Babette’s Cafe, located in Inman Park, has been around for years, run by Chef and Owner, Marla Adams. Adams named the restaurant after the movie, Babette’s Feast. I hadn’t eaten at Babette’s Cafe in over a decade. Back when I was in college, I dragged some friends out there to have dinner. They both had very tasty and substantial entrees. Mine, on the other hand, was somewhere between four and six shrimp on top of some green beans. Needless to say, I left hungry and disappointed. To this day, that evening is standing joke between us.

I felt as though it was time for another visit, especially since I was writing Food Lovers’ Atlanta. The renovated house has a rustic charm to it. Love the scuffed up walls and hardwood floors. It was quite busy on the Friday evening when I visited, so I’d definitely recommend rezzies for a weekend visit. Although don’t bother trying to make them on Open Table, as they are consistently blocked off. Just call Babette’s Cafe directly.

There’s a section of soups / salads and small plates and I truly believe this is where the winners are. Well, those and the desserts. Starting things off with the Corn and Crab chowder along with the salad with hearts of palm, we then added to the order the mussels and Piroshkies.

I just ordered a tasting of the chowder and it was good, with definite chunks of crab in it, but I’d rather have shared the salad and had two orders of the Piroshkies. These guys are small (about the size of a steamed dumpling that you get at most Chinese restaurants) and one order comes with two Piroshkies. They are full of pork and veal and served up with a Tarragon butter sauce – simply amazing. Oh and the mussels we had were delicious too, served in an unusual strawberry /serrano broth, I couldn’t tear off the bread from its loaf fast enough to sop up all the yummy broth.

For entrees we sampled the Veal Piccata and the Pork with Gnocchi. The veal cutlets, pounded think had some sort of Mediterranean sauce with capers. Mr. ARB thought it was quite tasty. The Sauvignon Blanc he chose to pair with it, was quite exquisite. My pork was decent, but two out of the three pieces were almost pure fat. As far as the Gnocchi, I was expecting potato dumplings, but theirs is actually more like a polenta in taste and texture than Gnocchi. It was good, just not quite what I was expecting.

I was all for skipping dessert, but when Mr. ARB heard there was house made pistachio ice cream for dessert he couldn’t resist, ordering not only that but a side of the Date and Pistachio cookies too. This ice cream was indeed heavenly. The warm cookies were a nice addition to our dessert too.

Tip: There’s a prix fixe menu available Tuesdays through Fridays (including choice of appetizer and entree) for under $20.

573 North Highland Ave.
Atlanta, Georgia
404-523-9121
Babette’s Cafe Website

Midtown Restaurant Week is back beginning August 27th, until Sunday, September 4th. Dine on 3 course Prix Fixe meals for $25 to $35. See the lineup of participating restaurants below.

4th & Swift
Abattoir
Atmosphere Bistro
Briza
Cypress Street Pint & Plate
Dolce
Ecco
Eleven
Escorpion
Goin’ Coastal
Gordon Biersch
The Livingston
The Melting Pot
Oceanaire
Park 75
Pasta da Pulcinella
Pozole
Ra Sushi
Rosa Mexicano
Serpas
Shout
South City Kitchen
Spice Market
Steel
Straits
Strip
Table 1280
The Nook
Veni Vidi Vici

For more information about Midtown Restaurant Week and to see menus, click here.

Savi Urban Market has been open for about a year and a half in Inman Park. This upscale market is part grocer, part fresh foods, part specialty wine and beer market. Basically, Savi Urban Market caters to those folks who are looking for an tasty and healthy gourmet meal that they can heat up at home instead of going out to a fancy restaurant. And perhaps pick up a bottle of wine or craft beer to compliment said dinner. Savi Urban Market sources seasonal ingredients from Dillwood Farms in Loganville, Georgia. Besides having house-roasted and cured meats and an on-site cheesemonger, Savi also cooks their food using the sous vide method of cooking.

The Sous Vide method of cooking involves cooking food in vacuum sealed packages at very low temperatures for long periods of time. Made popular in the 1970s, the idea is that dishes, whether meat, seafood or vegetables are more flavorful, tender and delicious when cooked with the sous vide method.

And what would a yummy dinner be without some tasty wine to go with it? Savi is one of the only markets in the area to have an Enomatic Wine Machine (pictured below right). It allows patrons to sample up to 16 wines for a small fee. You can get a taste, a half a glass or a full glass – just insert your prepaid card into the machine and choose your wine.

After perfecting his menu for over a month, Executive Chef Don Trimble prepared a lovely meal for a select few of us lucky enough to be invited to preview his sous vide cooking technique. I have to admit, I knew nothing of Savi Urban Market before this dinner and went into it with zero expectations. Sometimes that’s when you have the best experience, right?

I’m fortunate in that I get invited to a bevy of menu previews and tastings, but this often leaves me pretty hard to impress. But the creative and adventurous menu blew my mind. Loved that the presentation and thoughtfulness of the sides were not neglected either. It was hands down one of the best meals I’ve had in quite a long time.

Menu:
Bone Marrow
Scallop, Lardo, Rhubarb
Octopus, Squid ink Gnocchi
Veal Cheeks, Ramps
Black Bass, Sapelo Island Clams
Piedmontese Strip Loin, Sweetbreads
Pork Belly, Szechuan Pepper Ice Cream

I’d never had Bone Marrow before, but was eager to try it, and the sweet and creamy fritter was so yummy, I’d have easily eaten ten of them if they were put in front of me. And the perfectly prepared scallop just about melted in my mouth.

The third course, Octopus, prepared sous vide style, was tender and full of flavor, not at all rubbery as Octopus can be if not prepared correctly. Fourth course was the Veal Cheek also prepared sous vide – so tasty and soft, I could have easily spread it on a slice of bread. My pictures of these two items didn’t turn out the best or I’d have posted them. But believe me when I tell you pictures and words cannot describe how sensational this meal was.

As if we all weren’t thoroughly impressed with the meal so far, there was more loveliness to come. That was in form of Black Bass with Sapelo Island Clams and Strip Loin (both pictured above) – again both prepared using the sous vide cooking method. If I had any doubts as to the sous vide cooking method locking in the rich flavor of foods, this rid of them.

Dessert: Pork belly and bacon has been done to death in recent years. But this unique technique with pork belly pairing with ice cream and spicy szechuan peppercorns was a definite departure from more of the ho-hum pork belly preparations.

Savi Urban Market offers pre-packaged sous vide entrees which are $6.99 for a protein or $9.99 for a protein plus two sides. Two could easily be fed a superb meal for under $20. Thanks to Savi Urban Market and owner Paul Nair for hosting me for this tasting. Look for Savi Market to host more sous vide dinners in the future. You won’t want to miss them.

Savi Urban Market
287 Elizabeth Street
Atlanta, GA 30307
404 523 3131

Earlier this year, I was approached by a publishing company, Globe Pequot Press, and asked if I was interested in writing a Food Guide book for Atlanta. I practically jumped out of my skin, I was so excited that they picked me. My publisher just sent me the cover of the book (pictured above) and I wanted to share it with you.

I’ve had so much fun over the last several months visiting restaurants around Atlanta and talking to staff and chefs. It has been a wonderful experience writing the book and I definitely have a new appreciation and respect for both authors and editors.

As you are reading this, I’m down in Florida for a short break and celebrating finishing the book!

Cheers!

About one and a half hours north of Atlanta, in Dahlonega, GA is a beautiful winery called Montaluce. I heard about it but never made it up until recently. I planned the trip a couple weeks in advance and was just praying that we’d have nice weather for our visit to Montaluce. As you know, in early April, we can have beautiful days, or sometimes cold, rainy days, but we lucked out and enjoyed temperature in the upper 70s. Disclosure: this was a complimentary meal for research for my book, Food Lovers’ Guide to Atlanta.

We had dinner reservation at Le Vigne, the restaurant on Montaluce’s estate, but arrived early to look around and tour the winery. We were dressed in jeans which was perfectly acceptable for an early Sunday evening dinner, but I would recommend dressy attire for a weekend dinner. Montaluce Vineyards is not only a winery but on site they also have homes for sale and have plans to build a Resort and Special Events facility. Right now, they are host to a lot of weddings as you may have already guessed, based on the beautiful scenery. And those events are actually held at Le Vigne which is a beautiful space for the Weddings.

During our tour, Bill, the resident Sommelier, took us through the various rooms used in their wine-making and thoroughly described the wine making process. He showed us the different equipment used in making red vs. white wine and explained how the two differ in the process. FYI – they do free wine tours on Saturdays at 2 pm according to Bill. Tip: if you aren’t in the mood for a full meal, lounge on the patio and sample wines and cheeses.

I was pretty much famished by this point but I did want to taste some wine. What’s the point of visiting a winery and not doing a wine tasting, right? So we elected to try some reds and pair that with a cheese plate to assuage our hunger a bit. Interesting enough, Montaluce and Le Vigne don’t just offer their own reds but reds from select other wineries as well. So we opted to try two red flights, or tastings: one Montaluce, and one of their recommendations. This was a 2oz portion of each of 5 wines per tasting. The four cheeses paired were unique and served up with an accompanying honey or jelly.

The restaurant focuses heavily on locally sourced food and as such, the menu changes daily. The menu is set up for a 3-course prix fixe offering. Usually, I’m not a fan of limited options, but I felt the choices had a decent variety. If you think that because this isn’t in Midtown, the food won’t be creative, you’d be incredibly wrong. We started off with a Cauliflower soup and Chicarrone salad. Yep, that was salad that was topped with house made pork rinds. My salad was enjoyable but that Cauliflower soup was divine!

Mr. ARB chose the trout and boy was the presentation beautiful with the three pieces separated on the plate, skin side up. I had a taste and boy was it prepared perfectly. I opted for the pork tenderloin which comes with pork belly pieces as well. It was another wonderful meal and as far as I’m concerned you can never have too much pork.

Lest you start to think dessert was an afterthought, let me tell you about it. I was in the mood for chocolate and the cake sounded rich, yet simple. And it delivered just that, being moist but simple. The blood orange pudding was a show stopper. So creamy and tasty, I grabbed it from Mr. ARB after he was done and scooped out any remnants I could possibly get out.

Considering the multiple wine tastings, cheese plate, 3-course meal per person and wine pairings with the meal, the $158 tab was extremely reasonable. Montaluce and Le Vigne are a fantastic day trip from Atlanta if you are looking for a short getaway. Guys, if you want to impress your woman, this is a really terrific surprise, and I can assure you, she will be very appreciative. And if you are celebrating something special, this is a wonderful choice. If you live in the northern suburbs of Atlanta, your drive is only about an hour. Can’t wait until they build the on-site lodging, for the perfect overnight getaway.