Ashley Hall of Third Coast Byways (link) is the definitive Southern, and I mean that in the best sense of the term. This transplanted Birmingham native has been in our fine city for some time and established herself as a grape hound with Quality Wines and with Kermit Lynch. But her time in the wine industry has come and gone (at least for now), and as we all know … idle hands are the food fanatics treasure.
Motivated by her sense of civic duty, this belle has been slinging stories from Mobile to Biloxi and beyond for the past few months. We all know what’s going on down there in the Gulf, but Third Coast Byways offers a near daily update of things from a more personalized perspective.
Unlike yours truly, Ms. Hall has a background in journalism and is a really good writer. Helped by her deep knowledge of wine and her overall enthusiasm for food, Hall is helping to document the destruction of Apalachicola’s food eco-system and culture.
While the stories aren’t always the most happy go lucky, Hall’s charm seems to come through time and time again. She’s got a thankless job, but along with the Southern Foodways Alliance, she’s documenting something that needs to be followed. I highly suggest you start reading, it’s blogging with a conscience but not politics.
Sometimes, I have a very good explanation for how and why I stumble upon a website. Other times, I have no idea how I happen upon some of the gems I hit. Such is the case with the blogI’m High On Cooking (link to the tumblr). The blog tumblr itself is a bit of a photo-journal from a guy who happens to be serving as a farmer’s apprentice. At least, that’s what the slogan implies.
While the content is really excellent, what makes I’m High On Cooking a true winner is the vibrant photography of farm life and the inclusion of great videos. [blogger's aside … this site is encouraging me to steal Papa Buddha’s Lumix G1!!!]. It’s also chalk full of recipes … mmmm! I must warn you, this isn’t a site for the faint of heart. It’s a blog that evokes every essence of the farm to table movement, which means chickens are harmed in the making of some posts. I always encourage people who eat meat (or any animal for that matter) to see the butchering process … when done right, it’s done out of love. Coincidentally, in reading through the backlog, I found this awesome food porn on everybody’s favorite new burger joint.
Last but not least, I really wish I could snag some photography for you, but since I don’t have his permission … that’s not going to happen here. What I can do is embed this video … it’s awesome:
“Am Foodie, Will Travel For Meals.” Many of us live by that motto … not all of us have the budget to fulfill that dream. Thankfully, we can live vicariously through others. Hot of the plane, Eat It Atlanta has blessed we plebeians with some excellent photo documentation of his recent excursion to New York City. Included are pictures from his lunch at Eric Ripert’sLe Bernardin and his meal at Thomas Keller’sPer Se. Sorry ladies, this half of the Ambiguously Foodie Duo is actually off the market … and his lady was the tag along of all tag alongs! As you can see … it was awesome! Go give the trip a twirl!
Mixed in with his stay in Atlanta, Richards spent time in Chicago, in Nashville, and in Palm Beach as the chef de cuisine at the Ritz-Carlton. In fact, all that work even earned him a spot on an episode of Iron Chef America. Nowadays, you’ll find him sticking close to home as he works on a bounty of different projects. One of the most accessible is his blogs, which is one of the better chef scribed blogs to come out of Atlanta.
But of course, Richards still makes time for we poor plebeians of the pen with a stopover for Inside The Chef’s Kitchen. So on this Friday of beautiful weather and happenings, take a peek at what Chef Richards has to say. If you take a liking to Richards’ humor, be sure to check him out on twitter @Rollingbonesbbq. And with that, welcome to ITCK!
I try and keep up with all the new sites that seem to spring up. That said, I’m not entirely sure how these things come across my computer screen. When they do, I try and take note of the ones with a little staying power. Such is the case for blogger Grace Lee, a pint sized scribbler with an impressive appetite. Lee has been doing her thing since June/August last year and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.
In August, she started throwing up tidbits of her extensive journeys over on her blog (aptly named My Life, My Food, My Journey). Though she hasn’t posted there in a bit, she usually drops in at least once a week. In between her notations of thought, she seems to be working on a project by the name of Atlanta Gspots (link), a food driven content site that is up, but not yet ready for prime time.
In a tragic move of epic journalistic failure, Slice, the ever popular pizza blog from the gang at Serious Eats, just undermined their years of good work in one fell swoop. In an attempt to unlock the Rubik’s cube that is frozen pizza, one of their bloggers posted the results of a frozen pizza taste test.
Shamefully, the competition was limited to DiGiorno, Red Baron, Freschetta PizzAmore, Tombstone, and the Whole Foods house brand. What a crock … there is just no way to talk frozen discs of goodness unless you mention Totino’s … it’s ridiculously cheap, amazing delicious, and just the best damn frozen product on earth.
To make my ire known to others, I have penned this post and shamed serious eats on their blog! Rise up and join me! Viva La Frozen Pizza Revolution!
This past weekend, I was coaxed out of my slumber for a day of debauchery. Actually, that’s a bit of an overstatement. The reality is that I (@foodiebuddha) was invited to a little foodie event (The Wine Conclave) at Montaluce Winery and then followed that up with a night cap of Preppy. Unfortunately, no acts of a lascivious nature occurred.
As I said, the event was hosted at LeVigne Restaurant on the Montaluce Winery estate. The event was put together by the guys at Montaluce (@vineyards) and lunch was prepared by Steven Hartman. you can find Hartman over on twitter @Hogballs.
It was a gratis event, so I’m not really in a position to give any feedback; however, I did want to point ya’ll to some of my fellow folk who took the time to document their stay at one of North Georgia’s youngest wineries. All the juicy deets after the jump
It’s been a super busy day, so sorry for the lack of posts. However, I wanted to point out some required reading to all you passionate foodies. To welcome in the new year, Atlanta Magazine’sChristiane Lauterbach (of Knife and Fork fame) wrote a little piece on Korean food. The source of her information (and perhaps her inspiration), was none other than Gene Lee, who we all know as Eat, Drink Man.
The article, which was published on new years day, is full of good tips. Even if you fancy yourself an expert, it’s worth the read. Meanwhile, I strongly suggest you hit up the source. Mr. EDM was kind enough to share his thoughts on the topic, and include some pretty fancy picturas. I’ve taken the liberty of “borrowing” one for this post. Alright, time to go get my football on.
Big error in yesterday’s post on Datealicious. I accidently messed up the URL … here’s the correct one. I updated the other post as well, but wanted to make sure everyone saw that.
Some dudes just don’t get it. Thankfully, there are blogs out there to help with damage control. The latest such endeavor comes courtesy of a young interior designer. DatealiciousATL.com is straight up foodie with a dash of “how to make you a lady friend.” Focusing on the experience, Madame Datealicious drops a good bit of humor along with all the necessary 411. The reviews are quick, they’re on point, and they come with a nice little picture of said establishment. She’s been fairly prolific the last couple of weeks, so let’s cross our fingers and hope she sticks. For those of you trying to “get rich quick,” I can only say … listen to the women, they always know.
As you can see … it was awesome! 
Todd Richards
