried out Top Chef finalist Richard Blais‘ new restaurant Flip.

Flip

Flip is in kind of a weird location, on midtown Atlanta’s Howell Mill Rd.  Situated among auto repair shops and hardware stores, its chic decor definitely stands out.  Uber-chic begets an uber wait, and we waited about 45 minutes for a table.  However, this is not unusual for a new, smallish restaurant with a famous head chef.

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