FoodieBuddha.com

Here To Severe restaurants is continuing on the trend that started with Trois, continued with Cuerno, and even hit Stella.  Kess is reporting that instead of an outright closing of Lola Bellini Bar, Tom Catherall is shuttering the space after New Years with intentions of “re-concepting” the restaurant.

There’s no doubt that traffic for this cougar-iffic hotspot has dwindled significantly in the last few months.  Time will tell if the redeux will fare any better.

[via food and more]

Today is a busy day for me, so I don’t have time to pen a review.  However, that doesn’t mean I’m completely disconnected from what’s going down in the 404 (or 770 … or even the 678).  Here is a snap shot of some stuff that I’m checking out.

30 Restaurants In 30 Days: Much to the delight of foodies around the city, John Kessler is pumping out some new content.  The AJC’s food blogger extraordinaire is currently hitting 30 restaurants in 30 days.  He’s already dropped in on La Pietra Cucina, Mary Mac’s Tea Room, and a few other places.  You can follow the action over on the Food & More blog.

Hardy Gets A Visit: Top Chef contestants and Atlanta chefs Eli Kirshtein and Kevin Gillespie took a trip out to Healdsburg, CA to visit the Murphy-Goode Wine Country Lifestyle Correspondent (no really, that’s the title!).  That just happens to be Atlanta superstar Hardy Wallace.  You can find details of the event over on the trueslant.com blog.

Martha Stewart Charity Dinner: I may be the only person in this world that doesn’t have a soft-spot for Martha Stewart.  That said, this is pretty cool.  You can bid on the Martha Stewart Dinner Party (currently just shy of 3k).  It includes a gourmet dinner for six at Cantitoe Farm prepared by Pierre Schaedelin, chef at famed Benoit and one of Martha’s favorites.

As bloggers, we all try and do something to stand out.  Creative juices flow and the result are things like Tami’s Eat On 30, Jimmy’s pizza thang, and Kessler’s new found 30 in 30 (note: that’s a link to twitter and it should fill in as the days pass).  Those all require a lot of work, heavy organizational skills, and a lot of time.  I wanted to go for something a little more lighthearted and a little less time intensive.

As a result, starting this week, I’ll be running the first post in a series I’m tagging as “Inside The Chef’s Kitchen.”  Though the name isn’t super original, many of you may make the immediate connection to the über cool Bravo TV show – Inside the Actors Studio.  At the end of each episode, host James Lipton prods his guest into answering the following questions:

1. What is your favorite word?
2. What is your least favorite word?
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
4. What turns you off?
5. What is your favorite curse word?
6. What sound or noise do you love?
7. What sound or noise do you hate?
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
9. What profession would you not like to do?
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

Borrowed from French talk show host Bernard Pivot, the list is essentially a twice removed take on the Proust Questionnaire (wiki).  Using that as the inspiration, I’m going to track down a few chefs from the Atlanta area (and nearby), and put them to the task (with a modified list of course!)  Hopefully, I’ll be able to do this every Friday … so we’ll see how long I can stick to that.  You’ll be able to follow the action on the blog or via my twitter account using the hash tag #itck.  Meanwhile, if you’re a chef or if you know a chef, feel free to contact me!  I can always use the people.