Thanks Scoutmob, for introducing me to new restaurants I would have never tried had it not been for your 50% off deals. Such is the case with Saba restaurant in Decatur (Oakhurst). Waiting until just two days before the deal expired, I had reason to visit Saba when I picked up a friend from the Airport. Ok, maybe Saba was a bit out of the way, but hey, 50% is reason enough to visit, right?

I checked out the Saba address and was taken to the Emory location (via my Google Maps app on my phone), not the Decatur location as what the Scoutmob deal was for. The Emory location was empty on this Saturday night, save for one couple with their toddler. As we ordered at the counter – no table service here, I presented my Scoutmob deal. Since it was the wrong location, they politely refused to honor it. Had it been my restaurant, I’d have honored the coupon, welcoming the new traffic and increased business but whatevs.

So, we trekked out to the Decatur location. I did feel sorry for my poor friend, exhausted after a 26+ journey from Taiwan. But he was a good sport. Thank goodness the Saba Decatur location was more alive than Saba Emory. So, lively, in fact, there was a band. Not wanting to scream to be heard, we sat outside. Luckily the storms that had come through the area earlier in the day, carried away some of the heat and humidity when they left.

Made up of pastas and sandwiches, Saba’s primarily Italian menu has some unique offerings like Thai Ravioli with peanut and cilantro sauce as well as Vindaloo Tofu Spaghetti. Saba is great restaurant for vegetarians as there are lots of vegetarian options on their menu.

One vegetarian item I had to try was the Pumpkin Ravioli. It is offered as an entree rather than an appetizer. But I ordered it for the table to share, asking our server to bring it out ahead of the meals. It was a good choice, albeit, almost too sweet with it’s brown butter glaze. It was also a little on the dry side. I would have liked to see more sauce to the dish. But all in all, it was tasty and I was certainly not sorry I ordered it.

Caprese Salad:

We all had salads as well. Although they are technically sides for our meals, we asked that they come out with ahead. The plain salad as well as the Arugula salad ($0.50 upcharge) I ordered, while fresh, had no pizzaz. There was barely any dressing and I was hoping for at least a couple grape tomatoes or something, but nothing except some cheese. Glen ordered the Caprese salad a la carte which was the only salad that was exceptional in any way.

Glen opted for the Thai Ravioli with chicken. It was quite tasty. And not spicy at all as some Thai dishes can be. It is like your basic Pad Thai sauce put with Ravioli instead of Thai noodles. George, our friend, ordered the Wild Mushroom Ravioli in a garlic cream sauce. It was very bland and completely forgettable. I heard him mutter the words “Chef Boyardee” shortly after digging in.

I loved my sausage sandwich. It was huge and hearty – well worth the $8 bucks even without a side dish. I was expecting a sausage link on a hoagie bun or something similar, but what I got was ground sausage with onions and red peppers served up on two huge ciabatta buns. The bread here is insanely delicious and so fresh. I fully intended to save the rest of my sandwich but I couldn’t help but share with my dining companions.

It is kind of a shame Decatur is so out of the way, otherwise I could see myself spending a lot of fun evenings there. I enjoyed my evening at Saba, but it definitely is a neighborhood restaurant (read: if you live in Decatur worth visiting) but not a dining destination in my opinion.

350 Mead Rd Ste E
Decatur, GA 30030
770 906 0070
Website

For the 8th year in a row, the Summer Shade Festival is taking place in Grant Park, Atlanta, GA. This goes on in conjunction with the Corks and Forks Festival. The Corks and Forks Festival is an opportunity to meet some local Atlanta chefs and sample some of their food.

The idea of the festival is to encourage people to get out of the stale air-conditioning to enjoy the cooling shade of century old trees in Grant Park. The festival kicks off with the Adams Realtors 5k run at 8 AM. The Festival Artist Market opens at 10:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. on Saturday. Live Entertainment revs up at 10:00 a.m. till 11:00 p.m. and a Children’s Fun Center opens at 12:00 noon.

Corks & Forks — A Fine Food and Wine Event is open both Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Atlanta’s top chefs will offer specialty items and you will be able to sample some great wines and ales that are offered at Atlanta restaurants. Corks & Forks is a ticketed event; tickets are $35 in advance/$45 at the gate — Saturday and Sunday tickets sold separately.

Some chefs that will be on hand are:

* Canoe – Chef Carvel Grant Gould
* Dogwood – Chef Shane Touhy
* Empire State South – Chef Hugh Acheson
* Goin’ Coastal
* Il Mulino – Chefs Fernando and Gino Masci
* Legal Sea Foods – Chef Chris Lee
* Livingston Restaurant & Bar- Chef Greg Menne
* Market – Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichtens
* Milton’s Cuisine & Cocktails
* Murphy’s – Chef Gregg McCarthy
* ONE Midtown Kitchen – Chef Drew Van Leuvan
* Peasant Bistro – Russell Hayes
* Rathbun’s – Chef Kevin Rathbun & Kirk Parks
* Rosebud – Chef Ron Eyester
* Serpas Restaurant
* Six Feet Under Pub & Fish House – Nancy Mitchell
* Sun Dial Restaurant, Bar and View – Chef Christian Messier
* TAP – Chef Adrian Villarreal
* The Cake Hag
TWO urban licks – Chef Cameron Thompson

For more information and to buy tickets, click here.

The City of Kennesaw, Pigs and Peaches BBQ starts this afternoon at 5pm. Included is musical entertainment, a BBQ Cook Off, Kids Zone and even a Farmer’s Market. On Friday & Saturday, August 20-21, delicious smoke-cooked barbequed meats, tasty desserts, family fun and live entertainment will take center stage during the City of Kennesaw’s annual Pigs & Peaches BBQ Festival.

The event features a non-sanctioned Backyard BBQ, Anything Butt and Peach Dessert Contest, as well as a Kansas City Barbeque Society sanctioned Professional Contest, which is recognized as a Georgia State Championship Barbeque Cookoff. Over $14,000 in cash and prizes will be awarded to contest winners. Besides food for sale, and free music from a number of local and national acts, festival goers will be treated to a large Kid Zone, unique vendor booths and sponsor exhibits.

Festival hours are Friday, August 20 from 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM, and Saturday, August 21 from 10:00 to 10:00 PM. For more information visit the Pigs and Peaches Page.

Where
Adams Park and the Ben Robertson Community Center
2753 Watts Drive
Kennesaw, GA 30144

Atlantans are invited to don their red, white and blue for TAP’s annual Fourth of July party on the patio! Offering a special brunch and lunch menu, TAP will open at 6:30 a.m. Fans of the annual Peachtree Road Race can cheer on runners from TAP’s spacious patio located at the corner of 14th and Peachtree Streets.

TAP’s celebratory block party menu will feature an Independence Day Pig Roast served with all your favorite accompaniments as well as the best seat in the city to view the Peachtree Road Race! In honor of the nation’s birthday, TAP celebrates all day with festive treats, local beer and live entertainment.

1180 Peachtree Street
Atlanta, GA 30309

I had heard about Haven Restaurant located in Brookhaven for several years, but never made it over until a recent Thursday evening. Thanks to owner Michel Arnette for having me in to try Haven out, though I don’t know why they would need me to review them as Haven Restaurant had quite the crowd going on on this weekday evening. Haven Restaurant has been around for 7 years in the mostly residential area of Brookhaven.

I’m not too familiar with the Brookhaven area and it can be tricky to find if you haven’t yet invested in a GPS like me. You see the street sign from Peachtree says Brookhaven one one side and Dresden (which is where you need to turn) on the other. Needless to say I got pretty turned around. But I digress… Pulling up we drove by Haven’s sister restaurant Valenza and noticed it had quite the crowd as well. We decided to forgo the valet, and park ourselves across the street.

The friendly hostess greeted us and gave us the option of indoor or outdoor seating. It is truly beautiful inside Haven, but it is also quite noisy, so we chose outside seating. On this, one of these last few days in May of low(ish) humidity, we took advantage of Haven’s welcoming patio.

Although the mussels are extremely popular on the menu, according to Haven’s owner, Michel, we were kinda musseled out having had them twice the previous week. I would like to go back and have them at some point though, as the smoky tomatoes and chipotle really piqued my interest.

Instead of Haven’s mussels we opted for the crab cake, fried oysters and with little arm twisting from Michel the other wildly popular appetizer, truffled potato hay. These are like crispy little potato sticks with some parmesan cheese thrown in. They are highly addictive and a huge portion – maybe not the best combination if you only have 2 in the party. This is a great and affordable (only $5) appetizer if you’ve got a group of 4 or more.

The crab cake was tasty and served with some grape tomatoes as well. I thought this would be my favorite appetizer, but I actually enjoyed the fried oysters more. They weren’t simply served by themselves. Nope. Haven’s fried oysters come with fried pickles on a bed of creamy lemony grits. While the oysters themselves are tasty, the side dishes only serve to strengthen and compliment the dish.

We put in our appetizer order but not the entree order as we were taking our time deciding what to order. Looking around at the other diners, this seems to be groups of couples and friends in their upper 40s. Not too many gen exers like me here. But the one thing that struck me is how many of the diners seemed to know each other. I saw table after table of customers that at one point or another during the evening recognized someone they knew and were giving them a hug. Not to be excluded, I ran into an acquaintence myself. A true wine connesseiur, she was able to recommend a terrific Shiraz to pair with my dinner.

So, yes, moving onto dinner. After seeing the mussels appetizer come out, I was actually tempted to order it as my main, but then thought I really should order some meat, and went for the duck breast. Glen ordered the Halibut, which was delicious. I loved the crispy outside texture and the flaky tender inside. The pesto broth and shrimp were nice additions as well.

And I was blown away by the portion of the duck breast. It was sliced into medallions and usually when I get a duck breast it is half the size of what I was presented at Haven. Now I’m wishing I hadn’t been such a glutton, and had packed some up to take home with me. The rhubarb included as a side was a sweet and perfect accompaniment to my duck.

Still loving that that lemon flavor that was apparent in the grits, we opted for the lemon cheesecake with strawberries. Definitely a standout as far as desserts go, and is a big enough portion for two to share.

I love the atmosphere at Haven. No wonder it is consistently on OpenTable.com’s top 10 list of hidden gems. I think some regulars are going to be a little annoyed about the word spreading about “their” spot. I saw many diners giving hugs to the hostess as well as Michel, so they’ve definitely become quite popular in the Brookhaven community.

1441 Dresden Dr NE
Atlanta, GA 30319
404 969 0700
Website