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

Who: Wine Lovers and Foodies
What: Wine Tasting with select varietals from The Wine Shoe + Food Lovers’ Atlanta book signing
Where: Bottle Rocket, Castleberry Hill, 180 Walker Street, Atlanta, GA 30313
When: Monday, January 30, 7pm,
Cost: Wines are free to taste, specially priced appetizers available.

Drop by on January 30 to taste carefully selected wines of different varietals. It is it a treat to have Nora Wiley guide the tasting as her wine classes are wildly popular. No Bottle Rocket event would be complete without our delicious bites. There isn’t a menu, but know the bites will be crafted to pair expertly with the wines samples.

My book, will be available for purchase for $15 (cash only). It maps out the best restaurants in Atlanta from mom and pop, hole in the wall places to fancy five star restaurants. I’ve scoured the city to find the best restaurants on any budget, in any neighborhood, encompassing all the terrific cuisines we have at our disposal. It is a terrific resource for those visiting Atlanta on business or pleasure or for Atlanta residents who want to get out and explore the city but aren’t sure where to start.

There are also features like:

* Nightly Specials at different restaurants
* Insider tips for many restaurants that only regulars are privy to
* Food festivals and culinary events
* Atlanta chefs that have appeared on Top Chef
* Recipes from popular Atlanta Restaurants

Here’s what some other folks had to say about the book:

The Atlanta Journal Constitution: “Keep it in the glove compartment when you want something more detailed than a Zagat Survey..” Read More
Examiner.com
Gilt City “The latest gourmet bible covers everything from haute cuisine to food trucks and, with its convenient carrying size, makes finding a good meal easy..”Read More at Gilt City
Roswell Patch

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.

I originally had another nearby pub selected but they didn’t seem too interested in accommodating our group. So, I thought I’d take my chances with the newish (it has been open about six months) gastropub, Wrecking Bar. So glad I did as it turned out to be a fantastic evening.

If you have an interest in architecture and historical buildings you definitely need to visit Wrecking Bar. The Victorian home was built prior to 1900 was designed by Architect Willis F. Denny. Before being transformed into a pub it was once a Methodist Church and even a dance school. For more information about the history, visit Wrecking Bar’s website.

Wrecking bar has about eight beers that rotate out on a regular basis. These are IPAs, Belgians, Ales and others that are brewed on site. Most are available in both a regular and shorty size (for those who like to try a variety). I sampled the Golden Nelson Ale and the Victor IPA. I thought they were okay, but wasn’t blown away by them. The Scotch Ale was much tastier and helped me end the night on a high note. Don’t do beer? They’ve got a mighty fine looking cocktail list.

As for the menu, it has mostly pub food – sandwiches, mussels, fries, house burger, etc. But there is a specials menu that is quite unique. Some items were the Duck Confit Tacos ($7), Lamb Ribs ($10) and Rabbit and Dumplings. Have I piqued your interest yet? We started with the Duck Confit Tacos. They were quite tasty, especially with the garlicky chimichurri sauce slathered on top.

The half rack of lamb ribs with Couscous was wonderful as well. The smoked tomato & mint, cocoa-plum BBQ sauce was just perfect. My friend, Ashley, ordered the Pork Shank ($16), which comes with sides of greens and Poblano grits. It was so huge two could have easily shared it.

They do have a private room in the back, but I don’t suggest it. It seemed small and narrow, really not conducive to any type of mingling. It also smelled like cat pee – not sure what that was about. The main dining area is so cool with its brick walls and concrete columns, why would you want to sit elsewhere?

292 Moreland Ave NE
Atlanta GA 30307
404.221.2600

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