Author: John Kessler

Following the advice of several readers of this blog, I trekked to Market Buckhead to try the burger. This W Hotel restaurant from Jean-Georges Vongerichten is not the first place I would think to look for a burger, but here it is: a big, bodacious $15 one.

You know what? It’s a really good burger. A nothing-too-fancy-but-everything-just-kind-of-tweaked-right burger.

Here’s the breakdown:

• The Burger: Angus beef that is not ground in house. But it has a beefy flavor and good seasoning on the grill-crisped surface. The patty hits that Goldilocks sweet spot — not a grey, greasy wisp, not a sufferer of meatball envy.
• The Bun: A grilled Alon’s bun that compresses nicely between your fingers and holds the patty in place. The bun:burger ratio is ideal.
• The Garnishes: Now, we’re talking. Unblemished Bibb lettuce, a thick, best-possible-for-the-season tomato slice, two onion rings, fantastic pickles house cured with yuzu and Thai green pepper, and a bare smear of Russian dressing. …

Get your foodie freak on this weekend in Atlanta. In addition to all the other doings around town, there are two very cool food events to consider:

1. The National Food Bloggers Bake Sale will take place on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Cabbagetown Market. Many of your favorite area food bloggers will sell treats, with all proceeds going to Share Our Strength — the national group that fights childhood hunger. Organizer Tami Hardeman says she’s got a good lineup. You can park in the lot at Agave and, if so motivated, eat at that restaurant afterward and get $10 off your bill with a proof of bake-sale purchase.
2. On Sunday, Cochon 555 rolls into town. This national touring pork-o-rama was conceived by Atlanta event promoters Brady Lowe and Carolina Uribe, and has picked up speed as it has attracted swine faithful in the Napa Valley, New York and spots in between. Five chefs will each cook a 140-pound heritage breed pig, snout to tail, and serve the resulting creations to a panel …

Downtown Decatur

In yesterday’s Wednesday column I looked at how Decatur is starting to move past its kid-friendly restaurant scene and into a livelier scene. What are your favorite Decatur restaurants?

Some unseen switch on the zeitgeist machine has been quietly flicked on in Decatur, and this little not-quite-suburb inside the Perimeter is poised to emerge as one of the metro area’s liveliest dining neighborhoods.

It has been a decade-long process that I’ve observed from my home near the town center. Soon after we moved here in the late 1990s, word began circulating that a new restaurant had opened up on the moribund and borderline-sketchy square. Called the Food Business, this spot distinguished itself from the handful of nearby cafes with an explicitly child-friendly policy. The brightly colored, three-level restaurant served a thoughtful kids’ menu along with its casual contemporary bill of fare, and stocked highchairs aplenty.

Others followed suit. Taqueria del Sol …

Tangerine-basil and blood orange-pineapple ice pops

Over the past few years, gourmet versions of Mexican paletas — i.e., ice pops — have been delighting the sweaty set in other Southern towns such as Nashville and Raleigh, North Carolina.

We’ve been a little slow on the uptake — until now. The King of Pops has kinda-sorta set up shop at the corner of N. Highland Ave. and North Avenue in Poncey-Highland. While the king — a.k.a. one Steven Carse — waits for the build out of his shop, he sells the pops from a pushcart at the street corner. His hours are irregular, so it’s best to check his Twitter feed for schedules and information.

But in the meantime, you can buy his frozen treats at Jake’s Ice Cream in the Irwin Street Market and also at Souper Jenny in Buckhead.

I picked up these two from Jake’s — choosing from a daily list that included chocolate with sea salt, cinnamon cream with banana and pineapple habanero.

Two bites in…

The tangerine-basil pop was great — the flavor …

I decided I had to buy a Double Down — the new KFC sandwich made of fried chicken breasts holding a center of bacony, cheesy, Colonel’s-secret-saucy goo. Here is how it went.

I started at the KFC at the corner of MLK and JEL (Joseph E. Lowery Blvd.):

I got my hot, greasy, Double Down-fragrant bag:

I drove back to the office, all the while thinking, “Double Down, Double Down, Double Down! Dr. Atkins, I’m doing this for you!”

I opened the bag at my desk and found this. Could it be the sandwich miracle I was hoping for?

I opened it and, to my great surprise, I found this!

Okay, kidding. I found this:

I examined it from all angles:

I gingerly peeked inside:

Not so gingerly:

Sauce, cheese, baconish strips — all melding into chicken crust. Double Down, dudes!

This is a picture of a bowl of (if I do say so myself) delicious tabbouleh. That spot of greenery at 12 o’clock above the bowl is the parsley patch from whence its main ingredient came.

The parsley — both curly and Italian — did winter over nicely and madly filled out over the past couple of weeks. So it looked like my first crop from this year’s garden would be 4 cups of these lively, bittersweet herbs. Tabbouleh time!

I love making tabbouleh because chopped parsley smells nice, and then once you start seasoning the balance of flavors announces itself as soon as it comes into focus. You tinker and add and…aha!..there it is.

I like a more salad-y version that bulgur-y version. I think the parsley should still be lively and recognizable as leaves, not chopped into green flecks. I always like to add some chopped romaine hearts to underscore the attractive, juicy bitterness of the parsley. I’m fine with chopped mint, but don’t require it. (Also, other garden herbs such as …

Mmmmmmmmm…meat

What is the biggest food story this year? Michelle Obama’s vegetable garden?

Sigh, no.

It looks to be the invention of the sandwich-less sandwich — a.k.a. KFC’s new Double Down, which goes on sale today.

This bacon-and-cheese sandwich comes with two deep-fried chicken breasts in lieu of bread.

Have you tried it yet? I’m very curious to hear your reactions.

Me, I’m holding out for the Chick-fil-a spicy chicken sandwich…

Escargot at FAB strike a classic pose but need to be hotter

The Atlanta area has always had plenty of little French cafes, like Buckhead’s Anis and Decatur’s Cafe Alsace. If you want to eat a salade nicoise under a framed Toulouse Lautrec poster, you will find your heart’s desire in this town.

We’ve also had a few great French chefs plying their trade in this city throughout the years — people like Jean Banchet at Riviera (now Antica Posta), Joel Antunes at Joel, and Arnaud Berthelier at the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead.

But until recently we’ve never had much of a brasserie culture. We haven’t had those places that dispense that uniquely French vision of dining — a marriage of a grand, boisterous space to a menu steeped in the tradition-minded classics from the French comfort food repertoire.

Now we have three. French American Brasserie — aka FAB — reboots the menu from Lenox Square’s Brasserie Le Coze, once the only game in town. Au Pied de Cochon is a …

Food and More will go on hiatus for spring break while its principal poster enters a hamburger detox program. After that he will go undercover, dressed as a standard poodle, to find out for himself just how accepting these purported dog-friendly restaurants are. Look for the full report next week.

Peace out!

When the Atlanta Journal-Constitution moves its offices to Dunwoody later this month, we will be a lot closer to some of my favorite lunch spots — including the World Peace Cafe in nearby Sandy Springs. Behind the utopian name is a very fine and reasonably priced vegetarian restaurant.

This restaurant is a local beachhead for a worldwide group of eateries attached to Buddhist centers (this one works with the nearby Rameshori Buddhist Center.) Most of the staff are disciples who volunteer their time to cook and serve.

You can find out more about the mission through tabletop literature, or you can just enjoy the soothing, loft-like atmosphere and precisely prepared food.

Blissful Glutton turned me on to this Classic Peace Burger ($9.50), which I hereby deem the best compressed patty of hamburger-like veggie matter that I’ve ever eaten. This oat-thickened, crisp-edged burger had a ton of flavor, as did the fresh whole wheat bun and rosemary mayonnaise garnish. Even the …

What you see here is an unusual yet tasty beef patty served on a toasted bun with fresh vegetable garnishes and a side of Tater Tots.

But is it a hamburger?

I’m not so sure.

I am at FuzeBurger in Midtown. The flashy awning and design inside suggest a modern, fusion approach to hamburgering, and the Asian owners bring all kinds of unlikely sauces, seasonings and infusions to the table.

Consider the Tango, which is tangerine infused and stuffed with tomatoes and onions, or the Korean seasoned with bulgogi marinade. The menu does offer several more standard burgers as well, along with salmon, turkey, lamb and crab versions.

After some consultation — I like spicy food, I’m adventurous — the waitress suggested the Malay ($8, pictured), which comes with an infusion of Southeast Asian spices. Let’s break it down.

The patty: Unlike anything I’ve ever had. It actually weeps yellow juices when you press it. Cut it open, and you have a plate full of curry sauce. Though ordered medium, it …

Waitress at Thirsty Dog Tavern shows off the pooch burger (Courtesy Melissa Libby)

Thirsty Dog Tavern opened only this week, but it is already the talk of the town. Some applaud the dog-friendly patio with its special kibble menu. In fact, the balmy weather lured a number of dogs and their owners to the outdoor seats last night, and both species chowed down on burgers.

Yet other constituencies are having a problem with the combination of dogs and dining. Some people want to leave the pets at home. Other are crying: why just dogs?

The Atlanta Cat Appreciation Society has lodged a complaint, saying the practice of allowing only dogs is discriminatory.

“Some of us have friendly, well socialized cats who would like nothing better than to go with their special people to a special dinner,” said ACAS president Dorothy Sikes. “They are clean, mannerly and keep to themselves. They certainly deserve the same rights as those slavering, crotch-sniffing creatures so welcome at Thirsty …

Courtesy Paw House Inn

Many years ago my parents took me and my sister on vacation in France. I remember being absolutely blown away when we were in a restaurant one night and the woman sitting at the table next to us opened her purse and pulled out….a dog!

For the rest of the meal it sat in her lap, waiting patiently as she fed it smidgens off her plate. I can’t imagine she had the most enjoyable time because my sister and I kept giggling throughout the meal.

I noticed a little back and forth on the subject of dogs in restaurants yesterday on this blog in the post about the new Thirsty Dog Tavern, which will be dog friendly.

As a sometimes travel writer, I hear all the time about hotels and restaurants that are dog friendly. The Paw House Inn in Vermont bills itself as a resort for dogs and their owners.

I will admit to being a dyed-in-the-fur cat person and really don’t like dogs who want to slobber all over me, no matter how noble their intentions. That said, I have no …

“Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution,” which airs Fridays on ABC, is the oddest of mash-ups — part celebrity-chef hagiography, part reality TV straining with hackneyed tension, part underreported documentary, and 100 percent agitprop.

It also makes you gape, cry and consider the ugliness and horrors of our broken food supply system.

Repeating the work he has done with the British school lunch system, Oliver has chosen to film his six-week series in the town of Huntington, W.Va., a city that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has singled out as one of the most obese in the nation.

Oliver blows into town dressed like a giant, tragically hair-moussed pea and talking of “revolution.” Children giggle, adults take umbrage.

Oliver’s mission, after two episodes, appears to be threefold. The first, most dramatically rich, involves his attempts to remake the school breakfast and lunch programs at Central City Elementary School. Here we get pure reality TV boilerplate: the …

Thirsty Dog Tavern – a reboot of the Vita space on Peachtree Road in South Buckhead — has opened. Dave Heany,  formerly of Star Community Bar in Little Five Points and Vita’s Tony LaRocco have combined their points of view into this hybrid entity.

Think: Games, flat screens galore, great beers out the wazoo.

Now think: Veal marsala, eggplant parmesan, linguine with sausage and peppers.

And dogs! The pet-friendly lower level has a “kibble menu” and a “Milk Bone Happy Hour.”

Tessa, my yellow lab mix, and I might just have to check it out.

AJC Staff

If anyone is planning to a Passover Seder for tonight and still needs a matzo ball recipe that promises on a stack of Torahs to produce fluffy, light orbs of unleavened yumminess, look no further.

This recipe, which uses stiffly whipped egg white to leaven, has never let me down. No oil, no seltzer, no panicked injunction to never lift the lid or face matzo ball failure.

The accompanying story is here.

Kevin Gillespie, Tom Colicchio and Richard Blais at Hong Kong Harbour (Curtis Compton, AJC)

The diners at Craft — loosened with glass after glass of pinot noir, sated with roasted duck and sausage-wrapped lamb loin — broke into uproarious applause. They were as happy as pigs in pokes when Tom Colicchio, the chef and owner of the Craft family of restaurants, strolled out on the floor, mic in hand.

Colicchio, whose role as head judge on the television series “Top Chef” has made him a national celebrity, shushes the crowd. He discusses the menu and makes gracious comments about the winemaker in attendance at this sold-out dinner. Then, guests rush forward, arms outstretched, including one woman in a floor-length black gown with a maelstrom of ruffles churning about her shoulders.

“Who made your dress?” Colicchio asks.

“Chanel,” the woman answers, flattered.

As Colicchio poses for pictures, a small posse begins forming by his side. In comes Kevin Maxey, who runs Craft Atlanta, and …

Usually when a restaurant has only been open for a month or so and doesn’t — shall we say? — have all its spaghetti in the pot, I’ll be the first to say, “Give it some time.”

“Let them work out the kinks.”

“They just need to oil the machinery.”

“They should get their ducks in a row.”

I’m afraid there isn’t a suitable cliche to excuse the meal I had at the Brunch House. If the nice owners  want to retain any of the customers who have espied this cheery corner spot in a new development adjacent to Nuevo Laredo Cantina and wandered in, they need a warning.

Here it is.

Let’s put aside any subjective comments and let the facts and numbers speak for themselves.

The food: Hmm. At right we see my breakfast. What is it? According to the menu card:

Three mushrooms egg white omelette: shiitake, portabella (sic), and baby bella cello mushrooms with melting variety of cheeses, hash browns and toast.

According to empirical evidence:

Button mushrooms squidgies and semi-softened cheddar …

Can anyone guess what iconic Easter treat this is, and what was done to it?

Want a clue? Ready the defibrillator and click here.

Ruth Reichl in 1999 (AJC archive)

In this week’s Sunday Column I consider the singular Tweeting style of former Gourmet magazine editor Ruth Reichl.

Tweets Show Poetic Taste

Over the past few weeks, the food Twitterati have been paying rapt attention to a new voice belonging to one “Ruth Bourdain” (@ruthbourdain). This is not a real person but a mash-up of Ruth Reichl — the former New York Times restaurant critic and editor of now-shuttered Gourmet magazine — and Anthony Bourdain, the book author and “No Reservations” host. Even the freaky avatar frames Bourdain’s perma-scowl in Reichl’s flowing dark hair.

Essentially this poster takes Reichl’s spare, evocative, upbeat snippets of yumminess (posted as @ruthreichl) and frames them in Bourdain’s profane sarcasm. Reichl tweets, “Good night. Hot kimchi, slicked with chiles. Smoky, sweet grilled beef in crisp lettuce. Sake. Slow stroll home down electric streets.”

“Ruth Bourdain” counters: “Bad night. Hot kimchi slicked w/chiles = …