Just two miles north of Buckhead, Town Brookhaven is a fun destination for shopping, dining and entertainment. Town Brookhaven invites Atlantans to enjoy its Saturday on the Town event on February 11 from 10:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. Area residents can enjoy a fun-filled day of sampling, special offers, prizes and more.

Town Brookhaven is home to over 40 shops, restaurants, leisure spots and more. Saturday on the Town showcases the best of Brookhaven and offers the perfect family outing, friendly get-together or cozy date night.

WHAT: Saturday on the Town
Town Brookhaven invites the community to enjoy a day of family-friendly
fun,freesamples, exclusive offers and special prizes.

WHERE: Town Brookhaven
4330 Peachtree Road NE
Atlanta, GA 30319

WHEN: Saturday, February 11 | 10 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Individual store hours may vary.

COST: Free

This year’s reserve tomatoes are called Harvest Sunset™, that are a blend of red and yellow tomatoes chosen for sweetness, texture and unique flavor. I was thrilled to once again be invited to attend the Muir Glen dinner at Aria late last year. We tasted savory appetizers and then were treated to a four-course meal. I won’t go on and on about the dinner (though I could) as the menu isn’t available. Instead I’ll share a couple of pictures of tasty treats we had and a recipe.

Mr. ARB surprised me and made Chef Klaskala’s recipe of braised beef. I wish I could take credit for it, but it was all him and it was superb! What a fantastic flavor!

Chef Gerry Klaskala
Spicy Braised Angus Beef
with Fire Roasted Tomatoes, Tomatillos, Gold Potatoes and Cilantro

Prep Time: 30 Minutes
Start to Finish: 2 Hours

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, cut into 1-inch cubes
5 tomatillos, paper skin removed, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 jalapeño chile, stemmed, seeded, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped (2 teaspoons)
2 lb boneless beef chuck roast, cut into 1-inch cubes, fat trimmed
1 teaspoon kosher (coarse) salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cans (14.5 oz ea) Muir Glen® Harvest Sunset™ organic fire roasted diced red and yellow tomatoes, undrained
1 carton (32 oz) beef stock
1 lb Yukon Gold potatoes (about 3), peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro

1. Heat oven to 275°F. In 5-quart ovenproof Dutch oven, cook olive oil and onion over medium heat 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned.

2. Add tomatillos, jalapeño chile and garlic; cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add beef, salt and pepper; cook 4 minutes or until beef is browned. Add tomatoes; cook 3 minutes. Add stock and potatoes; heat to simmering.

3. Cover; bake about 1 hour or until no longer pink. Remove from oven; let stand 20 minutes before serving. Stir in cilantro, and serve in warmed bowls.

8 servings (1 1/2 cups each)

Many thanks to Muir Glen, Aria Restaurant and Chef Gerry Klaskala for allowing me to participate in this exceptional, one-of-a-kind, experience. Muir Glen gave us all gift baskets of their reserve tomatoes so we can continue to enjoy some tasty tomato dishes! Get your own reserve tomatoes here.

Both with backgrounds in the food industry, the Slaters opened the first Blue Moon Pizza nearly ten years ago in Marietta. Since then, they’ve garnered a loyal following and expanded to four locations in the Atlanta area.

As I sat down at Blue Moon Pizza, I spied the Slaters walking around, tending bar, and making sure customers were happy. I was surprised at the large Blue Moon beer logo on the wall of their bar and asked them about any copyright issues with the beer company of the same name. The Slaters said they get along splendidly with Blue Moon beer manufacturers and they even came out to paint the logo on the wall. Speaking of Blue Moon beer – the winter abbey (available now) is a fantastic pairing with their pizzas!

Looking over the appetizers, the garlic rolls with parmesan looked appealing as did the Bruschetta. However, as I was about the be eating a lot of dough, I decided to get the stuffed mushrooms. These are basically Portabellas filled with a Bruschetta ingredients (they refer to it as “Grandma Sauce”). Normally they come with goat cheese, but I got mine sans any cheese and they were still rather tasty.

Build your own or choose from the 14 specialty pizzas they offer. We ordered three specialty pizzas in the personal size. These ain’t no Pizza Hut personal pan pizzas. They are 10 inches in diameter and have six slices per pizza. For two, you could order an appetizer and easily share one of these pizzas and leave very satisfied. Most personal pizzas are around $11.50. Medium pizzas (16″) are around $21 and the large (18″) are around $25.

It is worth noting that you can even get pizzas as small as the personal size divided in half. We got: The Luna (chorizo sausage, caramelized onions, jalapenos, spicy ranch, black olives, cilantro) and Sante Fe (Seasoned black beans, chicken, jalapeno peppers, red onions, spicy ranch, cilantro, fresh avocado) on one pizza and the Jerk Chicken (Seasoned chicken, caramelized onions, bell peppers, cayenne-candied bacon, with a Jamaican jerk sauce) and Thai Chicken (Seasoned chicken, spicy sesame peanut sauce topped with bean sprouts, carrots, and cilantro) were on another. As the Grandma sauce is the Slaters favorite we ordered that sauce on top of one additional personal pizza. The Grandma pizza is actually a 16″ Sicilian style pizza but they will let you put the sauce on a smaller size if you like.

Each pizza was unique in its own way, and ALL the ingredients were quality but my personal favorite was the Luna. I’m a sucker for chorizo, so I kind of knew I was going to love that one. The Sante Fe is rather similar and is a good alternative if you don’t do pork. Mr. ARB’s favorite was the Thai Chicken, although I didn’t care for the peanut sauce on a pizza. We both agreed our second favorite was the Grandma. With its simple ingredients of tomatoes, basil and roasted garlic, it was lovely too.

Thinking of stopping in for lunch? They have some great lunch specials. Mandy shared with me that they’ve had the same lunch special since they opened and have never gone up on the price. $4.99 for two slices of cheese pizza and a drink.

One of the new things they are doing is offering Take and Bake pizzas. They’ll pre-load the pizza with all the toppings and you take it home and bake it for your party or evening in. The pizzas are generally good for three days in the refrigerator. This is especially good information for those who may get a Blue Moon Pizza craving on Sundays (when they are closed). Your uncooked pizza comes wrapped tight and complete with baking instructions, fresh condiments and a tray to bake it on. Cost is the same as dine-in.

Want them to come to you? They’ll do that too! They’ve taken a 1961 International Harvester Fire Truck and converted it into a pizza machine, complete with a stone pizza oven, a refrigerator and a sink. The cost for Blue Moon Pizza to come out to your site is $12 per person and a minimum of 50 people. I asked Mandy about this and she said they’ve gone as far as Helen, GA. The night I visited they had a movie crew booked to go and feed. Blue Moon Pizza has locations in Buckhead, Sandy Springs, Vinings and Marietta.

Blue Moon Pizza Website

Extras: There are $5 Martinis at each Blue Moon Pizza location on Thursdays and offer a variety of gluten-free menu items.

The space is stunning. A large dining room is to the left of the restaurant with a large bar area elevated and overlooking the dining room. There’s also a small private dinning room that looks like it would accommodate a group of about ten or so people.

Mr. Ski shared with us that there are several sofas around the restaurant for lounging because he wants people to feel they can come hang out for drinks and appetizers with their friends. And he wants to feed customers late into the night with the kitchen staying open until 2 am on weekends.

Our group started out meal with Calamari, Fish Tacos and Chicken Satay. The sauce for the calamari tasted house made – slightly sweet, slightly spicy it was so tasty, I would have slathered that all over the fish tacos if I could have. As it was the fish was crispy and tender.

For entrees, Short Ribs remained the most popular item at the table. They were prepared perfectly moist and tender. The salmon was another option along with chicken. Both were good portions and left us satisfied. However, I would be anxious to visit Frank Ski’s again and have the whole fried snapper.

Some Europeans visiting the restaurant, simply asked their server to “give us Atlanta” and Frank didn’t think twice about suggesting the Short Ribs. And to our group, he even served up one of his menu favorites: the sweet potato tots. So marvelous, we couldn’t get enough of them. If you visit Frank Ski’s promise me to order the tater tots.

2110 Peachtree Road
Atlanta, GA 30309

Over in Brookhaven there’s a new place to visit. It’s a QSR with gourmet salads, an oven delivered from Italy, local beers, local ingredients and gelato!

It’s called Tre’za. Tre’, Italian for three, showcasing Italy’s three main dishes: pizza, salad and gelato. And ‘za, as in slang for pizza. Their oven operates between 750 and 800 degrees and it takes between 3 and 4 minutes to cook at 10″-12″ ‘za.

Their ingredients are all local (farm to fork). They make their sausages in house and it is delightful. While I was there, so was their local farmer that provides them lettuce as well as their meat supplier. Their gelato is made fresh daily as well.

Close to my heart is the craft beer selection. When I was there, they had stuff from @MondayNight (web), @RedHareBrewing (web), and @jailhousebrewer (web). I had a RedHare Watership Brown (brown ale) as well as a Monday Night Drafty Kilt (scotch ale). The Monday Night beers have had a little more time to tweak their recipes and it really shows. I love their beers.

Christopher @EatDrnkRepeat and I split a ‘za with pepperoni and sausage. The manager (VP of Operations – Jarrod Brooks) informed us that they have their flour shipped in from Italy, and it’s 00 super fine texture leads to a nice smooth, soft dough & crust. Sauce made with local ingredients then topped freshly shaved mozzarella, and you have an excellent meal. I was very impressed.

They advertise gourmet salads. Whereas I wasn’t blown away by the flavors from the “Southwest” salad, I was floored by the “Asian” salad. Mandarin oranges dance around a garden of fresh veggies, perfectly made juicy chicken chunks, all coated with a spicy dressing that brought it all together.

I also tried some gelato. Banana Pudding and Strawberry came to us and it was delicious and and creamy, as expected.

It feels a little plastic-y. It’s a franchise concept, but the first of its kind in Georgia. Dim the lights a little and give us some bigger group seating and the place is perfect, aside from the remote location for most of us. Regardless, I’d go back for sure. Loved it. I’d give it a 9/10.