::
SAY HELLO TO FEED FRIED CHICKEN AND MAIN & MAIN AT COLONY SQUARE, BUT GOODBYE TO INTOWN’S RIZE AND DECATUR’S TRUMAN TAVERN.
::
CHICKENS CLUCKING, sushi spinning and biscuits rising, plus new food halls, fresh cookie dough and a castle reboot. It’s all part of our most recent take on greater Atlanta’s food scene.
Well done
The Atlanta Braves hung it up weeks and weeks ago, but there’s no end to the activity in and around SunTrust Park’s The Battery. Among the latest entries is chef Mark Taft’s FEED Fried Chicken and Such, a rural South-themed quick-serve restaurant.
You’ll find fried chicken in buckets, fried chicken tenders, grilled chicken breast sandwiches, spicy chicken, mild chicken, chicken livers, chicken nachos and more.
Extras include fried pickles, mac-n-cheese, crinkle fries, braised greens and a velvety banana pudding. The inside bar opens up to outside passers-by for takeout beer, wine, cocktails and adult slushies.
***
The biggest Japanese export since Godzilla has landed near Spaghetti Junction: Kula Revolving Sushi Bar (6035 Peachtree Blvd, Doraville). Japan has more than 400 of these large dining rooms with conveyer belts that bring plate after plate of sushi within reach of your table. You simply seize whatever looks good.
Nigiri, sashimi and specialty rolls — only $2.25 a plate — glide past. If you crave hot dishes, udon or ramen soups, tempura or desserts, you press a few buttons on your table’s order pad and, in moments, a bowl comes flying down the belt and stops in front of you. Even with mass-production sushi, the quality holds its own alongside the mesmerizing gimmickry.
***
Biscuits are the South’s great gift to world cuisine and homespun joy, right? Holler & Dash in West Midtown, a fast-casual Cracker Barrel spinoff, has jumped into the breakfast-brunch-biscuit game.
Its menu riffs on several classics — biscuits with fried chicken, cheddar and pickles; biscuits with fried goat cheese, kale and tomato jam; biscuits with sausage, cheddar and sausage gravy; biscuits with fried pork tenderloin; and such sweet biscuit renditions as strawberry shortcake and one made with Nutella and raspberry jam.
The Westside H&D is the first in Georgia, but don’t be surprised to see more popping up all around the South like, well, biscuits in a baking pan.
Simmering
Having witnessed Atlanta’s obsession with hipster food halls like Krog Street Market and Ponce City Market, Midtown’s Colony Square is betting that its version, Main & Main, will grow the concept.
Jettisoning the self-described “antiquated food court,” developers promise something truly “Instagram-worthy.” Look for a groundbreaking sometime this year with the first phase of the development opening later in 2018.
***
Ponce City Market, meanwhile, will tantalize your sweet tooth with the Batter Cookie Dough Counter, an edible cookie-dough dessert shop with such traditional and seasonal flavors as sugar, chocolate chip, peanut butter, oatmeal, lemon, salted caramel and s’mores. Batter also serves freshly baked cookies and cold-brew coffee, milk and chocolate milk.
***
The Castle, a largely unknown but nonetheless important historic preservation site next to Midtown’s Woodruff Arts Center, has opened Rose + Rye. It comes from creative maestro Thaddeus Keefe, owner of 1Kept Kitchen + Bar in Buckhead. Rose + Rye promises “refined American fare with a global reach,” spans three levels and has several patios and rooms for private events.
Toast
After only nine months, Poncey-Highland’s Rize Artisan Pizza closed. It had a hot start, but the fast-casual Italian concept abruptly shuttered its debut location. While it still has a Sandy Springs spot, it’s not clear at this writing if a planned Dunwoody location is still in the works.
***
Illegal Food in Virginia-Highland, acclaimed for its hulking “The Hank” burger, announced on Facebook that it was forced to unexpectedly close “after 2.5 years of blood, sweat and tears.” Word is that the landlord yanked the lease. The owners say they’ll be back ASAP in a location to be determined.
***
Decatur’s Truman Tavern, an homage to a New York steakhouse, closed in late August after serving “things you may have eaten with your parents 25 years ago,” according to a piece in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Apparently, nostalgia for Harry S. and 1990s-era cuisine did not resonate with the eatery’s target market.
::
Food for Thought, Encore Atlanta’s bimonthly dining column, keeps you up to date on openings, closings and what chefs are up to in one of three categories — well done (reasons for praise), simmering (what’s in the works) and toast (what’s closed, etc.). Email kathy@encoreatlanta.com.
