FoodieBuddha.com

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

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Yesterday’s impromptu post on the unfortunate state of Canoe in Vinings resulted in an unexpected explosion of traffic.  As such, I thought I’d take some time to update people on the status of the restaurant.  In addition, it looks like Love Is Love Farm has its own share of water damage to deal with..

Canoe

I received an email from Canoe’s Special Events Manager who told me that they intend to re-open as soon as possible.  However, there is no timetable yet as the assessment and repairs are still in their infantile stages.  I also caught word from a reader that until things move farther along, they don’t seem to know if they’ll be able to open in full or in stages.  I’ll keep in touch with the folks over at Canoe and see what’s what.  As an aside (and an important one in that), they took some time in the email to communicate just how sad they are for those who lost friends and/or family members during the past few days.  A classy group no doubt.

Love Is Love Farm

The above picture comes from Savory Exposure’s via his twitpic account.  This past Saturday, Love is Love Farm hosted their Outstanding in the Field Dinner with local chef Kevin Gillespie.  My understanding is that the event did go down, but under very wet conditions.  Since then, the farm has flooded but I hear that everyone is okay.

Let’s keep this short but sweet.  Atlanta is full of foodies, full of bloggers, and full of foodies who blog. (I’m looking at you ChowDownAtlanta.com, EatBufordHighway.wordpress.com, EatDrinkMan.blogspot.com, EatItAtlanta.com, TheQuickandDirtyDirty.com, SavoryExposure.com)  The list goes on from there (this is where you take a look at my blogroll about halfway down the page), but those are just a few.

Not surprisingly, more than a handful of local restaurateurs and chefs also put their thoughts down on digital paper.  I have a long list of those that I follow, but here are just a few that grease my monkey (in alphabetical order):

Marla Adams : Babette’s Cafe : http://www.chefmarla.typepad.com/
Adams, who may be the most sporadic of the bloggers listed here, only posts once every handful of weeks.  The blog seems to double as both a inside into some of the goings on at her operation and as a place for her to express herself.  The posts are often deeply personal and it’s always interesting to read someone who puts their plate on a platter (so to speak).

Taka Moriuchi :Taka Sushi : http://sushiandpassion.blogspot.com/
Moriuchi, who has been a fixture in the Atlanta sushi scene since his day’s at Soto, now runs his own joint on Pharr Road in Buckhead, aptly named Taka.  His postings used to be somewhat sporadic, but he’s really picked up the pace since March.  Though there are intermittent stray posts, the majority of them focus on sushi and his restaurant.  He is even kind enough to share a few recipes with us … like this one for okra tempura.

Todd Richards : Lush Life Group : http://cheftoddrichards.blogspot.com/
Richards, who has several establishments around town (Rolling Bones BBQ and One Flew South), drops in about once every couple of weeks.  His posts range from the deeply personal to the deeply off topic.  While it may not always be NSFW, it’s always entertaining and enlightening.

There are a whole bunch of them out there folks, but that list is a good place to start.  Buddha … OUT!

Admittedly, I’m not the biggest fan of Carroll Street Cafe.  Still, if anyone can make the place more appealing, it’s @savoryexposure.  Check out his latest post on the Cabbagetown favorite.  If that’s not enough, check out a couple of pictures from Flickr!, which is where I stole borrowed the one above from

Greg Best just made Playboy.  Don’t worry folks, Greg doesn’t appear in his skimpies.  No, in this case, Mr. Best was just named one of Playboy’s 10-best mixologists.  A co-owner of my favorite watering hole, Best is a certifiable drink geek!  He’s friendly as hell and awesome at what he does … two things that make him a winner in my book.

Backed by his kick ass McIntosh amps (yeah – I’ve said that before), Best makes a seriously killer cocktail … or two … or three … or … you get the idea.  I can’t tell you how many times he’s whipped something up full of ingredients I’ve never heard of.  If you haven’t been already, go grab yourself some pretty solid food while you punch yourself in the rye.  There’s a decent chance we’ll cross paths … I visit often.

UPDATE: I always wanted to know what it was like to be a Playboy photographer.  Okay, no … not really.  But apparently, I now know one … though I didn’t realize it at the time of this post … that picture of Greg came courtesy of one Broderick Smylie.  The guy, who has a serious case of the smiles, snaps many a good photos.  Check him out via the linky belowy

[Via Savory Exposure]

I’m no Broderick, but I have started taking pictures.  Here are a few shots from my trip to Varasano’s Pizzeria on Sunday, March 29th, 2009.

Pics of the food after the jump!

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For the longest time, my previous rants on The Nook occupied the top spots on my popular posts list.  As that list is based on the number of page views (aka – number of times someone read(s) each post), it was a bit of a surprise.  Those writings were nothing more than news blurbs on the then yet to open restaurant.

But alas, I try to give the people what they want.  Given the Nook’s proximity to my pad, I hustled on over there just as soon as I got a chance.  I had to sample the food, the folk, and the booze.  Though this post is a week late, I took good notes and remember the meal well.

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Tonight, Varasano’s Pizzeria, one of the most anticipated Atlanta restaurants, finally opened its doors.  Despite a tremendous amount of recent attention directed at the Peachtree Hills pizzeria, the crowd was very manageable.  Similar to what happened with FLIP, a little bit of rain clearly kept some people away.  Thank goodness! I expect it to get busy – very very busy.

I was lucky enough to have Broderick join me and my step-dad.  He took some awesome photos but was kind enough to keep me distinctly off camera!  Nobody wants to see my ugly mug.  So make with the clicking and go check out his pictures over on Savory Exposure.

I’ll definitely get into the details at some point; but, I’d like to give them a little time to hone their craft.   The New Haven pizza came out really good as did the salumi that B gave me a taste of.  Though still wildly better than anything else I’ve had in this city – Jeff has put out better pies!  That, however, is nothing to think twice about.  His technique with the new oven has already gotten better since I snacked there a month ago. No need for him to perfect his technique, this pizza is more than good enough to satisfy even the toughest of critics.

Will I write more?  You betcha … but for now, the sneak peek seems to be holding up just fine as a first impression!

Varasano’s Pizzeria Restaurant Address & Information:
2171 Peachtree Rd NW, Atlanta, GA 30309 // P: 404.352.8215 // Varasano’s Pizzeria Website